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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"With a serious environmental lesson on the one hand and a fabulously done "robot story" on the other, this is one of the best Pixar movies to date, for all ages who watch it." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- The Next Pixar Movie...? If Wall-e lacked one thing upon its theatrical release, it was the lack of any sneak peek at the next Pixar project. Usually, if you go to see a movie like Ratatouille, you see a sneak peek at Wall-e, and so on. Yet no such teaser or trailer was tacked onto Wall-e. Instead; Disney tacked on a trailer for a CGI movie about a showbiz dog who thinks the role he's playing is "real." Though if you do a little research, you learn this isn't a Pixar movie; it's the next animated project from the guys who brought you Meet the Hendersons and Chicken Little. While that's hardly a bad pedigree ---and I'm sure to see that movie this fall when it comes out--- I am curious about Pixar's next film.
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Wall-e
Click pictures to order (reviews of each disc's extras, below!) A Review by TechtiteAs always, a review of The Show and the DVD extras. The Film Review: Pixar never ceases to amaze me each year. To be perfectly honest, every time I've seen their teasers for their next film, I haven't been terribly impressed, though I go see it. Why? Because every time I go to the movie theater to see the next Pixar movie, I get blown over by how great the movie is. They really don't make great teasers for their movies; though they make great movies, so why worry?With Wall-e, however, they've truly outdone themselves. This is not only a pleasant surprise; it is the first Pixar film to attempt a storyline for a far older age group, yet still maintain a story that is appealing to all age groups. This effect begins with the very first shots in the film, when a lone rusty robot is seen compacting garbage and stacking them into piles. The camera then pans back to show that these "piles" Wall-e has made stack up to the sky, dwarfing the nearby skyscrapers. The camera pans back some more to show that this is not a mere garbage dump, though a whole abandoned city, far into the future. Then the camera pans to a promotional billboard for "Wall-e: Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth-Class). This is no alien world...this is Earth! "We" had to abandon our world because of all the junk...and sadly, we left Wall-e behind, collecting junk, alone, for the past 700 years. Here's the fun part: after so many centuries, Wall-e has developed a personality. He collects all the most amusing junk he finds, and has learned a thing or two about emotions and such, as a result. His most prized possession is an old videotape of a classic Hollywood musical (Hello Dolly! to be precise). He sees how the couples on the screen are happy to be together, and aren't as lonely as long abandoned Wall-e. He longs for such a friend...though where would he find one? So one day a spaceship comes from the sky, and out pops EVE, or "Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator." EVE is an amusing robot compared to Wall-e. While Wall-e looks not unlike a long-abondoned robot of the not so distant future; EVE is a sleek white "pod" shaped robot, that could very well be what an iPod might look like, circa 2708. "She" sees Wall-e as a curiosity at best, and an obstruction from her objective at worst. Wall-e, however, sees EVE as his "girlfriend," after watching Hello Dolly! over and over, all these many years. Awww...! While EVE remains determined to complete her "mission" ---whatever it is--- Wall-e tries to give her gifts like he saw people do in the movie. In time he gives her a plant he found days earlier. Suddenly, EVE grabs the plant and goes into sleep mode, with her spaceship grabbing her away and taking her back "home"...wherever that is. Wall-e, distraught, grabs the hull of the ship and goes along for the ride. We soon learn that all of the surviving members of humanity are on a colossal spaceship called the AXIOM. Humans have become so lethargic they just float around on these chairs that resemble high tech futons, while watching the TV's in front of them and ignoring the "world" around them. The robots of this ship, aside from actually working, seemingly go about their daily routines, much like the humans. The unexpected arrival of Wall-e on their ship causes a vast change in the world around them, causing both robots and humans alike to act differently. In particularly, EVE begins to take a liking to Wall-e...though what is her mission, and can it, and Wall-e, save the Earth? What makes this movie so great is the titular character. Wall-e barely says more than two separate words throughout the movie, and yet he is perhaps the most expressive and sympathetic robot in a sci-fi since R2-D2...ironic, since Artoo himself never spoke a complete sentence, either. You have to love the attention to detail in Wall-e ---Apple computer fans will smile the first time they hear Wall-e's startup sound--- with mannerisms which never stray from his limited robot frame, yet still remain expressive, emotional, and frankly, pretty darned lovable. He's quite probably one of my favorite robots of all time (I feel a new Top Ten List feature story brewing). He's just perfect! The best asset to this movie, however. is how perfectly handled the romance story is, between Wall-e and EVE. While a robot "love story" is nothing new in sci-fi, all earlier attempts at such a story were either too perverse (Demon Seed), too prepubescent (Bicentennial Man), or, simply, boring and mundane (Heartbeeps). This is an innocent tale of a little robot who sees the world innocently and innocently wants a "girlfriend," like he sees in the old movies. The resulting story is not just the best robot story of all time; it actually succeeds as a really good romance movie overall. Seriously; if you're looking for a great date movie, you can't do much better than Wall-e this summer. Flaws? Not many, to be sure, though there is one aspect that kept me from giving it a perfect five star rating...though only by half a star! Simply put: I find it curious that someone decided to make every human on the ship "fat." While an environmental message is all well and good, it's intriguing to note that for decades, sci-fi writers felt the opposite was true; that lethargy would turn humans into skinny little weaklings. The story would've been much more effective concentrating completely on a "save the planet" message, and not dragging in a message like "stop eating so much, fatty," which frankly was not as effective. Yet aside from that tacked-on diet message, this movie is among my favorite Pixar films of all time. It even has a hilarious animated short about a magician and his bunny tacked onto it in theaters, which is seemingly a spiritual salute to classic slapstick animated shorts in classic movie theaters. It's a a perfect addition to Wall-e on several levels, and proves a point. Pixar doesn't just have a handle on what modern kids want in a movie; they know what was popular in the classic days of animation as well. That's what makes such movies perfect for all ages...with Wall-e among the best of them. The DVD Review: The DVD for this one would have to be great, because quite frankly Pixar really needed this to be a hit...and I'd say it certainly was. To be frank, while I admire almost all the Pixar films, they really haven't pushed the envelope since The Incredibles. Though you already scrolled through the review which said all this in more detail, so let's move on to the DVD. I guess what I'm getting at is: this needs to be a top selling DVD, as well as a hit movie. So they really went all-out with the extras, on not just a two disc special edition, though three whole discs. Even by high definition standards; what movie could possibly allow for two discs of extras, in addition to the movie? Well, let's first say that if you aren't falling for the marketing hype, feel free to buy the one-disc version, which is more than worth the discounted price. Even on this singular disc you get no less than four extras, including: audio commentary by director Andrew Stanton; that cool animated short, Presto (the one with the magician and his bunny in a sort of Warner Brothers style slapstick routine); an animation sound design featurette; an additional Pixar short called "Burn-e" (a small robot tries and tries to fix a light bulb); and deleted scenes. Keep in mind that as an added bonus; the deleted scenes are surprisingly fully animated and not just black and white sketch art like most animated "deleted scenes" elsewhere. I won't spoil them though, so you have to watch them for yourself. So with all that on disc one (and, I am presuming, offered on the one-disc version as well), what is offered on three discs? Disc two offers a thorough, full length (almost 90 minutes) feature called "The Pixar Story," which was a 2007 documentary directed by directed by Leslie Iwerks. If the last name sounds familiar; she's the granddaughter of famed Disney animator Ub Iwerks. Many a critic and fan alike have said this documentary is worth the three disc set alone, and I agree, especially when they add it to Wall-e. Additional extras on disc two include all the mock environmental commercials from the film about the fictional company "Buy-n-Large," Six behind the scenes featurettes (each covering a different stage of production), and two more deleted scenes, though this time in very rough cut storyboard form. This disc also has extras for the kids, like a storybook, information on robots, and some added Wall-e animations for them to enjoy after the movie. Then comes disc three. This disc includes a digital copy of the film which can be transferred to your portable video device. Of course this is not the sort of extra they want anyone to take advantage of, so don't expect "any" digital video playback device to be compatible. In a nutshell; if you have anything compatible with iTunes you're pretty much set. Likewise for your home PC. Yet other unique video devices, like your favorite video game system, is not likely to do the job. Then again; anything other than the Nintendo Wii plays DVDs these days, so just put the disc itself in the drive and play it, right? In short this is a DVD more than worth the price for the movie alone. Is it worth the added price for the two extra discs? I'd say yes. Even if you're not a portable digital video fanatic (making disc three pretty moot), the documentary is worth buying separately. Packaged with Wall-e is a perfect purchase all across the board.
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