Best frickin’ movie I’ve seen this year.
(Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of The World as a close second)
There is more heart and character in this film than any of the other tripe you’re likely to run across released so far this summer.
What else is there to say? Its glorious and it made me cry and laugh and it packs environmentalism, politics, technology ethics, romance, action, comedy, and fun likable characters.
What joy!
Ryan McGivern gives Wall-E: Five held hands out of five.
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July 10, 2008 at 4:54 am
Wall-E totally looks like the robot from “Short Circuit”… minus the cheesy 80′s style
July 10, 2008 at 10:12 am
I think you’re right, Patrick.
Also these are a few of the thoughts that the movie stirred:
1) Wall-E is facinated by novelty. As a trash compactor, whose function is to treat all artifacts the ‘same’, he does not. He finds things that fit his fancy and strike him as odd. This is the wonder of life. There are some to whom sameness is the highest ideal. Hence dogma. Through strict regimentation of life, things are able to be predictable, safe. This domination occurs in language as well.
Look how some want to own “Marriage”. This is a life impossibility. Newness, novelty, strangeness, these will always find a way out of the background field of the dominant expectation or norm.
2) The Rubik’s Cube that Wall-E has as a gleaned artifact is I think appreciated for its own inherent beauty and interest. Not as a puzzle to be solved. When he shows it to EVE and she ‘solves’ it, I think his interest is not in that she did it, or even did it quickly.
He is a robot. Algorithims aren’t foreign to him. But I think it is because he didn’t see it as a riddle to figure out. Again, neat little boxes versus the strange beauty that resides in
things as they are.
3) The plant that is the center of attention is in a worn peasant’s shoe. Could this be a reference to Van Gogh’s ‘shoes’ series and the Hermeneutical application given them by Martin Heidegger? The idea of art tying one again to the Earth (and its agriculture) is a theme of both Heidegger and Wall-E so it seems plausible.
4) Catch the phraseology of Fred Willard as the Buy and Large CEO? “Stay the course!” he says to the Axiom, adrift in far space. This politically charged language is most likely meant to call our minds to turning attention to our home the Earth, and not running away from the real issues. This is of course applicable to one of our current wars. Both are unsustainable, violent and nonproductive for all involved. But that is the heart of consumerist empire: finding short term answers that simulate success while creating more problems and unjust and poisonous situations in the process.
5) Eve of course means “mother of life”, and it is a great reversal of the Eden story here. Instead, the Earth is a barren and destroyed landscape at the end of civilization, not the beginning. The two robots are the inheritors of a land from the old gods, humans. Instead of punishment for the taking of the plant, they now are celebrated. The “good” in this story is not rote and unquestioning obedience. It is the wild and superfluous strangeness of love, life, novelty, and that which goes outside the neat boundaries. And, that is how life works. Mutation, adaptation, evolution. The little ‘cleaner’ robot in the movie sees things only in terms of two things: A) clean and not worth consideration and B) “Foreign Contaminant” which needs instant and unforgiving attention. This black/white way of being can again be witnessed in a number of
religiously/politically conservative pet issues. See anyone who has been consumed by the thought of their ‘Other’. All their energy becomes absorbed by what they see as their opposite, their enemy. Meanwhile, so much is around them that they cannot and will not (will to not) see.
Thanks for your comment, Patrick.
Yours truly,
Ryan McGivern
July 11, 2008 at 9:16 pm
This review of Wall-E inspired,and continues to inspire me to not only watch a film of such high quality, but to sell myself on the streets, preferably New York. And save up enough money to one day become part robot. When I become part robot, and inevitably take over the world, I will write to you, and in your hands will be the signature of the greatest half-man, half-robot, man whore that the world has ever beheld.
July 14, 2008 at 8:01 am
Thanks for the comment Jamal!
I’m always happy to inspire, and I’m
glad that you too found this Pixar/Disney animated feature from the creative team that brought you Finding Nemo and Ratatouille this year’s family hit! Here’s a summer suggestion to beat the heat: watch Wall-E in a THX Sound approved movie theatre with enjoyable air-conditioning and a large Icee.
And Jamal, you and I are already half there.
Being robots, I mean. Many are already heralding the age of the posthuman. Yup, we’re cyborgs, they say. The Good Ol’ Fashioned Artificial Intelligence that some sci-fi movies may have led us to expect is not yet coming to fruition. But, we are highly integrated ourselves. The tools are not at the end of our hands, they are synthesized into our minds. How we ‘do’ determines ‘who’ we are. And we live ‘virtually’ in created immersive environments so often, we are likely to not even think of it/ourselves as technology at all.
Isn’t it great that we on the internet can become altered avatars, taking on names that aren’t ours, saying things that cannot be traced back to us, or visiting websites that allow us to experience that which we would never conceive of in our embodied lives?
And: you and I both have a good head start on the business of becoming partially mechanized
marketing whores. How many brands do we personally wear and drape off our bodies?
From shoes to eyeglasses?
Not that that even matters. Marketing is just an epithet for art. And art inspires, encourages, and flexes social and politial power. Even if you wear a potato sack, you are expressing so much. And, even though there are (not yet) huge corporations creating designer potato sacks, the more people that were to dress in potato sacks, the social influence you’d all have in some way or another. But our costuming is a pretty crude example. Everything we consume, use, think about, becomes us. Vegan? You’re consuming in a way that will very plainly affect your thoughtlife (but wasn’t it the thought life that made you vegan?) We’re more permeable than we think. The next door neighbor who plays The Decemberists very loudly at night is one example of how our environments can influence us (or our sleep). But what about the feedback loops of consuming choice? We both saw Wall-E, which along with everyone else’s ticket sales will mean more power to Pixar and will play a part in what summer movies are offered up a couple of years down the road.
You are (arguably) a robot (cyborg) or a certain type and you already are selling yourself (your lifestyle, values, and the stockvalue of your will) to the highest bidder.
Despite whatever you thought you’d get from
your comment, I bought into it and offered up a healthy dose of cheese in return.
Ryan McGivern- MC’GIV’ERN
July 19, 2008 at 10:06 pm
More people should comment here if these responses from Ryan are the kind of reward that awaits them.A pat on the back to you Ry-Ry, and thanks folks for commenting.
I wanna hear more about the Herzog film…I can’t get enough of his love of those who live on the fringe (and I adore his cute little accent).
July 20, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Thanks Anonodyne!
Yes, I plan on writing more about Herzog.
This new docu is a great companion to Grizzly Man, and you’re right: his accent is absolutely adorable!
And as always, I and the rest of the mindflowers folks will always try to respond as quickly and thoughtfully as we can to any comments or feedback that we get.
And as for me, movies are as close to my heart as anything so if there’s a movie that’s been inspiring or horrible, please feel free to start a new conversation!
I’m gonna have to also write about The Dark Knight. Whew, that’s a beaut.
Thanks again!
Ryan McGivern