Who are these four brave or utterly misguided fools who dared to be in the extreme minority? Well, one is Brian Orndorf of the SciFi Movie Page, who gave the film 2 stars out of 4.
I read through his review, and a lot of what he said I agreed with.
Wall-E is Pixar's biggest creative gamble in over a decade; a genuine cinematic leap of faith. However, the ambition doesn't match the outcome, and while Wall-E dances whimsically, it's a plodding, frighteningly hypocritical, and forbidding film that trips over its fogged intentions at every dreary turn.
Wait...hypocritical? How?
[Plot points from the second half of the film up ahead...slight spoiler alert]
Where Wall-E heads next is sure to divide audiences. Following Eve into space, Wall-E boards the "Axiom," a huge cruise space ship that's home to the loose ends of the human race. You see, in the 700-years since mankind bolted from Earth, they've evolved into overweight blobs of pudding, nurtured by the Buy-N-Large Corporation who use humans to feed the endless, aggressive cycles of profitable consumption, leaving them helpless and totally enslaved to commercial trends. The human characters are obese nincompoops who've lost the ability to walk eons ago, puttering around on floating chairs waiting impatiently for their next needless desire to be force fed to them by the all-powerful corporate machine.
Here's where I remind everyone this is a Pixar/Disney picture. Pixar/Disney. Decrying greed.
The guy's got a point. I wasn't that impressed with the preachy nature of the second half of the film. I was more let down by the lame story. But Orndorf points out the hypocrisy of a film criticizing consumerism while its title character is plastered all over lunch boxes, pajamas, and dozens of other tie-ins and products.
Fair criticism, right? Well, here's what some of the comments on Rotten Tomatoes thought:
Nice last name Brian orndork....... Idiot.
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Mmm, I've never liked self proclaimed critics. You hurl insults at the movie but I'm not sure I've heard you explain why it's "hypocritical" or "forbidding".
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Apparently any douchebag can start a website and write 'reviews' for movies. Get bent you steaming pile of sh*t.
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Is it Andrew Stanton's fault that Disney will try to sell this like crazy? Why not actually review the film instead of talking about how they'll make toys.
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I'm going to take a guess since you go on for 3 paragraphs about the obese, that you yourself are fat and worthless and took this film personally.
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Hey Brian, you're in luck! If you and your boyfriend Phil move to California, the two of you can get a legal civil union! Then you can cuddle and whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears like, "Wow, I love being completely out of touch with society's tastes in movies!"
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You should quit your day job and go sell mattresses. Moron.
That's just from the first two pages of comments. There's lots more where that came from.
I always enjoy a level-headed, reasoned response from the movie-going public to legitimate criticism.
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