Great, top-notch animation does not a good film make. It helps certainly, but Pixar's WALL-E suffers from lazy writing, perhaps lazier than the consumer-driven, obese space travelers (read Americans) the film pokes uninspired fun at. Also, the inclusion of a live action Fred Willard doing a thinly veiled George W. Bush seems a desperate production move to finish the film in time for a summer release - Mr. Willard probably shot all of his scenes in one day as opposed to the weeks (if not months) it would take to animate such a sequence. And the integration was jarring - it reminded me of a reverse version of the "Kidd Video" opening from Saturday mornings of the 1980s. As much as I dislike (and that's way too kind a word) #43, it came off heavy-handed and easy. Plus, Pixar had the opportunity to take shots at "W" in 3, if not 4, films before WALL-E, but I guess it wasn't safe then. Nothing worse than a late wink-wink.
3 comments:
we're not friends anymore
treat,
Gotta agree with you that the writing was not as strong at the level of *plot* as other Pixar films, but what about the absolutely exceptional characterization and sense of tone? That first half hour was magical. If for no other reasons than that, I still thought it was yet another artistic leap forward for Pixar.
-tecumseh
I don't disagree with you, but I still loved Wall-E. Especially since my daughters feet look like the fat space people's. :)
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