Some people consider Pixar animations as morality tales, and it dates back to the heydays oF Disney animations which had a large young following. From Toy Story's friendship, A Bug's Life's belief in self to make changes, to The Incredible's family values, Pixar's animations have proved to be more than just state-of-the-art digital animation that gradually becomes more and more close to life. And Wall.E's duality tale of romantic love and fearful consumerism will go down as one of its more timely, and timeless classic.
The first 30mins of the movie played like a classic. Close to no dialogue, its images and sounds are the only things that propelled the story forward. yet so much was said within that 30mins. great story tellers like Spielberg made ET inaudible, yet understandable and identifiable, and this is what Wall.E has achieved. though the first 30 mins rivaled The Incredibles at its elegant story-telling best, the rest of the film succumbed to a mad-cap adventure in deep space, just like Finding Nemo's underwater adventure, except this time, Wall.E is finding Eve, and Eve is finding a plant. Each Pixar movie creates a realm. from the life of toys to bugs, underwater life to unsung superheroes, Paris cuisine delights, and racing cars of Western country charm, Wall.E adds to the list of conquered settings with a bleak glance into a dystopic Earth some 700 years later. animations always have its class of sidekicks. like supporting actors, they sometimes steal a huge portion of the show. Pixar's realms are so fulfilled and realised that you cant help but marvel at the thoughts, and most importantly, passion, that went into creating this realm. the amazing details to which this world is created is marvelous, and hats-up to their never-ending list of wonderful ideas.
time spent on Earth was the best. i especially love the use of oldies music. set against bleak images of a toxic-laden earth piled skyscraper-high with litter, the smart juxtaposition takes away the heavy tone but added delight and fluff into it.its like, a perfect world contrasted with a savage wasteland. Wall.E seemed to be perfectly enjoying what it is doin, compartmentalising every finding and creating its own unique world. from the distinct voice of Louis Armstrong singing La Vie En Rose, one of the most romantic number of all time, to Babs serenading in the classic Hello Dolly!, the songs not only gave the movie an old school charm to a time and period of perfection(slightly utopian), it also perfected the romanticism between Wall.E and Eve. i knew that it was going to be a sweet movie. sweet is an udnerstatement. but i never expected it to be so romantic. the notions of love were simple: surprising her, build something for her, show her things she's never seen, give her presents. these innocent gestures make these machines so human, yet at the same time mock our modern state of supposed romanticism. it reminded me that love can be simple. and sometimes, it's the most simple of things that touches us most: the holding of hands, the tilting of heads. and how apt to have it called Eve. innocent notions of first love aside, (spoiler alert) the final scene, when Eve and Wall.E brought the humans back to Earth again was a very smart allergory that referenced Adam and Eve as the first couple that kicked off life. how apt.
The whole movie played like a duality of opposing ideas, juxtapositions, and themes: old music set to modern consumerism, earth vs space, robots vs humans, life vs consumerism, modern love vs innocent love, human love vs machine love, brown vs colour, etc etc. and then there is the proof that cockroaches will outlive humans. hahahahahahaha.
7 or so yrs ago it was believed that Dreamworks animation may rival Pixar. they were their closest rival and it was a tough call. remember when A Bug's Life and ANTZ came out on the same year and there were comparisons? remember when Finding Nemo spurred the series of animals-related movie, which led to Madagascar and a string of others having the same trying-to-escape-current-predicament-or-state-of-entrapment-movies-like-open-season-and-over-the-hedge? now it seems that the disparity has become so huge that Dreamworks ever achieving the kind of artistic success becomes a dream. even their best work to date, Kungfu Panda IMO provided the laughs but rarely the heart and elegance. at a time when Pixar animations no longer use famous celebrity names for their voice-over roles, other animations are still shamelessly using that as a promotional tool, wasting money on these jobs that can be spent on improving the quality of film. i mean, who would bother if Jackie Chan voiced a monkey with less than 10 lines, much less watch a movie to hear him say less than 10 lines of unfunny script?! its puzzling!
and so what if Shrek is the highest grossing animation of all time (i think)? do we really think it's as good as the first one? heck, do we even think it's as good as ANY Pixar animation at all?!
the amount of dedication, hardwork, thought, and most importantly, passion put into each Pixar animation is amazing and evident. From each opening short film down to the very last line, heck, last few seconds AFTER the credits have roled, Wall.E was a delight to watch. about 10 of us movie goers stayed behind to finish the credits just now, and delighted in a split second fake advertising of BNL, the consumerism corporation in the film. the credits were littered with animation and an "afterwards" to how they rebuild Earth. sure, it's not without its flaws. i hated seeing the 2-dimensional portrayal of humans, but i guessed its only to prove a point. and you might as well be poignant, i mean, who's to say 700 yrs later we wont be a stupid bunch of beings? and there's also the hyperactive pacing of the space sequence that sorta missed the heartfelt moments. i knew i was gonna cry. and i did tear towards the end. yea, robots made me cry. and i salute the passion put into every detail. (did u notice EVE's name carved on its body when it first appeared?)
nuff said. boycott Madagascar 2. why should you compromise?
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