Screenhead

There has yet to be a bad Pixar movie.  Genuinely, I have yet to see one.  Even the lower end ones like A Bug’s Life or Finding Nemo still had plenty to like about them, and this is the case with the most recent Pixar release Wall-E.

Wall-E assumes a corporate-dominated future in which the planet is falling apart. Choked with garbage and suffering from vast damage to the ecosystem, the inhabitants of Earth board a series of interstellar spaceships and head outward, leaving the Earth’s cleanup to a tiny little robot named Wall-E.  Wall-E is essentially a trash compactor on treads with a limited AI, and when he comes in contact with a sleeker, upgraded model robot–the EVE unit–after seven hundred years of trash grinding, he oddly enough falls in love with the new model, and follows her everywhere.  Including back into space, when she leaves to report on the resurgence of plant life on Earth.  The residents of the starships, meanwhile, have grown bloated beyond recognition on a lifestyle of all-you-can-eat fast food and hover-capable chairs that leave movement utterly unnecessary.  But will these loungers head back to earth?  Or will the ships’ AI prevent such a thing?

If you were left feeling bludgeoned over the head by at least THREE messages in the synopsis alone (help the earth! corporations are evil! exercise and eat right!), then you are not alone, and you see my objection to Wall-E.  I find myself unable to recall the last Pixar title that was THIS PREACHY.  The only way it could have been worse is if they’d actually put the messages into text fields and showed them throughout the movie.

But this is my ONLY real objection to Wall-E.  All the standard things you say about Pixar still apply; the characters are well-done and memorable, the animation is jaw-droppingly beautiful, the sound quality is beyond belief.  It looks great, it sounds great, it watches great, there’s plenty of laughs and a little action and there’s a lot to like.

And I wouldn’t have any complaints if they’d just dialed down the sanctimony a few dozen notches.

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Disney/Pixar’s robot love story Wall-E the best picture, marking the first time in the organizations 33-year history that an animated film has taken the highest prize.

Slumdog Millionaire director, Danny Boyle, received the honors of best director.

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight gave the late Heath Ledger supporting actor affirmation for his villainous turn as the Joker.

Happy-Go-Lucky won best actress for Sally Hawkins turn as a perpetually upbeat London schoolteacher and for writer-director Mike Leigh’s screenplay. 

No surprise for me, Sean Penn took the actor declaration for his portrayal of gay political activist Harvey Milk in Focus Features’ Milk.

Penelope Cruz won supporting actress for two roles as a sultry Spanish artist in the Weinstein Co.’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona and as the object of an older professor’s desire in Samuel Goldwyn Films and Lakeshore Entertainment’s Elegy.

You can see a complete list of Los Angeles Film Critics Association winners by clicking here.  

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The box office in general this weekend brought in loads of money to Hollywood.  WALL-E topped it off with Wanted behind by $9 million.  I am sure some “experts” are going to try to theorize why Hollywood is doing so well in 2007 when it can easily be summed up to great movie entertainment.

Below is an estimate this weekend in the millions – awesome numbers!

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Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E sparked at $23.2 million — best opening day ever for them – and Wanted fair pretty well too with $19 million. The Friday’s total box office scored a whopping $42 million between these two openers.

With WALL-E being G-rated and Wanted being R-rated the whole specturm of targeted audience members goes to the movies.

Last weeks Get Smartlost 50% of the gross but still faired well on Friday with $6.6 million.

Speculatively and conservatively we can expect WALL-Eto bring in about $60 million or more this weekend.  If he wants to beat his Disney/Pixar cousins, The Incredibles ($70.4 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.2 million), he’ll need to bet on the critic-driven adult audience and kiddies’ matinees.

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