Movies: 'WALL-E'
This time with spoilers.
WALL-E? Totally John Crichton. Eve? Aeryn Sun, only in white ceramic instead of black leather.
Now that we have that out of the way...
Parts of this movie I really, really loved. Like, everything that had been hinted at in the trailers - lonely little robot, journey of discovery into space, all that.
Parts of this movie were a complex mix of totally didn't see that coming and you have GOT to be kidding me. Other parts were not so much an issue for me, but I could see where other people would be jumping up and down screaming about it.
First, the things I loved:
- WALL-E, you wonderful little working-man of a robot. Don't care if your phrase is "work ethic" or "duty concept" or "make it happen", this guy had it. Beyond the characterization, I also loved the animation/transformation of the robot body. It never stopped being fun to watch.
- EVE - totally bad-ass. The temper-tantrum when she blew a hole in the beached ships - heh.
- Space - this movie did, I think, a pretty good job working in science and space exploration for kids.
- Other robots - omg, the robot insane asylum sequence was hysterical (and not, I thought, too inaccurate/offensive in depiction, although I'd be interested in other opinions on this.) My favorite of the other robots was the pissy little floor cleaner with the rotating cylinder brush. Loved that guy.
Things more iffy (and possibly squee-harshing)
- Moral messages: my god, could they have been any more obvious? Evil big corps. Evil big corp CEOs who will omg take over the government. Evil big corps who will trash the planet! Humans all fallen into the double trap of 'supersize me!' and the boobtube! They will brainwash the childern! Won't you think about the childern! THIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!
...and don't get me started on the credit-tag at the end, where now instead of WALL-E's waste land, the earth is full of corn and rivers with fish and all that.
- Eve's role as incubator of life. Yeah, some one's gonna have a fit over that. (Fannish perception creep happens more than just one way.) I myself was not happy with the 'giggle' factor (see this article (via Cofax) for more related thoughts.) While the coding of EVE as female wasn't as severe as others I have seen, it was compounded, imo, by the lack of necessity for such a thing. (see more below) EditOh, and the carting the comatose EVE about, on a leash? In the rowboat? oh, lordy, do we ever have a metric ton of crap re:consent/stalker type behavior going on. (Although, is there also room to see EVE as a significantly handicapped/paralized person? Who should not be locked up in a room and forgotten?)End edit
- Fat bloated sluggos who have abdicated all self-direction. While I agree that tv (and internet) absorbtion is a major contributing factor to the broadening of America (and the rest of humanity) and while I do agree that ready access to food is another (the other?) major factor...I think there is a lot of room for someone to look at this movie and scream about negative body images.
(Also, I think the science-based issues with microgravity were glossed over too lightly.)
- OTOH - this movie has done more to make me want to start exercising more than anything since Under Siege.
- WALL-E/EVE - whoa. This is where the gen part of me bust out with a great huge do not want. Dancing is something done by "two partners"? Even as a definition for kids, that sucks. (And it's not just square-dancing, old brit line dances, and Cotten-eyed-Joe - Where the Hell is Matt?) The emphasis of pair-bonds verses a more general "humanity" or "clan" relationships really seemed off to me.
When I could just watch the robots, I loved it. It was funny, and while the animation was great, I was more impressed by the blocking/direction - the action flowed well, and I loved WALL-E.
When I couldn't block out the propaganda, that was a less-than-enjoyable movie experience.
WALL-E? Totally John Crichton. Eve? Aeryn Sun, only in white ceramic instead of black leather.
Now that we have that out of the way...
Parts of this movie I really, really loved. Like, everything that had been hinted at in the trailers - lonely little robot, journey of discovery into space, all that.
Parts of this movie were a complex mix of totally didn't see that coming and you have GOT to be kidding me. Other parts were not so much an issue for me, but I could see where other people would be jumping up and down screaming about it.
First, the things I loved:
- WALL-E, you wonderful little working-man of a robot. Don't care if your phrase is "work ethic" or "duty concept" or "make it happen", this guy had it. Beyond the characterization, I also loved the animation/transformation of the robot body. It never stopped being fun to watch.
- EVE - totally bad-ass. The temper-tantrum when she blew a hole in the beached ships - heh.
- Space - this movie did, I think, a pretty good job working in science and space exploration for kids.
- Other robots - omg, the robot insane asylum sequence was hysterical (and not, I thought, too inaccurate/offensive in depiction, although I'd be interested in other opinions on this.) My favorite of the other robots was the pissy little floor cleaner with the rotating cylinder brush. Loved that guy.
Things more iffy (and possibly squee-harshing)
- Moral messages: my god, could they have been any more obvious? Evil big corps. Evil big corp CEOs who will omg take over the government. Evil big corps who will trash the planet! Humans all fallen into the double trap of 'supersize me!' and the boobtube! They will brainwash the childern! Won't you think about the childern! THIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!
...and don't get me started on the credit-tag at the end, where now instead of WALL-E's waste land, the earth is full of corn and rivers with fish and all that.
- Eve's role as incubator of life. Yeah, some one's gonna have a fit over that. (Fannish perception creep happens more than just one way.) I myself was not happy with the 'giggle' factor (see this article (via Cofax) for more related thoughts.) While the coding of EVE as female wasn't as severe as others I have seen, it was compounded, imo, by the lack of necessity for such a thing. (see more below) EditOh, and the carting the comatose EVE about, on a leash? In the rowboat? oh, lordy, do we ever have a metric ton of crap re:consent/stalker type behavior going on. (Although, is there also room to see EVE as a significantly handicapped/paralized person? Who should not be locked up in a room and forgotten?)End edit
- Fat bloated sluggos who have abdicated all self-direction. While I agree that tv (and internet) absorbtion is a major contributing factor to the broadening of America (and the rest of humanity) and while I do agree that ready access to food is another (the other?) major factor...I think there is a lot of room for someone to look at this movie and scream about negative body images.
(Also, I think the science-based issues with microgravity were glossed over too lightly.)
- OTOH - this movie has done more to make me want to start exercising more than anything since Under Siege.
- WALL-E/EVE - whoa. This is where the gen part of me bust out with a great huge do not want. Dancing is something done by "two partners"? Even as a definition for kids, that sucks. (And it's not just square-dancing, old brit line dances, and Cotten-eyed-Joe - Where the Hell is Matt?) The emphasis of pair-bonds verses a more general "humanity" or "clan" relationships really seemed off to me.
When I could just watch the robots, I loved it. It was funny, and while the animation was great, I was more impressed by the blocking/direction - the action flowed well, and I loved WALL-E.
When I couldn't block out the propaganda, that was a less-than-enjoyable movie experience.