Pixar's WALL• E

[CameronStewart]

Maybe a year or more ago I'd heard a rumour about Wall-E that it was going to feature a mix of live-action and animation, and that it was to feature real actors digitally morphed into fat people (ironically I wrote the entire thing off as bullshit because the plot described sounded too extreme for a Disney/Pixar movie - turns out it was right on the money). I'm curious if they tried this and it turned out to be too grotesque and decided to just stick with full animation, or if the initial rumour was incorrect.

[tsm]

I never heard anything like that...the humans were originally translucent gelatin-like people that became more and more human looking as the production went on. There's a bunch of drawings of the original "gels" in the Art of Wall-e book.

[ACH]

Yeah, looking at some of the early designs for the humans...they reminded me a lot of Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants. Almost not facial features besides the eyes and mouth and very gelatenous, weird looking.

[Toonimator]

They kinda kept a bit of that idea in the instructional video describing how the 'micro-gravity' of the ship would cause bone shrinkage. The 'x-ray' diagram showing the changes had the final human with small bones loosely arranged in fat bodies.

Saw it last night finally, loved it. The live-action humans were a bit jarring, but it doesn't really impact my overall love for the film. I dug the "mac" sound, too, even tho I'm a PC guy.

I loved that the villain's voice is... a computer program! Seeing that in the credits was hilarious. And how about those credits? The scrolling part reenacting the story in--I think--"8-bit" format was cute but didn't really 'wow' me, but the opening of the credits showing life progressing on Earth after the return of humanity, constantly changing artistic styles, was awesome. Great final image as the scroll began, too.

And Presto was genius. Can't wait to see it again, and Wall-E too! I may have to drop the cash for that fancy Wall-E robot

[Kelly Tindall]

We finally, finally saw it. I went waaay out of my comfort zone to avoid almost every single spoiler for this movie, and boy am I glad I did.

Andrew Stanton is not only Pixar's finest director, he's one of the best directors working right now. This movie is nearly flawless... foreshadowing (and there's a lot of it) is done with such craft that you don't notice it, the characterization is incredibly brave and bold, and the statements about humanity and hopefulness and passion are exciting and honest and really, really necessary.

The captain's ascent from slug to action hero was awesome. EVE was kick-ass, MO was great, and the relationship between WALL?E and EVE nearly brought me to tears again and again. Brad, you are right on the money; the big reveal that EVE recorded everything done for her by WALL?E was an emotional watermark.

And Presto was fabulous. Remember how much fun it was to laugh at a funny cartoon?

[HellboyOne]

Presto in high-def, somehow.

http://videolog.uol.com.br/video.php?id=343906

Watch it while it exists!

[Elliotanimated]

I have just come back from this motion picture and didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I might, although I did like it.
I thought they handled the relationship between Wall-e and EVE in a lovely, intelligent way but the fat people seemed an afterthought.
I would have liked more Wall-e and other robots and less fat people.
Wall-e should have remained unknown to everyone except maybe the captain.
I did find it a strange choice to have both live action and CG people.
I would have liked it more if they were all live.
I felt no emotional kick at any point during the film.
At the end when they played with the idea of Wall-e having his circuits wiped forever, it was telegraphed long in advance that he'd be fine.
Perhaps this moment should have come earlier in the film.
Ahhh...fuck knows.
I did like it and admire it for what it was trying to achieve but I liked the film about the fat panda better.
Fianc? liked it very much but was particularly effected when Wall-e nearly squooshed his friend the roach.

The end credit sequence was nice enough but I'm not sure it was related to the film, especially when we could have seen a bit more Wall-e stuff which was more entertaining than anything with the fatties.

I've read often that Pixar has so many films on the go and so many people working for them that it's not the wonder factory it once was.
Wall-e seemed to lack the love and care we are used to seeing in other Pixar films.

So that's what I think and who really gives a shit.
Presto was cute but the magician was not a nice design.

[Moonman]

Hey! Where's your drawing to back all that up?

[drugmassacre]

Hey! Where's your drawing to back all that up?

Most of those comments were concerned with the writing...which Elliot does, am i correct?

I do disagree with him here. I was immesnely moved emotionally by the film, to points in which I was surprised at myself and almost embarassed

[Elliotanimated]

Drugs - Moonman is quite right in demanding visual evidence of my complaints.

But yes, I do write and draw, occasionally at the same time.

The big question is why didn't this film effect me the way I thought it might.
Make no mistake - when it comes to movies I am the biggest crybaby there is.

I felt the second act felt rushed.
The storytelling was a little muddy at times (in that second act), and as I mentioned earlier, there simply didn't seem to be the care that I expect from a Pixar film.

The fat people seemed to me to have wandered in from a different movie.

Also.
Remember once upon a time when Pixar would release a film every 3 or 4 years?
You'd hear about it somewhere on line or in the newspaper and you'd be all excited because for the first time in years you'd get to see a new Pixar film.
Well now the release a new movie every year.
And thanks to the joy of the internet we get to know everything about it before even stepping foot in the cinema.
It's just not as exciting anymore.

I liked Wall-e a great deal.
The intentions of this film are more important to me though, than the final product.
There do need to be more animated films with the balls to go where this went.
But I just didn't love it.
I am very pleased everyone else did though - it deserves the love.

[Toonimator]

"once upon a time" was... once. Back in the '90s. You had Toy Story in '95, A Bug's Life in '98 I think... that was about it. After that, it was every 12-24 months.

The "once upon a time" argument is something I usually see thrown at Disney, remembering some idyllic yesteryear where the films were 'special' and few & far between. Which never really happened even back in the old days. There were gaps, but many rapid releases year after year too. And Disney's 'renaissance' in the last couple decades also had a lot of quick releases.

As an animator, 'few & far between' means less jobs for talented people, so I'm naturally opposed to that (even tho I've got a snowball's chance in hell of ever working on a Disney or Pixar feature). And with as many talented people involved at Pixar & Disney, there's no reason they couldn't release a new feature a year. They just expand! They've got the money for it. It's not like the films take only 12 months to produce, there's different teams working on them, different directors... the films still take the same time to produce.

Remember the first teaser for Wall-E? They started thinking about this film seven years ago. Nemo was wrapped four years ago! Plenty of time to craft a beautiful film. Toy Story 2 was revamped & produced in considerably less time, from the 'meh' direct-to-video sequel it started out as to a film many hail as Pixar's best, so even without several years they can still turn out greatness.

Anyway, I just really dislike that "special event film every 3-4 years" argument. I still look forward to every Pixar movie, even ones where I'm skeptical going in like Nemo and Cars.

[Elliotanimated]

I can't really argue with any of that, Tooninator.

[AgentHelix]

That's Toonimator.

Tooninator is a different guy.

[Elliotanimated]

Yeah, yeah.
He knows who he is.

[CameronStewart]

Remember the first teaser for Wall-E? They started thinking about this film seven years ago.

Actually I saw Andrew Stanton mention that Wall-E was conceived in 1994!