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Post by MidgardDragon on Jul 31, 2008 20:41:30 GMT -5
It's sad that some people don't recognized the difference between high-caliber silent-film caliber slapstick comedy versus the "for-the-kiddies slapstick falling down" humor. I've encountered that one before, but it was from a jerk that doesn't know a good film if it bites him on the butt so I just ignored it. Hehe.
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Post by Swan on Jul 31, 2008 20:49:07 GMT -5
Cashier at music store where I am buying WALL-E soundtrack: "Did you see it?" Me: "Yes, we all loved it. Best Pixar yet." Cashier: "It had too much slapstick. 'Ratatouille' was better." Me: (trying to be polite) "Yes, well, 'Ratatouille' was very good too." (while thinking: "You mean a film in which one of the main characters spends half the movie flailing his arms around had *less* slapstick than WALL-E?") ;D Great answer.
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Post by Bubblegum on Jul 31, 2008 21:45:31 GMT -5
It's sad that some people don't recognized the difference between high-caliber silent-film caliber slapstick comedy versus the "for-the-kiddies slapstick falling down" humor. I completely agree. I'm going to rant for just a second... I HATE "kiddie" slapstick with a passion, and I avoid movies that appear to have endless amounts of it. It's just not funny for me. At all. Watching movies like that (or even just seeing the trailer for one) makes me feel as though I'm loosing about a million brain cells per second. It's not just kids movies either. There are so many teenage/adult PG-13 movies that are filled with nothing but dumb slapstick, and as long as people continue to buy tickets for these movies, people will never stop making them. I guess I should use spoiler tags... However, the slapstick in WALL-E didn't bother me at all. It was one of the rare instances where the slapstick actually added to the film, rather than simply serving as cheap laughs. For example, EVE hitting WALL-E into the side of his trailer ended up breaking his eye, which gave crucial information for the end of the film. Same thing with WALL-E being knocked over due to the force of the fire extinguisher spray.
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Post by vanessajoyce on Jul 31, 2008 21:51:05 GMT -5
Wow . . . so, so, so true, Bubblegum! I can't improve on what you said at all.
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Post by Viva la Vida on Aug 4, 2008 16:02:48 GMT -5
"Pixar is losing sight of it's child audience! They should stop trying to be all deep and meaningful, and stick to entertaining!"
I've seen this one brought up a few times, and quite frankly -- speaking as a Pixar fan since childhood -- I feel a little insulted by it.
Basically, they're bashing Pixar for precisely the reason that makes them so wonderful as a studio. It's as if they believe Pixar should restrict themselves to the narrow box that most mainstream American studios(in films and television) have reduced animation to; cheap, greasy, disposable fast food entertainment with lots of physical slapstick and potty humor and senseless screaming, filled with obnoxious one-note cliches for characters and lazy writing and cynical storylines lacking in heart or any real message, topped off with the requisite blatant spoofs of whatever's currently hip in pop culture.
Pixar is so much more than that. They approach animation as an artform with limitless potential, not as a genre to be limited by specific conventions. They don't make movies for children or marketing demographics. They make movies that reach out to people of all ages and walks of life. They appeal to children and adults alike with the universality of the story and characters, rather than that stupid so-called formula of "potty jokes and slapstick for the kiddies; sexual innuendos and 80's references for the adults" which some have flimsily praised DreamWorks for.
And after making billions for Disney and their partners for over a decade, I think Pixar have earned the right to become more experimental and take on bold, uncharted new territory, rather than retread the same old ground endlessly just because that's where the safe and guaranteed money lies.
To criticize Pixar for being innovative and actually treating their artform with respect... that's just sad.
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Post by vanessajoyce on Aug 4, 2008 16:31:28 GMT -5
Wow, everything you said was so great. And I loved how you said they've earned the right to do more experimental films. Absolutely.
And I'm glad to hear there's at least one other person in this world who doesn't think DreamWorks is some kind of gift to the history of animation I try to bite my tongue when it comes to DWs because I do believe there's room for all kinds of ideas and directions in the field of animation, but they really do try my patience with the insulting stuff they tend toward. I can tolerate Blue Sky, but only sometimes.
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Post by Khodhum on Aug 4, 2008 21:33:11 GMT -5
I think the Shrek movies are fun...but "gift to the history of animation"? No. Pixar, on the other hand, goes well beyond "fun" and gives you a fulfilling experience that you'll keep with you long after you leave the theater.
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Post by smkndofpnutdssrt on Aug 11, 2008 21:27:08 GMT -5
I read this one ridiculous review. In a nut shell, the guy said, "Pixar sucks. Therefore Wall-E sucks." Therefore, your review sucks.
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Post by Bubblegum on Aug 11, 2008 21:44:51 GMT -5
I think I know which article you're talking about. He spent the majority of the review bashing Pixar and Disney and didn't spend all that much time talking about the actual FILM.
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Post by MidgardDragon on Aug 12, 2008 8:40:38 GMT -5
Did you all ever see that one guy who was complaining his wife deleted his blogspot and that's why no one was reading his stuff? Then when you open up his reviews they're all ridiculously stupid, calling WALL-E "puerile kiddie sh*t"?
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Post by smkndofpnutdssrt on Aug 12, 2008 9:11:34 GMT -5
I think I know what you're talking about, MidgardDragon. He wrote a review and it got deleted as well as all the comments people posted about it on RottenTomatoes, and then he reposted his review, but it was less nasty than it was before. (I didn't get to read it before he changed it though) Is that the one you're thinking of?
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Post by MidgardDragon on Aug 12, 2008 9:38:51 GMT -5
I don't think so, the one I'm thinking of was one posted on IMDb by a guy with a link to his blogspot. All his reviews were basically just trolling, but he posted specifically on the WALL-E forum saying his wife deleted his acount and that all "WALL-E FANS!" should read his review. Then when you finally clicked on it, it went on to detail it as "the worst kind of puerile kiddie sh*t", confirming for me that he hadn't actually watched the movie and had just written a troll review.
I know the one you mean, though, from RottenTomatoes. Everyone commented on it for bringing the score down, then he deleted it and reposted, and then everyone commented on it again, telling him what a jerk he was and how no one would respect his opinion again. He deserved all the backlash too, because he only reposted to get his negative review back on the front page.
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Post by smkndofpnutdssrt on Aug 12, 2008 10:14:00 GMT -5
It's so ridiculous the things people will do for attention.
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Post by Norwesterner on Aug 19, 2008 22:01:20 GMT -5
We've seen and shared many of the best reviews of WALL•E . . . . . . but here is one of the most unfortunate and perhaps inane reviews I've seen of the movie: www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33705/wall-e/This reviewer starts out expressing his "discomfort" with Pixar as a storytelling entity, calls it a "faceless animation brand name" (he prefers DreamWorks simply because he can identify Katzenberg as its head??), and goes on to admit that WALL•E is "Pixar's biggest creative gamble in a decade," but amazingly describes the film as, ". . . plodding, frighteningly hypocritical, and forbidding film that trips over its fogged intentions at every dreary turn." Equally amazingly, he describes the story as, "ice thin!" It makes me almost feel sad for the guy that either his heart is that dark, or that his seemingly blind biases against Pixar and Disney caused him to miss so much!
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Post by vanessajoyce on Aug 19, 2008 22:22:05 GMT -5
Yes, yes, yes. I pity him more than anything. It must be really painful to have a heart made of stone.
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