Wall-E - Pixar's next film (after Ratatouille)

[Disney's Divinity]

I have to agree with him though. I haven't seen the film (I've been skimming around any major spoilers in this thread--I plan to see it eventually), but I'm disappointed to find that this movie's really just some kind of love story. Ignoring the fact that I was expecting something more interesting, it's impossible for a robot to feel emotion and just insane to even bother saying so.

[Simba3]

it's impossible for a robot to feel emotion and just insane to even bother saying so.

Also impossible:

*Walking, talking children's toys

*Talking cars living in a world with no humans

*Talking, cooking rats

*Monster's living in your closet in an alternate universe.

Need I go on? It's a MOVIE!! Since when have Disney or Pixar taken into consideration what is possible and what is impossible. It's a story, appreciate it for what it is. It's cute, clever and something new and wonderful for Disney and Pixar.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

it's impossible for a robot to feel emotion and just insane to even bother saying so.

Also impossible:

*Walking, talking children's toys

*Talking cars living in a world with no humans

*Talking, cooking rats

*Monster's living in your closet in an alternate universe.

To even go further to the list of the impossible:

*Evil stepmothers that have spell-books

*A type of non-human organism that has speech patterns almost exactly the same as those of a human

*Fairy God-mothers

*Fairies

*Witches

*Enchantress' who punishes kids just for following the rules and refuse to talk to strangers.

I can believe robots getting intelligence one day and thinking on it's own like a human one day far more than any of the above.

I obviously didn't think Wall-E was a perfect film(mostly because of the flawed 2nd half), but I think it's a pretty preposterous complaint to not like a film just because robots falling in love isn't realistic.

As has been philosophied Walt Disney and the 9 old men, animation is not about life, it's about the illusion of life: where the unbelievable can be believable.

Something animated can get tons of critiques, but realism should never be one of them.

[Disney's Divinity]

Also impossible:

*Walking, talking children's toys

*Talking cars living in a world with no humans

*Talking, cooking rats

*Monster's living in your closet in an alternate universe.

The difference between those films and WALL E is that they set up no difference between normal people and the cast, whereas WALL E is obviously a robot created by humans in our world. For some reason, people seem to think me finding a movie with inorganic objects who have feelings slightly unappealing means that I believe everything in a film should automatically make sense. Talk about over-exaggeration.

[ToyStoryFan]

Well, the film takes place 700 years in the future. Just assume that by then, robots CAN feel emotion.

[Simba3]

For some reason, people seem to think me finding a movie with inorganic objects who have feelings slightly unappealing means that I believe everything in a film should automatically make sense. Talk about over-exaggeration.

My point is that I don't understand your argument. This is not the first Pixar film to include characters that are inorganic objects who have feeling. Cars and the Toy Story films both offer the same thing, so why such the fuss about Wall-E? Did you dislike the other films for the same reason?

[Siren]

Well, the film takes place 700 years in the future. Just assume that by then, robots CAN feel emotion.

Emotion itself is the result of positive or negative stimuli. A smile is a positive stimuli, thus we will likely smile. Where as a raised voice is a negative stimuli, our reaction will also be negative be it scared/angry.
The technology is there not for robots to react to emotional stimuli and then project a realistic action/feeling to that. So you are right, in the future, robots will likely have very realistic simulations of emotions. It won't be as exact as humans or as real and organic, but robots can and will be able to show emotion.

[Ariel'sprince]

it's impossible for a robot to feel emotion and just insane to even bother saying so.

You know,I also thought the same but I guess that WALL-E can feel like a shark can be vegetarian,a rat can cock,a car and fall in love too and be like a human and a toy can talk and live.

[ToyStoryFan]

I *SORT OF* see the point he was trying to make -- Monsters Inc. Finding Nemo etc all take place in an obviously different world. WALL-E is very much a "real world" film, in that it takes place here on Earth, real human characters are there, etc. It's OUR world. No talking animals, no superpowers or anything fantasy like that.

I still think though this is a flawed argument. I mean, there are countless films set in our world with impossible things happening. How boring woud it be if every film followed real life rules? Mary Poppins takes place in our world, but people can't jump through chalk drawings in real life. That doesn't make it any less of a film.

[yoda_four]

I *SORT OF* see the point he was trying to make -- Monsters Inc. Finding Nemo etc all take place in an obviously different world. WALL-E is very much a "real world" film, in that it takes place here on Earth, real human characters are there, etc. It's OUR world. No talking animals, no superpowers or anything fantasy like that.

I still think though this is a flawed argument. I mean, there are countless films set in our world with impossible things happening. How boring woud it be if every film followed real life rules? Mary Poppins takes place in our world, but people can't jump through chalk drawings in real life. That doesn't make it any less of a film.

Actually, I happen to think almost all of Pixar's movies excel at creating "believability" and almost all of them could have happened in our world: Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo definitely, and to a lesser degree Toy Story, A Bug's Life, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. Only Cars exists in a parallel universe inhabited only by talking cars.

Wall-E just takes in to a higher level by basing the premise on human actions (global over consumption) and incorporating these real life humans into the film. That said, I don't think it took away from the "believability" of the film for me.

In terms of the theme of the movie, it was first and foremost a love story - the environmental message was never intended to be the primary focus, as Stanton has said in numerous interviews.

I like to sum the theme up like this:

Wall-E is about loving yourself, loving others, and loving the Earth.

[blackcauldron85]

The Disney Blog posted a YouTube video of interacting WALL-E & EVE robots!!!

http://thedisneyblog.com/2008/06/30/wal ... plus-more/

[Disney Duster]

Escapay, Snow White and Aurora were dreaming of their princes until true love's kiss. They never forgot their princes, their love for their princes, or who they were themselves. The idea is, even when you're dead, you're not really dead, you still have your memories and who you are. Or, well, they're not dead they're just sleeping.

In Wall-E, the robot comes back to life, he isn't dead, but he has forgotten. It's like he's alive but no longer himself. So he's brought back to himself with something he's never done, something he's never felt?

Thanks for trying to see what I mean and sharing your own thoughts on the subject, Disney's Divinity.

Okay everyone else except maybe ToyStoryFan, there's organic, natural animals, especially mammals, that are in a film like "The Lion King" and are supposed to feel the same things humans do, including talk and believing we go on after we die. They are supposed to be very much like the people watching the film, except in body and perhaps other differences, but we feel the same. Humans are animals, after all.

But then there's artificial robot affection which is marketed and sold to us as real love. The same love we feel.

No, we watch what they do on screen, and their simulated emotions make us feel membrances of real emotion, and we will laugh or cry during the film with our real emotions.

Yes, in a way it's like an animated movie, which is not real, but makes us feel real emotions. But usually it would be about creatures made by nature. Wall-E is a film about robots made by humans and they aren't supposed to feel emotions or develop personalities, but then they do - fake ones. To say that man-made robots are feeling real emotion is just insulting to me.

What I find insulting is to say that Wall-E and Eve are feeling the same love humans do, and they are people's favorite movie couple, etc. I believe they can fall in robot love, but not real love.

Aside from all this, there's the insult to animation that is the positive portrayals of live-action humans turning into the negative cartoony blobs that have forgotten what it means to be human. I thought they already made the insult that animation wasn't human in Enchanted?

And the story wasn't much of a story as it was watching a plant go back and forth from one place or one group to the other. Or "Let's go back to Earth." "No." "Yes." "No." "Yes."

[2099net]

I'm not sure why this "robot Emotion thingy" has become so big an issue really.

Does anyone feel the droids in Star Wars show emotions that they shouldn't have for example?

Part of me wonders if its because CGI can look more "real" than drawn animation, especially the environments. Meh, but then, Star Wars IS real (well until the special editions or the prequels anyway) and C3PO never caused a controversy. And he not only shows emotion, but is rather camp too!

[Okie Tigger]

This is really quite mind-boggling and hilarious at the same time. The argument is much more suited to a film like A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The fact that this issue puts you off so much re: WALL-E just seems odd to me.

Anyway, I'm sorry that you didn't get much enjoyment from WALL-E and wish you well with this raging anti-robot bigotry thing you got working.

[dvdjunkie]

Since when do we go into a movie from Disney/Pixar thinking that we are going to find emotionless, unsympathetic, unlovable, unique characters?

If you paid any attention to the movie instead of trying to pick it a part you would have seen that "Wall-E" has this old copy of "Hello Dolly" and he keeps re-running the scenes of the boy and girl falling in love and he begins his search, albeit in vain, for his 'true love'. Then this female robot is sent to Earth to find out if there is anything living there, and after almost killing Wall-E several different times, they discover each other. She tolerates him, he is infatuated with her, and never shall the twain become instant love.

I found the most disturbing part of "Wall-E" to be the survivors of 700 years in space have become these 'out-of-shape', bulbous, pear-shaped couch potatoes the cruise around on their recliners getting waited on hand and foot by robots. This could be 'our' future if we don't change our ways. Depending on a GPS to find our way to the closest Wal-Mart is pretty close to being stupid. Watching a movie on a two-inch iPOD screen is pointless, and not being able to make change for a dollar without looking at the computer screen to find out how much you owe is really the epitome of what we are becoming.

Sorry if this rant got out of hand, but these are only movies people!! We are supposed to be entertained, and made to feel better about ourselves in most cases. After seeing "Wall-E" four times, so far, I can honestly say that I come out of the movie theater wanting to turn right around and buy another ticket to the next showing, and no other movie has made me want to do that.

[Escapay]

Escapay, Snow White and Aurora were dreaming of their princes until true love's kiss. They never forgot their princes, their love for their princes, or who they were themselves. The idea is, even when you're dead, you're not really dead, you still have your memories and who you are. Or, well, they're not dead they're just sleeping.

That's not my point. It's all about the suspension of disbelief. There are various conveniences/actions that are simply not possible in real life, and yet we accept them in movies because it not only helps the story, but because we've already accepted plenty of fictional situations. Two robots holding hands to regain one robot's memory is just as unbelievable as a princess under a spell being awaken by someone's lips pressed against hers.

yoda:
Wall-E is about loving yourself, loving others, and loving the Earth.

Bill:
Since when do we go into a movie from Disney/Pixar thinking that we are going to find emotionless, unsympathetic, unlovable, unique characters?

<snip>

Sorry if this rant got out of hand, but these are only movies people!! We are supposed to be entertained, and made to feel better about ourselves in most cases.

Exactly! We go into a movie to be entertained. Sure, some elements may not be scientifically accurate or humanly possible, but the whole point of movies is to entertain the audience, presenting characters that elicit specific emotions from its viewers and resulting in the message that yoda said: love yourself, love others, love your home.

Watching a movie on a two-inch iPOD screen is pointless,

Yes, but if you're WALL-E, you'll have a big magnifying glass to make the screen bigger!

Albert

[jrboy]

Monday (Day 4)
Box Office break down

Wall-E ------------ $8,913,286 // $72,000,812
Ratatouille ------- $7,550,960 // $54,578,355
Cars -------------- $6,407,907 // $66,527,416
The Incredibles - $3,802,480 // $74,270,103
Finding Nemo ---- $6,945,560 // $77,197,270

[Okie Tigger]

That's an impressive 1st Monday.

[Simba3]

I'm glad that Wall-E is doing well, and I think the long 4th of July weekend will only help it keep going. I think this one will definitely pass the $200 million mark, hopefully even hit $250 mill.

[dvdjunkie]

Want to see "Wall-E"??? Then quick go to this:

http://www.watch-movies.net


You can watch almost any movie you want right here. Some are really great, others are .......... well, they leave a little to be desired.

Your choice. But "Wall-E" is one of the choices.