WALL-E is unsure

I was prepared to offer a stellar review of WALL-E after seeing it this past holiday weekend. Unfortunately for WALL-E, I can't do that. The problem with it is that it is forgettable.

I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on this because I think that most people who want to see it will and they can all judge it for themselves. But in a nutshell, it is a wonderfully well animated feature length film that does not appear to know what it wants to accomplish nor is it memorable. It is one of the first Pixar films that I've actually been disappointed in.

The sad part is I don't think this is Pixar's fault to some degree. I think it is just the fact that this film is caught in the evolution of the animated picture from strictly kid and family fair to a full blown medium for serious topics. Pixar just tried to straddle the line and in my opinion, they didn't succeed.

When I finished the movie, I tried to understand why I didn't like it. My kids seemed to enjoy it a great deal and that probably is all that should matter. Frankly, that is all that really matters to me too.

Had this been a work of pure science fiction and been in written form, it would have been ridiculous with all the antics in the middle of it. You can't take a subject matter like this and mix it up with slapstick comedy. At least, for me, it doesn't work. I'm sure there are many others who thought it all worked just fine and that's great. Just don't expect me to rate this high on my list too.

One final point, the mixing of live actors with the animation just struck me as the most horribly misguided thing Pixar could have ever tried. How do full blown actors go from their "live" existence to the caricatures of their future selves in ballooned up animated form? The progression just doesn't work. They should have stuck to the animated versions of people in every instance.

I think the real big problem with this show is what most people came away with that I spoke to. The animated short before WALL-E just blew people away. It upstaged the movie in almost every way possible and was hysterical. Having it at the beginning of the film was perhaps the worst decision Pixar could have ever made because WALL-E just could not live up to the bar that had been set right from the very start.