Time for Pixar to grow up
:”Wall-e” is such an amazing movie that it left me unsatisfied.
It’s totally enjoyable. The graphic realism is phenomenal. The creativity of the details is staggering. The directorial vision is superb. The editing is one confusing scene short of perfect.
But “Wall-e” is yet another damn kids story. Oh, adults will completely enjoy it. Scene for scene, it carries you through. You care about the characters and each segment has plenty for everyone. But ultimately the story is predictable, simple, and safe for the kiddies.
At this point in Pixar’s amazing career, it’s proven it can do anything. It can imbue a trash compactor with personality and zip it across a world subject to any rules Pixar imagines. Pixar has the technical skill to show us anything it can imagine. It has the movie-making craft to tell a story with a thousand moving parts.
Now it’s time to stop playing it safe and to and make some art. Now it’s time to stop dazzling us with what it can do, and to do it.
IMO.
Categories: entertainment
As long as it involves a del Toro and not a Burton I’m all for it.
I think your sentiment is exactly what I’ve been trying to articulate since I saw the movie, but couldn’t quite say it in the right words. Completely agree!
[...] Dr Weinberger on Pixar, and Wall•E: “It can imbue a trash compactor with personality and zip it across a world subject to any rules Pixar imagines. Pixar has the technical skill to show us anything it can imagine.” [...]
If you want to see what happens when an artist doesn’t produce art for the largest single audience possible, check out http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/
It all depends upon whether you’re in pursuit of money or art. You can still make good money if you produce good art, but Disney has redefined ‘good art’ as that art which obtains the largest possible paying audience.
I write a bit on this here: http://www.digitalproductions.co.uk/index.php?id=137
That’s exactly how I felt about Wall-E as well. Time to do some grown-up stuff.
Grown up stuff? What does that mean to all of you? Depressing? Serious? It’s much harder to create an enjoyable comedy than a drama. Anyone can create something that makes you feel crummy, but to lift up your spirits and make you laugh takes true artistry. If that means it’s kids stuff, then we could use a dose of childlike wonder!
ted, no, grown-up doesn’t mean serious and it doesn’t mean depressing. I’ve actually gotten happier as I’ve gotten older.
Have you ever been to a movie that you loved but that your children wouldn’t appreciate because of its complexity, its emotional depth, its subtlety? You have to have lived for a while for its truth to knock you out? That was a grown-up movie.
I totally agree. Finding Nemo and Monster Inc were much “smarter” films that adults and kids can enjoy.
I found Wall-E was too simplistic and really catered to the kids. There is nothing wrong with that, just not the type of film I enjoy as much.