Movie was good; a little slow paced, not as beautiful as the rat-chef movie- the Chaplin angle, which has been much talked up, could have been fleshed out more. The animation was...incredible. It was entirely possible, until the squidgy globey humans came into the movie, to forget that it was animated at all.
All-in-all, a charming movie. Except that it's entirely the most cynical children's movie I've ever seen; it's like the concept came together in the exuberance and consumption of the up-sizing budget gourmet, mc-mansionizing years of 2003-2006- while the details were finalized during the "we're old and fat and no, seriously, we don't have anything to show for it" late days of 2007. Of course, I think that IS the timeline for the movie. But the thing is- it's a kid's movie, and all the anxieties about encroaching human uselessness through a combination of efficiency and consumption- weren't veiled at all.
Humans, in Wall-E's future, are people who are born into, and die on, a space-bound cruise ship, where no one has a job, people just fill time, and our bones have receded into a general bodily mush after centuries of microgravity and the absence of any actual labor. They are ferried around without walking. They exist only to entertain themselves, go from one activity to the next, slurp all food from giant soda cups at an infinite buffet. Everything they encounter is round and safe and pre-screened and dull.
Essentially, Wall-e's human race has universally achieved the idleness of american middle-class children - the exact audience for this move.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
The short preceding it was pretty good, too. You gotta love that bunny.
Although, I would say that it felt like it was about to make a statement on consumerism and laziness, but it never did, which was suprising, the corporation never actually did anything overtly evil, nor were the people degenerates. All of the humans were remarkably nice and ready to do whatever they could to help.
Oh, and they had normal gravity on the ship, hence the trash chute scene etc.
I think that a movie so abundantly merchandised couldn't, with a straight face (straight pixels? are pixels even things anymore?) make a statement against consumerism.
And as disney, could it really be anti-corporate?
Sure they can. Especially since anti-consumerism and anti-corporation messages appeal to people, they don't care if they are being hypocritical, as long as they make the money.
I'm a sucker. I loved every freakin minute. I think Wall-E is a hot slut. I'm glad you're writting again. :)
Post a Comment