Wall-E (Now on DVD)

[RBrooksC]

My guess would be the emotion the movie stirs with very limited dialog and mostly visuals that is creating the buzz by those papers. While I haven't seen it yet and I am debating on whether to take my toddler to see it, it will be interesting to see if this take a life of its own.

[diz_girl]

I would be surprised if it would happen. The reason that they made the Animated category was to bring more attention to animation, but IMHO it also serves a second purpose, to relegate animated films to their own category so that any really good ones don't take away a Best Picture nomination from a non-animated film.

Foreign-language films are frequently treated the same way, so now you rarely see a foreign-language film nominated for Best Picture. I think the last one was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, several years ago.

Animated films started to gain recognition again in the 90's with the re-emergence of Disney (if you recall, Beauty and the Beast was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar) and the emergence of Pixar and Dreamworks, so AMPAS gave animation it's own category in 2001. There have been a lot of great animated features released since Beauty and the Beast, but no Best Picture nominations. I wouldn't be surprised if the same happens this year.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Wanted should be up for an Oscar... That movie was awesome... Some with Ironman... but, we all know they choose artsy films that no one cares to ever see...

[SurferStitch]

I would LOVE to see WALL-E have a nomination for Best Movie, and better yet, WIN!

WALL-E was one of the best movies I've ever seen. The emotion and heart in that movie was superb, and the story was excellent. Best animation ever.

We absolutely fell in love with the characters....even the ship captain. You really cared about them and wanted them to succeed.

I can't wait to go see it again!

[Jared]

Leaving the theater last June after seeing "Ratatouille" on opening night, my best friend, a film student at New York University, turned to me and suggested Brad Bird may be the world's greatest director. Better than Steven Spielberg. Better than Martin Scorsese. Better than anyone.

He was only half joking that night.

It was a testament to the geniuses at Pixar, praise from a movie lover and maker, not a Disney fanatic like all of us here posting in this thread. Who else had made eight extraordinary classic pictures, one after the other, never failing, never once slipping up? Even my least favorite of the bunch, "Cars," was a solid animated flick in its own right. I was only disappointed because Pixar had previously created such high standards with "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo." And I know there are people out there, Melanie, for one, who loved "Cars" and would cringe at my criticism.

Now along comes "WALL-E," Pixar's most ambitious and creative project, and probably its most enlightening since "Toy Story" came out 13 years ago now. Imagine convincing a major studio executive to fund a movie about two robots who cannot speak falling in love, wrapped around legitimate science fiction sensibilities. The concept is ludicrous. Adults, let alone children, won't sit through 90 minutes of beeping and whirring, the bigwig would say. You can't possibly expect an audience to relate and feel for a rolling tin can. True, the American public fell for bugs, cars and even a rat, but this idea has finally gone too far. Only because Pixar has seemingly done the impossible before could "WALL-E" have been given the go-ahead. I waited anxiously for a year for the film because I believed Pixar could actually do the impossible, like Walt Disney once did with Disneyland.

When the movie ended, I took out my cell phone and text messaged my girlfriend one word: "breathtaking." I didn't know how else to describe what I had just seen. Matt, the same friend from "Ratatouille" simply said, "That wasn't a movie." I don't exactly know what he meant by that statement, but somehow I completely agreed.

"WALL-E" is as close to a perfect movie as possible and perhaps the film that best represents Pixar's undeniable power. WALL-E's eyes are so expressive and emotive. There is never doubt what he's thinking or feeling, and the viewer melts for him. EVE is sleek and tough. She solves problems simply by blasting them away with a laser in her arm. But her plight is so human and real. To see EVE toss away the plant to scoop WALL-E in her arms and care for him is touching and genuine. And that's not even one of the real tears-inducing moments. Save that for the scene with WALL-E carrying the umbrella, or EVE watching what the security camera captured during her chlorophyll-triggered hibernation.

"WALL-E" is undoubtedly one of my three favorite Pixar films, joining "Ratatouille" and "Finding Nemo." I don't have an order. There is no reason to try and rank them. But I know that little tin can is both a hero and a lover for movie antiquity.

[IloveDisney71]

I went to see WALL-E with my two DD's (18 & 19) the other night. I really had no desire to see it because the previews just didn't get me interested in the movie at all. BUT since it was a Pixar and one of my DD's offered to pay, I decided to go ahead and see it. I AM SO GLAD I DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We went really late so there were no kids in the theatre but you could tell all of the adults really got into the film. There was a lot of laughter and awwws. I thought it was one of the best movies Pixar has put out recently. It was cute, funny, somewhat romantic, and had a great lesson for all of us. Anyway, if anyone else has reservations about going to see it - just go. I think you'll be glad you did. I know I was!

[Crow]

just saw WALL E
i have to think about it some....i love SciFi movies. slow somewhat but different. not as much dialogue. not sure how the kids will take it.
i think i still like the Toy Storys the best of the Pixars.
the short wasnt bad
yes I thought it was Peter Gabriel singing the closing song, & the credits confirmed it

[Jeff G]

We were able to catch Wall-E last night at the Drive-In along with Indiana Jones.

The short "Presto" before Wall-E was my favorite of all Pixar shorts and had all of the kids in our area and a vast majority of the adults in stitches. I really enjoyed the vintage feel that started right from the introduction.

Wall-E was outstanding and one of the best movies I have seen in several years! Pixar is an amazing studio who has made a lot classics and in this case they certainly didn't disappoint. They took two robots who don't speak and gave them both a ton of character and emotion, it was very easy to relate with them and feel their emotions.The message was a little preachy in regards to the environment and our throw away society but it home well and was also easy to overlook. As with other Disney movies the film also contained many witty parts, I especially liked the Twinkie used to feed the cockroach. The film had a great mix of laugh out loud and tear jerking moments and it moved along well.

This was my favorite movie of the year and it wouldn't surprise or shock me if it did get consideration for best film later this year.

Definitely a 4 thumbs up movie(out of four).

[scoot241]

Saw Wall-E yesterday. I thought it was really good. We took my 2 (almost 3) year-old daughter and she enjoyed it too, though I'm not sure how much she understood. She would have probably benefited from more speech. I didn't find the movie to be too preachy. If it were, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much.

Presto was a really good short too!

[Melanie]

I liked Wall-E okay. In my opinion, definitely different than previous Pixar offerings, and it places low in my ranking of Pixar films. With additional viewings it may grow on me more, but I guess today I was wanting something a little lighter.

My sons liked it, and no doubt I'll be hearing "Eeeeeva" and "Wallllll-E" around the house for a while.

[A Foolish Mortal]

That's exactly why they created the 'Best Animated Feature' category... some would argue that animated features have an advantage because they don't have actual people in it to screw it up. I believe the only animated 'Best Picture' nominee was in 1991... Beauty and the Beast. THAT should have won.

Wall-E is an absolutely fantastic movie. My favorite of the year. Definitely Pixar's best.

Love to see it come to Disney soon somehow!

[Dixie Springs]

Brilliant animation and cute robots - totally stunning work. However, I thought it was sort of dark for a Pixar film. Perhaps because it was a bit of a statement (eco-fable)? Nonetheless, the critics and the box office loved it. Disney was very, very wise to snuggle up with Pixar. They are filling Disney's creativity void nicely.

[Altair]

The animation was very realistic and the music really was wonderful, but I found this movie to be very boring, almost to the point of walking out.

[DisneyOtaku]

That's exactly why they created the 'Best Animated Feature' category... some would argue that animated features have an advantage because they don't have actual people in it to screw it up. I believe the only animated 'Best Picture' nominee was in 1991... Beauty and the Beast. THAT should have won.

Wall-E is an absolutely fantastic movie. My favorite of the year. Definitely Pixar's best.

Love to see it come to Disney soon somehow!

Beauty and the Beast DID win, if my movie-fanatic friend recalls correctly.

She also says the reason they invented the best animation category was because whoever runs it didn't want Shrek to win Best Picture that year. How true that is, I can't say, but I could believe it.

Wall-E really does need the nomination. Awesome animation, entertaining, and I walked away VERY moved by the message.

[jrkcr]

This movie just gets an "OK" from me. I think my DH and 3 kids liked it more than I did.

[A Foolish Mortal]

Beauty and the Beast DID win, if my movie-fanatic friend recalls correctly.

Nope. Silence of the Lambs one that year. Beauty and the Beast was just nominated.

[Doug The Disney Man]

Beauty and The Beast IS the only animated film to be nominated for best picture, but Silence of the Lambs did win.

Animated films, like sci-fi/fantasy or foreign language almost never get nominated. First of all, I know Lord of the Rings, but that was an anomaly to say the least. And Crouching Tiger was the last fully foreign language film to be nominated, but it lost to Gladiator. Of course, I'm pretty sure that Juno which was nominated last year wasn't English, but I digress.

I will say this for WALL-E's chances:
1. The animation was amazing and the integration of old film clips, etc. was seamless.
2. It had some great emotional moments akin to an ET or Sixth Sense.
3. The artistic way in which they conveyed those emotions with very limited dialogue. This surprised me because over the last 2 decades anything made for kids has intentionally spelled out every detail. I like that PIXAR gives kids more credit than that.
4. Finally, the best reason WALL-E has a chance is that it deals with a current and topical issue. Recent winners indicate that this can't hurt-A Beautiful Mind, Crash, Million Dollar Baby-and other nominees like Juno, Michael Clayton, even Brokeback were all issue driven, too.
5. The Hello Dolly clips could help, too. The old Academy members like things that remind them of films from their day. Again, recent nominees/winners in this vein: Gladiator, Good Night and Good Luck, Titanic, Unforgiven, Chicago.

I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice to see a movie that I've actually seen BEFORE it was nominated get nominated!

It is a lock for best animated feature, though. But, PIXAR is usually a lock. They are 3 for 5 with wins for Finding Nemo, Incredibles and Ratatouillie but losing to Shrek (Monster's Inc.) and Happy Feet (Cars).

That being said, I hope it gets many noms and many wins. It was my fave Pixar aside from Nemo and Monsters and IMHO the best Pixar story other than Nemo and the best animation ever.

[tinkwest]

Saw the movie this afternoon and DH & I both really enjoyed it. I loved how so much of the story was told with little or no dialog. All of the emotions of the robots came through clearly through their actions & expressions. I saw it as a love story more than an ecological statement. Although it did cause me to recall/remember one of my favorite children's books, "The Wump World" by Bill Peet.

I liked the Van Gogh style of artwork included in the credits. I didn't pay close enough attention to catch any other artists represented.

Presto was a great short!!

[Melanie]

After a bit more reflection and after talking it over this morning with one of the friends I went with to see the movie, we decided we were a bit bored. It certainly had it's moments, and the animation was stunning indeed (although at this point, that's expected), but I just didn't feel overly entertained like I have with previous Pixar films. Maybe I should stop comparing it.

[SurferStitch]

It is a lock for best animated feature, though. But, PIXAR is usually a lock. They are 3 for 5 with wins for Finding Nemo, Incredibles and Ratatouillie but losing to Shrek (Monster's Inc.) and Happy Feet (Cars).

On a side note....

I can't believe Cars lost to Happy Feet....that movie was just too weird. I know it revolved around a current issue, but it just had a bizarre vibe to me.

Cars was a much better written, designed and executed film.

Obviously I loved Monster's Inc. much more than Shrek, but I think it was still a good movie.

Okay....sorry to hijack....