Cartoons (2)

Via Frank Rich, a satirical Web site for Buy n Large, the villainous corporate entity in Wall-E. I don't know why everyone in Hollywood is prejudiced against silent movies; in some cases, movies really do look better without dialogue. Just because voice recording technology is there does not mean you always have to use it. Anyway, the visual attention to detail in this film is very advanced, especially in the opening scenes of an abandoned urban landscape. The first 45 minutes or so have no speaking parts, except for robot noises and television clips. It's lovely to behold. The second half, which takes place in space, has a visceral amusement park quality; we get to see contraptions zip through the stars and along the corridors of an artificial living environment. It's a fun movie all the way through, but it turns into a standard-issue science fiction plot, with way too heavy-handed allusions to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ending does not make sense, but that's okay.

Comments

[yazi]

C had the idea that if you just cut the movie after Eve arrives on Earth (maybe he follows her around for awhile and they end up holding hands -- maybe not) and call it a short film, it would be much, much better. I totally agree. The beginning so visually (and aurally) compelling. And the dreary dystopia of it (as opposed to the amusement park dystopia of the latter portion) was chillingly fascinating.

[Avery Palmer]

This idea would allow the two robots to repopulate the earth with new intelligent life forms, as the name Eve implies already. The film never made it clear if robots could reproduce, but I'm sure they can in some fashion. Maybe Wall-E and Eve could build a new robot and that would be like having a baby.

On a similar note, I was surprised the movie never did anything with the cockroach. I could see a new society of evolved cockroaches and robots coexisting.