Review of WALL·E (2008) by Bobh. — 27 Dec 2008

I had the highest of expectations for this film, since Stanton had done Nemo. All of the prior Pixar blockbusters have been structured around one or more main characters dealing with personal challenges and overcoming adversity with the help or resistance of other complex characters.

The locations and details were the variations on the theme. The plots were complex, highly textured and detailed, and always had an abundance of the 'wow' factor. Ratatouille is the most spectacular example of Pixar's perfecting of paying attention to every detail.

Now comes Wall-E which deviates from all these prior standards except for some of the starting animation, and regresses back to an earlier era of animation such as 2-dimensional when the Barcalounger scenes kick in.

It also drops its successful formula of the brilliant ensemble pieces with compelling characters, to constructing a left-leaning political manifesto overlaid with a bland romance between a couple of droids who can do slapstick and vaudeville.

Those raters giving this film a 10 have clearly not paid much attention to the detail of its predecessors, but are jumping on the political bandwagon which is admirable if you're attending An Inconvenient Truth.

But it is completely out of Pixar character and a betrayal of the public's expectations to sneak an unamusing, pompous, boring political message into what should have been a true-to-form Pixar film.

Those that rated Wall-E a 10 not only seem to agree in general with its political message, but they actually think this tripe belongs and FITS within a Pixar film. Rather, it destroyed the pacing and the film.

These ratings and commentaries are reminiscent of positions taken during the recent election.