Wall-E

[A.M. Thomas]

Back on topic, though, apparently not everyone is in love with Wall-E:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/right-wing-hates-wall-e/

Those people really don't count.

[jamesp]

Him and Michael Showalter aren't too great with stand-up. I don't think they've both been doing it for too long and are more familiar with sketch work. I still think they can be funny doing stand-up but no where as funny with Stella or the State.

I liked Michael Showalter's routine about his high school poem, but that comes more from the awfulness of the poem than anything he added.

Yeah, that's exactly how I felt about it.  I'm sure I'll end up buying Ian Black's book. It's one of those few books by a comedian that interest me. (Sorry Larry the Cable Guy!)

[Forrest]

I have avoided this thread until seeing the movie, but put me in the column of people who can't gush about it enough. I "got something in my eye" several times.

[erechoveraker]

This was waiting for me on my porch when I got home tonight. I'm a little embarrassed by how cool the little guy is, although not as cool as the interactive remote controlled version that's coming out in the fall. Cursed toys.

[emdasher]

So, did anyone take their kids to see this? Or did anyone attend a viewing with the theater packed with frustrated, noisy kids who had no idea what was going on?

I know it's a kid's movie, but... do kids like this?

[masterofsparks]

The kids sitting next to me were pretty chatty throughout, but I don't know if that's because they were bored or just because they're kids.

[Josh]

So, did anyone take their kids to see this? Or did anyone attend a viewing with the theater packed with frustrated, noisy kids who had no idea what was going on?

I know it's a kid's movie, but... do kids like this?

I was in a theater full of kids and it was silent the whole time except when *spoiler* and a young boy said to his dad "I really feel bad for her".

[Spalding]

My kids (6 & 4 yrs) liked it, although the show was probably too long for the 4 yr old. Not the robot's fault, but the 30 minutes of ads and trailers & the short made it a really long sitting.

After I demonstrated for them how the director came up with the idea for WALL-E's eyes from a pair of binoculars, they are planning on building their own robot, as I'm sure millions of their contemporaries are also working on.

[Fido]

Back on topic, though, apparently not everyone is in love with Wall-E:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/right-wing-hates-wall-e/

Those people really don't count.

They count at times that you want to be really sure about something, i.e., they hate it so there's a pretty decent chance that it's gonna be good. I was looking for a reason not to see this movie, but after reading the disses of those bozos, I have no choice but to see it.  Aren't those guys instinctively opposed to anything that is the color green, literally or figuratively, with the exception of phlegm?

[jamesp]

I saw it twice and both times had a lot of kids under 10 in attendance. It's hard to gauge if they liked it because the movie isn't really a comedy so they aren't laughing out loud a lot.

I do know that every kid in the theater shouted "CHIHUAHUA!" after the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer for about 30 seconds, which is always cute and goofy. 

[Fido]

Frank Rich loves this movie, but uses it as a tool to illustrate the jejune quality of the discourse surrounding the presidential race. Wasn't sure how far he could ride this theme, but he did it all the way through his column in the Sunday Times.  I'd be curious to hear how those who have seen it react to his words.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/opinion/06rich.html?ref=opinion

[Trembling Eagle]

Great movie! Easily the best of the recent crop of summer flicks.

[Sarah]

I wasn't in the theater with Mr. Rich, but I thought the following was probably a stretch:

At the end [the children in the audience] clapped their small hands. What they applauded was not some banal cartoonish triumph of good over evil but a gentle, if unmistakable, summons to remake the world before time runs out.

[jamesp]

I wasn't in the theater with Mr. Rich, but I thought the following was probably a stretch:

At the end [the children in the audience] clapped their small hands. What they applauded was not some banal cartoonish triumph of good over evil but a gentle, if unmistakable, summons to remake the world before time runs out.

Yeah, I liked Rich's book "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" but I think that commentators from both the left and the right need to stop using WALL-E to talk about political points. It's okay to use allusions to pop culture when it is valid but a lot of the stuff I've read about WALL-E doesn't really relate well.

This was in yesterday's Boston Globe. It's an article with quotes from MIT robot engineers about what makes everybody love the character WALL-E.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/080706_wall_e/

[iAmBaronVonTito]

it seems like a real no brainer, WALL-E acted like a human being the way human beings are supposed to act: loving, selfless, giving, hard-working, humble, and trying to make the world a better place through these actions.

...next.