Wall-E

Wall-E

2008

Directed by Andrew Stanton

The films of Pixar continue to amaze me. For a while, I thought the films were falling into a familiar pattern. Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, and Finding Nemo all seemed to have similar story lines to me... finding someone who was lost. These films were very enjoyable, but to me it felt like Pixar was following a simple formula for each of their films. Ratatouille was the first Pixar film that, to me, really broke this mold. That was a great film, and Wall-E in comparison is an outstanding film.

Wall-E is such a great mixture of comedy and melancholy. Wall-E himself is a sweet, funny, and sad looking character. His eyes are so full of expression that the viewer almost automatically connects with him and his plight. One of the great things about this film, is that most of the film is without dialogue and emotions have to be conveyed through body language. The animators did a spectacular job of this, and this visual language is one of the reasons that this is such a strong film. 

The film presents a very pessimistic view of humanity and the future. Earth has become so polluted that humans have to evacuate the planet. Robots have been trusted to clean up the earth, but the planet may never recover. This is one element that adds to the melancholy of the film. Wall-E is alone and lonely, but it is the fault of the human race that causes him to be put in this situation.  Humans are depicted later on in the film as inactive blobs who have become so complacent in their lives that they have forgotten what it is like to be human.  The film does end on an optimistic note... but an incredible amount of hard work is necessary in order to maintain this happy ending.

Rustin Allison

Dead Space: Downfall

Dead Space: Downfall

2008

Directed by Chuck Patton

This will be the last short post. I just had too many films backing up on me and too little time at the moment to catch up! I do want to keep my New Year's resolution and write about every film that I have seen this year, so even though they may be short -- I'm still writing!

I enjoyed the video game quite a bit. It had a great way of building dread and suspense in a very claustrophobic atmosphere. I can't quite say the same for this film. The film is worth watching for a bit of back story leading up to the events in the video game, but this information can be gathered from the game anyway. The film didn't really create any sense of dread or horror, and the characters weren't fleshed out enough to care about.

Rustin Allison

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

2008

Directed by Andrew Adamson

These next few posts are going to be very short, as I have fallen a bit behind and I need to catch up!

This is a much darker film than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is an enjoyable film, but much like its successor, it has many shortcomings. Some of the lines are pretty horrible and some of the scenes are way too long.

Rustin Allison