WALL-E
RYAN: We’ve finally jumped on the much-hyped “Wall-E” bandwagon.
CAROLINE: Well, we’ve now seen the movie, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re on the bandwagon. As with any animated film, I started to lose steam after the first hour.
RYAN: This is a very different kind of movie in that there’s very little dialogue, which we knew going in. It’s got a great story, and it’s very emotional.
CAROLINE: We’d heard that there was virtually no dialogue in the first half hour and it’s true. But the storytelling is very compelling and it totally takes you in. I was watching and thinking, “I shouldn’t be caring right now, but I do.” I wanted to know what was gonna happen to this little bugger.
RYAN: Wall-E is a robot who presumably couldn’t feel pain if you kicked him, but boy does he tug at your heartstrings and make you believe he’s feeling love and loneliness. His eyes were unbelievably expressive.
CAROLINE: It’s pretty amazing how they told the story using so little. And of course, the animation is stellar. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the movie offers political commentary, but it definitely points out a grim possible future for the Earth.
RYAN: Sure, in light of global warming and us wrecking the environment, etc. More than that though, I think it’s a love story between Wall-E and Eve.
CAROLINE: I loved how he calls her Eva; that was beyond cute. Overall, there are several sweet moments in the film. Wall-E collects and compacts garbage and I loved how he finds all these old artifacts from way before his time such as a Rubik’s Cube and a Twinkie.
RYAN: The animation has definitely been stepped up, except for the humans in the movie. They all kind of looked like “The Incredibles.”
CAROLINE: I found it odd that amidst all the animation, there was one human actor in the movie in form of Fred Willard. Why didn’t they make his character animated too?
RYAN: Well, they did have those other real people in the beginning for the outer space ads, remember?
CAROLINE: Oh yeah. I just thought it was a little weird that for those two bits they used real actors in an otherwise fully animated film. But whatever.
RYAN: There were a lot of sad parts to the movie too. I felt bad for little Wall-E, but I guess that was his journey. And this is Disney after all; the people who gave us “Bambi.”
CAROLINE: I was totally into the story, but as I said, I started to flag after an hour. Phase two of the action, which takes place in outer space, was interesting at first but then I started to fade and I wanted the movie to wrap up. I even started to not understand the story very well, which is sad since I’m a grown woman.
RYAN: I really liked how this movie was as close to a musical as it could be in that they replayed Michael Crawford’s big number from “Hello, Dolly” early and often. I was delighted to hear it every time. But I lost steam at the end too. I was like, “Give me a Disney princess or let’s wrap it up.” Bottom line?
CAROLINE: It’s obviously an incredible achievement in animation, and we don’t need to tell you it’s gonna be a hit because it’s already a hit and will remain so throughout the summer. I definitely think adults will enjoy it too since it presents an interesting take on what might happen to Earth in the future. It’s a little far-fetched, but maybe not as much as we’d like to think, sadly. Even though I’m not a huge fan of animated kids’ movies, this is a pretty good one.
RYAN: I’m a huge fan of animated children’s films and I thought it was cool, though I wouldn’t necessarily want to see it again or own the DVD. It’s worth seeing on the big screen though because the animation and surround sound are so good. There were times when I noticed noises behind us and then a spaceship or something would fly overhead and I realized it was the sound design. Really brilliant. Well done, Disney and Pixar!