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

Speed Racer

Speed Racer

2008

Directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski

This was a movie I rented mainly out of curiosity. How did a big-budget family-aimed film do so poorly at the box office? I still am not sure... because I actually really enjoyed the film. Yes, it is a long film for a kid-oriented flick, but I never once was bored with it. Even though I knew Speed Racer would win his races, I was still silently cheering him on. 

The movie is full of glorious racing sequences that are full of over the top visuals. They are very trippy but I thought that in a way they made the audience feel what it would be like to be in a high-speed racing car. I also really enjoyed how some of the transitions were done. Little details from a scene would gradually fill up the screen until the transition was made.

The acting was just as stylized as the rest of the film and I really enjoyed John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Speed Racer's parents. 

I came to this film expecting a complete mess but actually came away really enjoying it.

Rustin Allison