Friday, July 11, 2008

Wall-E, I Think I May Love You

It's Friday, so why not talk about movies? In particular, Wall-E. If you haven't seen it, and haven't made plans to do anything, then make plans now and see it. This is by far the best movie of the year, the best Pixar movie ever, and the first movie in years to have me on the verge of letting a tear slip from my eye!

The last time I was so moved after seeing a movie was nearly ten years ago; the movie, in case you're wondering, was Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" (although "Once" came pretty darn close).

What made it so good? In my opinion, it was the lack of dialog. Wall-E doesn't really speak, and so the only way the audience will know what the heck is going on is through action. It is a perfect example of "actions speak louder then words."

I've heard a few people actually criticize it for having an environmental message! I don't know how that can be a bad thing, but for the record that's not what this stories about. It's a love story! It reminded me of how movies used to be made: with plots! It was one of those few movies that didn't have many looking at my cell phone every five minutes to see what time it was. It had me fully engaged and was an almost magical experience.

And like all Pixar movies, even the freakin credits were pretty! So just go see, and share your opinion of it in the comment area below if you feel so inclined...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you, it is the best Pixar movie I have seen yet. I have explained to many people that one reason I love it so much is specifically the lack of dialog.

sarah said...

I was telling everyone I saw the moment the movie ended that they needed to see it. In fact, I think I need to see it again but with my 2x for Dark Knight planned this weekend plus Mama Mia, I might have to wait till Wall-E hits the cheap mall theater.

ajay said...

i'm rather pleased with disney/pixar for delivering a very powerful message without screaming it at audiences. as they've shown in the past, they're very adept at demonstrating rather than telling.

while it's easy to accuse any film with a socio-environmental message of soap-boxing, wall-e didn't let it detract from terrific writing and even used it to instill some hope and joy in what could've been another environmental disaster movie.

aside from the underlying social criticism, it was FUN. it takes a lot to make an audience really care for robots with no dialogue and wall-e accomplished that.

my love of cooking means ratatouille is still the #1 pixar movie for me. but wall-e is a close #2.