WALL-E

Wall-E was the best movie I've seen in a long, long time. Not only that, but it is one of the best movies I've ever seen (I'd put it in my top five). If you haven't yet had the pleasure of seeing it, I suggest you do. Wall-E is the only movie I've ever seen that I was still thinking about weeks later. I saw the movie over too weeks ago and will periodically find myself thinking of a scene from the movie or singing the numbers from 'Hello, Dolly'. It is nothing short of magical-- the characters, the styling, the emotion. Simply amazing.

It is a movie that works in so many different ways: as a love story, a sci-film, a moralistic tale, and many more. Each operates simultaneously and also seperately. It is a movie you can watch over and over and enjoy a different aspect. It is a nod to the past and a look to the future. The movie is essentially divided into three parts that cover loneliness, love, and redemption respectively (and each of those parts operate on many levels as well).

The plot is nothing Earth shattering in its originality, but the journey is. In the end, I cared more about the robots in this movie than just about any human character in any other movie. The emotion that the filmakers could generate from simple physicality, beautiful visuals, and music is incredible. This is why Pixar is the best movie studio these days. They care about so much more than the cheap joke, or dumbing down the movie for the kids, or making the movies that will make the most money-- they want to tell a great story with great characters and they hope the money will follow.

Pixar tries to raise the bar everytime they create a new film and do something orignal and exciting, whereas the other studios (ahem Dreamworks and Fox Studios) just use the cookie cutters. Just compare Toy Story 2 to Shrek 2 and you'll get the picture-- Toy Story was an incredible groundbreaking film and it was improved upon in nearly every fashion in the sequel. Pixar didn't just make a sequel to make more money, they only did once they had a story that warranted another movie. Shrek was a very funny movie and Shrek 2 was essentially the same movie. And such it was much less enjoyable the second time around. Then the dreck that was Shrek 3 came out and it just goes to show that every one invlovled is focused on making money (lets tell the same story with the same characters). It is good to see some people focus on the quality of a movie over the quantity of money it will produce.

The only reason the top ten computer animated films aren't all Pixar films is because they haven't yet made 10 films. They'll own the chart come next year.