August
3WALL-E; The Bright Knight
I realize the big box office news this weekend is focused on “The Dark Knight” (yet again) but the intriguing statistic to me is this: “WALL-E” has passed the $200 million mark in the U.S.
“WALL-E” is the Bright Knight.
Sure, it’s a Pixar picture and Pixar always makes hits, but “WALL-E” surprised me for several reasons:
It’s a message movie. It has an absurd title. Compared with the big animated hits of the past, “WALL-E” is neither that funny nor that entertaining. There’s no real heavy and hence no jeopardy.
You would think the kids would text-message each other that “WALL-E” is too preachy and that it’s even a bit of a downer. All those fat people stuck on a space ship. That’s no fun.
The success of “WALL-E” in fact reminds me of the theory about animation enunciated by Matt Groening, who created a little show called “The Simpsons.”
"Good animation is written for adults, not for children," Groening stated in the summer issue of Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild. “The secret of our success is that the show was written for a smart audience.”
Groening first sketched out the Simpson family in five minutes while waiting to pitch a show called “Life in Hell.” His scribbles, of course, turned out to be a billion dollar idea which ensured that Groening would never have even a fleeting visitation in development hell.
“WALL-E” won’t hit a billion, but it will beat the amazing success of Pixar’s “Ratatouille” in the U.S. and already is approaching $75 million in a slow rollout overseas. That’s a pretty good achievement for a movie that basically seems to break all the rules (except for Matt Groening’s).
“WALL-E” is the Bright Knight.
Sure, it’s a Pixar picture and Pixar always makes hits, but “WALL-E” surprised me for several reasons:
It’s a message movie. It has an absurd title. Compared with the big animated hits of the past, “WALL-E” is neither that funny nor that entertaining. There’s no real heavy and hence no jeopardy.
You would think the kids would text-message each other that “WALL-E” is too preachy and that it’s even a bit of a downer. All those fat people stuck on a space ship. That’s no fun.
The success of “WALL-E” in fact reminds me of the theory about animation enunciated by Matt Groening, who created a little show called “The Simpsons.”
"Good animation is written for adults, not for children," Groening stated in the summer issue of Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild. “The secret of our success is that the show was written for a smart audience.”
Groening first sketched out the Simpson family in five minutes while waiting to pitch a show called “Life in Hell.” His scribbles, of course, turned out to be a billion dollar idea which ensured that Groening would never have even a fleeting visitation in development hell.
“WALL-E” won’t hit a billion, but it will beat the amazing success of Pixar’s “Ratatouille” in the U.S. and already is approaching $75 million in a slow rollout overseas. That’s a pretty good achievement for a movie that basically seems to break all the rules (except for Matt Groening’s).
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While folks here seem to enjoy arguing if kids "get" WALL*E or RATATOUILLE, their parents clearly do, and I think that''s a very big part of Pixar''s success -- they make thoughtful, beautifully crafted and entertaining movies that are safe for the kiddies but also have something an adult mind can chew on, and even the weakest of their films (I''m looking at you, CARS) has more substance than anything Dreamwork has foisted upon us. And when I was a kid, we sat through stories all the time that had clear messages attached to them ... they were called fables.
Posted by: Mark Lansing | 8/5/2008 6:19:24 PM
Would WALL*E, or Ratatouille, make half that amount at box offices, if Disney's hype machine hadn't been raging, and if the studio hadn't built up decades of audience trust in the brand? Both films are beautiful, artistic and dull as dishwater. Both were sold to the public as being from the creators of (fill-in-the-blank with titles of more successful, entertaining -- for all -- movies). Will a child who loved Finding Nemo, Toy Story or The Incredibles have the same affection for WALL*E or Rat Patootie? No, but the brand pulls them, and their parents' wallets, into theaters in hopes of the same kind of experience. Purely bait-and-switch tactics, from a studio that long ago forgot what it means to care of its audience, and not animators' egos.
Posted by: Walt's head | 8/5/2008 12:32:53 PM
I'm not sure which I find more entertaining, Peter Bart's reviews or the rabid fan boy rebuttals that inevitably follow each and every one. This is some Hate-Club Peter's got going on here.
Posted by: Mikie | 8/5/2008 11:31:31 AM
Peter --- I've NEVER EVER in my entire life heard a liitle kid say that a movie is "too preachy". That's a strictly adult reaction to Wall*E (and strictly adult conservative republican at that). Kids do not, and have not ever, used words like "preachy" in regards to robot movies.... no unless some pathetic parent taught them to.
"Momma's gonna put all of her fears into you..." --- Roger Waters)
Posted by: Dan | 8/4/2008 4:32:25 PM
TOM: You should see the movie yourself rather than basing your filmgoing decisions on the tastes of a 7 year old. I don't want to give away the ending but I'm not sure what part of finding your true love and saving the earth constitutes a film being "sad in the end." WALL-E is anything but sad. Your stepson's opinion aside, Peter Bart obviously like the film but I think he must have seen a different version. What about the movie was a "downer?" It has an uplifting, hopeful message and one of the nicest endings of any mainstream film I've seen in years. All the "fat people stuck on a space ship" was not supposed to fun. That was the whole point of the film. Duh! Maybe if more commercial releases would "break all the rules" we'd have more films like WALL-E and RATATOUILLE and less empty junk like SPACE CHIMPS and KUNG FU PANDA.
Posted by: Ron H. | 8/4/2008 2:38:02 PM
LITTLE BILLY: I think Matt Groening said it best when referring to animation written for "smart" audiences. Based on your posting, it's clear you are not a member of that group. For the rest of us, who helped propel the brilliant, delightful and highly entertaining WALL-E over the $200 million mark, I'm happy Pixar and Disney didn't use test audiences made up of people like you to determine the potential for this film.
Posted by: Ron H. | 8/4/2008 2:28:56 PM
WALL-E was top drawer, best film I have seen in a long while. If I honest I enjoyed it more than The Dark Knight which was fantastic. WALL-E played to Children and Adults alike.
I was surprised by the depiction of the Humans in the future, I didn't think a mainstream Studio film would include such a strong social statement in it's movie. Hats off to PIXAR they never fail to impress.
Posted by: The Real Hoff | 8/4/2008 5:24:48 AM
"An apocalyptic, death-by-consumerism future, set to a song from Hello Dolly!" Yeah. That sounds like a good time. I haven't seen a Pixar Pic since they tortured me with "CARS." It's a CAR, man, can't it drive somewhere more interesting?
Groening still does "Life In Hell." It's become pretty terrible, as if written and drawn by 'Little Billy' Keane. But for full-strength "Hell," check out the collected "Life In Hell" strips from the eighties.
Posted by: Little Billy | 8/4/2008 2:40:06 AM
my 7 year old stepson saw it (I haven't) and when we were deciding on a movie to see, he told me he didn't want to see WALL-E again because it was sad in the end.
Posted by: Tom | 8/4/2008 12:44:19 AM
“WALL-E†is neither that funny nor that entertaining???
By which standard? Entertainment, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and takes on many guises. There was plenty of humor to be found -- either Chaplin-esque in its simplicity in the early portions, or scathing commentary in the latter -- and as for entertaining, well...
The love story between Wall-E and Eve was entertaining. The liberation of the service bots AND the baby-like beings that humans had become was entertaining. The overthrowing of the diabolical autopilot was entertaining. The sheer visual sumptuousness of the film, even as it depicted an apocalyptic, death-by-consumerism future, set to a song from Hello Dolly! no less...that's entertaining.
No surprises here that it's hit $200 million. None at all.
Posted by: CC | 8/4/2008 12:06:25 AM