Thursday, October 23, 2008

Quick Pixar review

Saw Wall E on the weekend.

Charming enough, but not especially memorable. Like Ratatouille, the reviewers liked it more the public, it seems. Its relatively modest box office (for Pixar) is quite understandable: kids can't be counted on to like dystopia movies (even ones with optimistic endings), and their parents don't like being reminded they are too fat.

Overall, it's a mid-level Pixar. Thinking about the body of work again, I increasing tend to rate the funniest, wittiest script of them all as being in Monsters Inc, although A Bug's Life is full of wit too. (You really ought to rent Monsters Inc if you have never seen it.) The most exciting visually was easily The Incredibles. Toy Story had much charm, and the great advantage of novelty. Ratatouille is still the most adult themed, even if it does feature talking rats.

Finding Nemo remains, to my mind, a bit of a dud, but Cars was the least successful of all.

In any case, the supporting Pixar shorts are always excellent. "Presto," showing with Wall E, is one of the best.

1 comment:

TimT said...

I was fascinated in dystopias as a kid, they just scared the hell out of me.