This is cinema.
Better than any Marvel movie.
shareTBH, it doesn't take much to be better than Marvels.
shareSome people think they're amazing movies. I think they're average at best.
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MovieChat Forums > WALL·E (2008) Discussion > This is cinema.
It's a personal favorite I enjoy over and over again
shareThis is peak Pixar IMO. After this movie was the slow downward trend for Pixar. It still holds up today. It looks and sounds beautiful with an excellent story and message.
This movie is also the culmination of Ben Burtt's (Star Wars) sound design skill-set. Then you end with that Peter Gabriel song....perfection.
Toy Story is number 1 for me. But I agree that Pixar went downhill after this. Mostly misses than hits.
shareThe next feature after WALL-E was Up. That was part of the downward trend? I thought it was still considered one of their 'good ones' with some prestige. What was the problem? The Asian kid?
shareA trend means that there are peaks and valleys - but overall it's going a certain direction. In this case; down. I'd considered Up on the peak side of the downward trend.
shareSo, WALL-E marked Pixar's overall peak and then after that was a downward trend... except their very next movie was also a "peak" meaning the downward trend actually started after that.
You're a complete buffoon and your mother is a nickel whore with low sexual performance skills.
I agree! Thank you. There was a noticeable downward trend after WALL-E. Up and Toy Story 3 kept up the rally but the decline noticeably began with Cars 2, which dropped to 6.1, the lowest Pixar rating up to that point. Then Brave (7.1), Monsters University (7.2), and The Good Dinosaur (6.7), none of which reached the critical acclaim of Pixar’s earlier movies. Like I said, there were occasional rebounds, like Inside Out (8.1) and Coco (8.4), but the general trend post-WALL-E shows a more mixed reception compared to earlier output.
If you want to split hairs you could say Cars 2 was the start. But the trend itself floats somewhere around WALL E and Up. Pixar had a lot of shit sandwiches after that. Before that Cars and A Bug's Life were their "lowest" at around 7.3.
Not just a great Pixar movie (my favourite), not just a great cartoon movie (it is), WALL-E is just a great movie - period. It takes a Charlie Chaplin-esque robot love story, filled with physical comedy and a sweet centre, and uses it to explore a world replete with satire about consumerism and laziness that pervades society. It's an insightful, funny movie that never gets too saccharine or too preachy. It's also a great example of a true all-ages movie. This isn't Shrek (where most of the jokes are not for kids at all) or Paw Patrol (clearly exclusively enjoyable for kids) but a truly universally-enjoyable movie.
shareThe lack of dialogue is what really does it for me. It's hard to keep kids entertained and they had the balls to make the first half hour of the movie have very few lines of dialogue. It proves you can tell a story solely through the visuals.
shareThat did take some serious stones on the part of Pixar. The audacity alone would be worth some points, but they stick the landing, too, and WALL-E is fantastic.
shareIt is pretty dang easy to be better than those inane flavourless marvel movies.
shareI'd rather watch almost any Marvel movie over a cartoon for children, but that's just me.
Animation is for me like subtitles (foreign language) or black and white is for casual movie watchers, that is an almost definite "no thanks, I'm not watching that".
Don't get me wrong, I liked Wall-E when I watched it back in 2008. I was a teenager then, it was good, but I'm never rewatching it.
Animated family movies are right up there with musicals and rom-coms for me. Just bleh!
I think you're cutting yourself off from some really great artistic experiences if you're just writing off whole genres. I understand where something like a musical might be off-putting for some people because the singing might always feel strange or unnatural, but there are plenty of great romantic comedies out there that are just as worthy as any other film.
As for WALL-E, it's a great movie, and just because it was made with kids in mind doesn't diminish its social critique or the charm of its central love story.
I've enjoyed a few musicals and even a few rom-coms but they're few and far between, and often the ones I do like never rise above being decent. Put it like this, if I had to name my top 100 movies I doubt a musical or rom-com would make the list.
As for animated movies, I loved them as a kid and I do check out a few every now and then (like those Spiderverse movies everyone loves) but the truth is I haven't enjoyed an animated movie since I was a teenager, yes truthfully I haven't watched a lot but every time I give one a chance I just can't get into it. They're just not for me.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask about this, but I'll just check anyway: you've seen Hayao Miyazaki's output? Films like Spirited Away are very special, in my opinion, and some of the finest of the genre.
I'm also curious if adult-oriented animated films are more to your taste or if animation as a whole puts you off. Loving Vincent, for example, or The Illusionist (by Sylvain Chomet - not the Edward Norton one!), or Ghost in the Shell (the cartoon)?
I guess I do understand that if something is not to your taste it's just not something you enjoy - I'm not saying you're wrong or anything - but for me, genre and style aren't an obstacle. If they were, I think I'd feel like I was missing out on some stellar work. You mentioned that some don't like black-and-white films and many of my favourite films are B&W (in fact, Seven Samurai and Casablanca are clear top-ten films for me - I often think of them as the best films of all-time).
Forming a top 100 is interesting, though. I'm not sure how many musicals would make mine. By the time I was done compiling all of the movies I'd ever seen, I don't know if I'd find room on there for Mary Poppins. I do think WALL-E would be a strong contender, and I guarantee I'd put some Miyazaki on there. But, of course, that's personal taste. Annie Hall would probably show up, too (rom-com).
I've never seen any of his movies.
Japanese anime is something I don't think I'd like. I don't think I've seen any except for stuff like kids animated shows such as Pokemon, Digimon and Dragon Ball Z when I was a kid.
I have considered checking out Perfect Blue and Ghost in the Shell in the past but I've never got around to it.
I am serious when I say I haven't enjoyed an animated movie since I was about 14 years old. Not one. I can't say how many I've seen, probably only 20 since then, but everyone was either poor or at best mediocre, and as you can imagine the ones I'm giving a chance to are the big hits and well acclaimed ones. I think I struggle engaging with cartoon characters, with the animated world and action being unengaging for me compared to live action or realistic CGI.
The only animated movies I would say I like are ones I saw as a kid (Snow White, The Lion King, Toy Story) but even then I haven't watched many of those in a very long time and my love for them is strongly linked to fond childhood memories.
Absolutely right
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