On this date in 2008: Walt Disney Pictures releases WALL•E produced by Pixar Animation Studios. Along with cleaning up waste left behind on Earth, the film’s trash-compacting robot would go on to collect the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, numerous other accolades, and $521.3 million gross worldwide over a $180 million budget.
From Wikipedia: “To animate their robots, the film’s story crew and animation crew watched a Keaton and a Charlie Chaplin film every day for almost a year, and occasionally a Harold Lloyd picture. Afterwards, the filmmakers knew all emotions could be conveyed silently. [Director Andrew] Stanton cited Keaton’s ‘great stone face’ as giving them perseverance in animating a character with an unchanging expression.”
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This is one of Pixar's most forgotten classics.
I really did not understand why people liked this movie. It has some good moments, but I actually consider it one of Pixar's weaker original entries.
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This film got a lot of love when it first came out from the animation community for the visual storytelling, where roughly the first half hour didn't have practically any dialog, yet there was empathy created for robots through their actions and "emotions".
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Thanks for sharing, the opening scene conveys everything about Wall.E, without words. That is an excellent resource in order to master show, don't tell.
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Thank you for sharing! I never knew the animators were inspired by our greatest silent stars, makes it even a more meaningful watch. Robots and dogs pull at my tender-heart!!
Dane Johnson WALL-E is definitely up there as one of my favourite Pixar films. Terrence Sellers I did feel the same for a while as I watched it when I was younger. But having rewatched it last year, knowing what I learnt from screenwriting, it is actually a great film. Lots of lessons to learn. That's what I got from a rewatch.
Marvin Younathin I don't consider it a badly written film so much as a film that just inherently has a weak plot and focuses way more on showing off than telling a compelling story. Like the fact that the first 20 or so minutes are basically silent doesn't strengthen the story. It just shows off the animation. We could get that he's lonely in significantly less time. Any spec script with that opening would get passed on immediately.
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Terrence Sellers I agree, WALL-E's script would not get greenlit in Hollywood, which is what helped Pixar breakout from the the pack, by being different. Unfortunately I feel that they are conforming to the Hollywood formula now and their newer movies are not as strong.
There was plenty of story in the opening twenty minutes to WALL-E than him just being lonely. The state of the world was thoroughly established, WALL-E's personality and desires were introduced, EVE's character and arc get introduced and established as well as the love story between her and WALL-E, and the inciting incident happens as the plant is found and EVE shuts down.
Whether we like it or not, it is hard to deny its success. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay got 95% critic score and 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and grossed half a billion dollars.