Warning: Geekspeak ahoy...
S.t.A.n.L.e.E wrote:
> Sun, 6 Jul 2008 8:47am-0700, Terrence Briggs
lycos.com>:
>>> Cross-posted to rec.arts.animation, cuz... ya know...
>>
>
> *sigh* Why do you always have to ruin my fun....
> I was just waiting for you to do that, slowpoke! ;-p
Keeping relevant secrets from big-daddy, low-traffic animation
newsgroup is not fun :-P
>> On Jul 1, 2:53�am, "S.t.A.n.L.e.E"
UofR.SlamSpam.net>
>> wrote:>>> Tue, 1 Jul 2008 2:47am-0400, S.t.A.n.L.e.E
UofR.SlamSpam.net>:>>
>>>> Just saw WALL-E with kids late at night in a packed theatre
>>>> with a healthy mix of teenagers and other grown-ups with kids:
>>
>> Sat next to two adult lovebirds in my theater. To their credit, they
>> weren't making out. I think...
>>
>
> The teens are most likely the ones. ;-)
I didn't ask if they were legal or anything. I'm not THAT kind of
journalist.
>> But yeah, must of the audience that Friday evening was kiddie-kid
>> collectives and their adult chaperone units corralling them. 75%%
>> full, by my estimate.
>>
>>>> 1. It's about robots.
>>>
>>>> 2. It's about robots in love.
>>
>> Okay, Mr. Machinehead-with-extra-pouty-Summer Glau-OS-XXX, how well
>> did Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis do in Japan?
>>
>
> Was Metropolis released widely in Japan?
Dunno. Aren't you our man in Japan with the news articles and stuff?
>>>> 3. WALL-E is a weak nothing-going-for-him sweet romantic packrat geek;
>> Kinda bottom-heavy, too. Rusty and all that. The female, on the
>> other hand...
> I cannot lie: she likes big butts. ^_^
> But then, she's an egg.
Ha! Good one.
>>
>>>> � �EVE is a dominant goddess-powered never-propositioned kinda-tsundere.
>>
>> Heh. So I wasn't the only one who picked up on the "exotic alien
>> warrior babe" vibe.
> Who wouldn't?! She was/is scary! 0_0
But.. not all guys equate "scary warrior chicks" with "babe"
>> But she looks like an iMac. Oh, Steve Jobs... you product-placing
>> weasel chairman you :-)
>>
Ew. Otaku Mac pr0n. Don't do that.
Lemme guess, Unix is the one with the glasses, and the Mac OS 9 is the
pretty ditz? :-)
>>>> 4. There's hardly any dialogue to lose in translation
>>>> � �particularly in the first act, ~1/3rd of the movie.
>>
>> As I observed elsewhere, the film has only 3 or four major scenes that
>> are dialogue driven. It's about 75%% dialogue-free. That's why its
>> success astounds me, just a bit, especially among kids. Gives me
>> additional hope, actually.
> Picture-driven story than constant yapping?
> Are you going to complain like Kung Fu Panda? ^0^
Maybe if there were a LOT less Jack Black, and Dustin Hoffman, I
wouldn't have complained. And yet, I would probably complain, "Why
hire Jack Black if you're not gonna have him say anything and
everything that's on his mind during every second of his character's
screen time? Oh, right... STUNT CASTING!!!!"
>>>> 5. WALL-E already mispronounces EVE's name as EV-uh.
>>
>> Heh. Japanese-friendly phenomes. (No "L"s or "R"s, though :-P :-P :-
>> P )
>>
>
> My little god-daughter kept wondering why WALL-E kept mispronouncing. ^_^
> ("Her name's EVE! Not EV-uh! Why is he calling her that?!")
That's some castellan you got there. She's gonna be just like me when
she grows up.
>>>> 6. The two protagonists just keep saying their names.
>>>> � �(Have you noticed that Japanese charas say names way too often?)
>>
>> Heh. Unlike your average banal anime characters, Wall-E's robot leads
>> have an English vocabulary of, like, 2 or something ("Wall-E", "E-va",
>> and "directive").
>>
>
> This ain't no Pokemon!
Well, at least Pikachu has infinite variations on its 3-word
vocabulary.
>>>> 7. A future environmental moral message that'd make Hayao Miyazaki blush.
>>
>> Your later post clears that up, by clearing out the room. ("No no
>> no... it's not environmentally alarmist! Really! I was just being
>> imaginative!", is my paraphrase.)
>>
>
> Hmmmm... but would Miyazaki still appreciate it?
Heh. He'd probably grin at the subconscious messages he's implanted
into the minds of Hollywood's premiere animators. "It's working! And
they don't even suspect!"
BTW, NPR's Fresh Air interviewed Wall-E director Andrew Stanton on
Thursday, 7/10/08. Got that podcast!
>>> 7b. Oh, there's a lot of flying, not just once but twice!
>>
>> "Define: dancing"
>>
>
> Ha! That was corny of you. ^_^
It was corny of the movie, too!
>>>> 8. A social criticism about the hazards of over-reliance in technology.
>>
>> In a CGI animated film, nah!!!! :-)
>>
>
> Ironic.
Or hypocritical. But we reserve hypocricy charges for Dreamworks
films, don't we? :-)
>>>> What else?
>>
>> It's a Pixar film distributed by Disney. The Mouse has Theatrical
>> Distribution Muscle. The Lamp has Cinematic Currency. It'll destroy
>> the competition in Japan.
>>
>
> Well, besides that!
> But would you go out on a limb and say it'll outdraw Spirited Away? >;-]
Hell-the-funk no. Nothing will, until the next Titanic or something.
What does the Japanese box office look like, anyway? Something
like...
1) Spirited Away
2) Howl's Moving Castle
3) Titanic
4) Princess Mononoke
5) E.T.
Maybe it'll beat E.T.
In this country, I believe Wall-E will beat Incredibles (which had a
similar-sized opening, but kinda underperformed over the long haul),
but not Finding Nemo.
>> Terrence Briggs, wrangling up some more European animation from
>> Netflix. Cartoon Noir wasn't enough!
>> Peace to you...
>>
You could just give me the title, dude. I was reading the post
offline, and couldn't follow the link.
Terrence Briggs, soldiering through ChopSocky Chooks timeshifts. J.D.
Smith, where aren't thou?
Peace to you...
