I checked out Disney's latest animated feature last night and I must say...I thought it was genius. Wall-E, the character was sparked when Disney decided to put a mandate on Pixar that it would ban any animal driven characters for the next ten years. This caused an outside of the box thinking by those at pixar to create the unconventional. Wall-E was the result and it is just that...unconventional. Most animated features sell themselves on the voice talent used. Wall-E goes the other way without a line uttered until 20 plus minutes into the film. I read an article with creator Andrew Stanton and he spoke about a unique problem he had when designing the character of Wall-E. That problem, emotion or the lack thereof. Pixar couldn't figure out how to give a character without a mouth and eyes emotion. 95% of acting is in the eyes and Wall-E had none. After months of thinking about it, the idea came to Andrew Stanton at the most unlikely of places. He took his son to a baseball game. Around the 3rd inning he pulled out his binoculars and realized at that moment that if Wall-E had eyes that pivoted like that of binoculars that pixar could then convey emotion through that movement. Outside the box.
I found Wall-E's commentary on people, emotion, global warming, love, laziness, loneliness, purpose, fate, etc. to make for an amazing experience. Disney and Pixar should be commended in its effort. I don't know if I am the target audience for them but by having avoided anything animated over the last eight years, they reached me. I can't wait to see what comes next from these two companies. Here is the teaser that I saw over a year and a half ago that peaked my interest in the project.
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1 comment:
The guy needed binoculars at his son's baseball game? I find that odd. I mean, really, how large is the field?
as to the actual premise of the post...I agree; I thought the movie was well done - AND - I have seen loads of animated movies because I am secretly a 5 year old on the inside.
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