Wall-E: Second Time Around
Watched Wall-E again with the kids this evening. This time around it really seemed like a kids movie. This is a good thing. Too many movies that are ostensibly for kids try to appeal to adults or teenagers by including elements of pop culture or pop psychology. An example of this is the horrible Chicken Little. Wall-E has a simple story. The characters have simple motives. I far prefer this to the kind of fake depth and “darkness” that have made the Harry Potter films so unpleasant.
I remember that when it was released some people questioned whether a film with so little dialog would appeal to children. On second viewing this seems even more ludicrous than it did last year. I can’t imagine any dialog in the first half of the movie that wouldn’t be totally redundant and distracting.
Here, I am … Lonely Wall-E … Only a cockroach for a friend … Wow! What’s that light? … Hey! That’s hot! Hmmm, she’s hot.”
So much is communicated in their gestures and expressions that I actually think Eve and Wall-E talk a little too much.
Actually WALL-E didn’t try to appeal to adults or children specifically. Pixar makes the films they want to see, if they just happen to appeal to kids that’s okay too. So, in fact, WALL-E can be considered just as much adult animation as kids animation. You’ll see it on many “animation for adults” lists and very well it should be. It’s a brilliant piece of cinema with far more intelligence and charm than most live action movies which are supposedly “for adults” ever had.
Matt, I’ve got a lot of respect for Pixar and their approach. I certainly agree with your comment about this movie’s intelligence and charm.