If you’re a parent, you’ve had to sit through your share of bad children’s movies. In all the mass-produced garbage out there these days, it’s tough to find the diamond in the rough. The upcoming Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie from Disney is definitely being avoided as I’ve had my fill of stupid talking dogs. (Why Edward James Olmos, why?!) Both the Garfield movies also go to the incinerator if I ever rule the world, along with every single reel containing any episode or special of Yo Gabba Gabba.
So I admit, when I first saw the preview of WALL-E, I was rather skeptical. The only thing that made me pay the 7.00 fee for the three of us, was that so far, PIXAR has had really high quality movies. I still have yet to see CARS, but that’s only because I can do without Larry the Cable Guy.
WALL-E was excellent. Probably one of the best “kids” movies since The Incredibles. As with all Lassiter movies, there is plenty of slapstick comedy that will enthrall your children while throwing in little things that will amuse the adults.
For instance, when WALL-E has to charge his battery via solar panels, the bar ticks up fast and finishes with the sound of a booting laptop that is run with a Mac OS. The geek in me chuckled considering the story takes place almost 850 years into the future. There is also what looks like an early generation IPOD in WALL-E’s collection as well. Nice to know that APPLE is still running the world in the future.
I will warn you. This movie comes with strict warnings should we stay our current course. In fact, the opening 10 minutes of the movie was probably more depressing in any children’s movie I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it doesn’t look that way to a child, but if you didn’t get the message and you were over 15, your heart is definitely in the wrong place and you’re missing a few brain cells.
As it is bordering on the science fiction, what starts as a wholly depressing dystopia does sprinkle in the ingredients which make you leave the theater with determination and yet a smile on your face. If I had a ratings system here, I would definitely be giving WALL-E a 10 out of 10.
The one thing I will diss is the fact that we were given cheap plastic watches for the kids from Disney that were most likely made in China. While they had the WALL-E logo on them, they were to serve the purpose of marketing the talking dog movie mentioned above. If you go see WALL-E, you’ll find out why it’s so terribly ironic and rather sad that the distributors didn’t even get the point. Who said marketing ever had brains to begin with anyway?
Go see it.
Now.
I saw cars sans Larry the Cable Guy, since we only watch Disney in Chinese at our house.
But I think you are not giving their marketing department enough credit, and your fellow movie goers too much. The average schmoe does not see any difference in quality between the two. Just like they don;t see any difference between Hershey’s and Lindt. Sometimes that works in our favor - lowering the price of Lindt, and sometimes it doesn’t - reducing the number of good movies that Hollywood cranks out.
Interestingly enough, our screening of Wall-E was 2/3 adults - and not very many children. And we adults loved it!
I agree with you on the depressing dystopian opening - which was woven throughout the movie - but overall, it was great.
I’d recommend you give Cars a chance though. I thought I wouldn’t like it - cars, after all! But it’s like a cross between Doc Hollywood and Monsters, Inc, and completely charming, a great movie.
I’m a sucker for good animation - including the underlying technology and how-to extras.
I haven’t seen it yet but definitely plan to. Pixar has done a great job with its movies over the years, and the reviews, both professionals and from everyday people who have seen it have been great. It has a 96% rating over at Rotten Tomatoes, which is incredible.
Cars is worth watching, for sure. I almost had to cuss at you though when you dissed Garfield. Then I realized you mean the horrible movie version, and not the extended cartoon “movies”. Yeah, the movies were a real bummer.
Wait, they gave away cheap watches as a promo for the movie? Um, didn’t the marketing people read the movie story line, like even just scan it, first? That’s just marketing epic fail.
Ahhhhh!
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