Pixar's WALL-E details

[heney]

Well I think it sounds great, but I wonder how the general audience will respond to a nearly silent film. Triplets of Belleville, though well recieved by critics, was not always welcomed by the public.

Can't wait for the trailer on June 29th.

[angel]

Hum, sounds to me like a risky move by Pixar. My kids will get bored if there is no dialog, maybe they can watch the first 5 maybe 10 minutes pushing it without starting to wonder why no one is talking, get bored and want to leave the theatre. I'm also do not like the premise of the film. Will see...

[siouxfire]

I agree that the premise, setting, and lack of dialogue are risky, but I'm genuinely excited. My son was bored with Cars (despite loving cars) but really enjoys silent stuff like Charlie Chaplin and a few of the animated shorts out there.

[drdespair]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Fantasia didn't really have that much dialogue. I wasn't able to find who will be responsible for the soundtrack but if they are going to create some memorable music to go with the animation, who needs dialogue :)

DrD.

[BradT]

Someone at pixar has been playing vectorman. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectorman

[thematt]

Someone at pixar has been playing vectorman. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectorman

haha yeah it sound like it ! really close indeed.
i think that the actual no sound movie really isn't such an issue with kids but more with the parents actually.After "the Triplettes" was finish they were screening projection and kids actually loved it, parents were a bit more septical.Kids acually see lots of thing happening visually with the music and sound and it's enough to drive their imagination. Young adult or teenagers are really not that encline to that they rather have something with street talk funny dialogues and lots of actions.

I really hope this movie will find is public and will be made, I'd really love to see it.

thanks for the head up.

cheers

[ThomasMahler]

You know, I think it's really easy to dislike the story, but it's also really easy to see that Wall E could become an E.T. like character with Wall E becoming an iconic thing that every kid wants to have at home.

I personally really like what I've been reading and I think it'll be great.

And the fact that Stanton is directing it makes me pretty confident that this film is going to rock.

[DaveW]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Fantasia didn't really have that much dialogue. I wasn't able to find who will be responsible for the soundtrack but if they are going to create some memorable music to go with the animation, who needs dialogue :)

DrD.

And Fantasia was also a commercial disaster.

It's nice to see a big studio do something a little risky.

[danshewan]

It's nice to see a big studio do something a little risky.

Agreed. Whilst the quality and production values of Pixar's work are beyond question, I cannot wait to see something different from them - and the fact that it might not necessarily appeal to kids isn't necessarily a bad thing.

What if, by stepping out beyond their usual comfort zone and experimenting, they actually manage to raise the profile and perception of animation in general, and find a new (older) audience? We've all appreciated the adult gags in Pixar films for years - what if this is the beginning of a gradual change in direction to reflect changing attitudes towards the commercial value and target demographic of animated features? If anyone could do it, it's Pixar.

You know, I think it's really easy to dislike the story, but it's also really easy to see that Wall E could become an E.T. like character with Wall E becoming an iconic thing that every kid wants to have at home.

Excellent point - and I'm sure one that hasn't been overlooked by the marketing guys and executives.....

[FloydBishop]

And Fantasia was also a commercial disaster.

You beat me to it.

Many of the classic Disney films lost money on their initial release. It was only after years of re-releases, merchandising, and theme park exposure that the films made back their production costs.

[Dennik]

There was no dialog for 1 whole hour in "Cast Away" Did any of you get bored?
Dialog is overrated. In many movies, its so predictable, i know what they're going to say, before they say it.

I'm not worrying about dialog. I don't think Pixar would do a boring movie with a robot being alone on an abandoned planet. If your creative minds can't think anything interesting with that concept, maybe theirs can!

[rblitz7]

SWEET! so excited for this one! And your totally right Dennik, a lot of dialouge is def not neccesary to make an awesome movie. That article was great although I did stop halfway through because I thought he was telling a little too much. I wonder if the Pixar employee who told him this will get in trouble?

[Carl007]

How come you are so sure that the target group is small children?

[RobertoOrtiz]

OK here is a decent pic of the chap...

>>LINK<< (http://bp1.blogger.com/_IVz6eiQYukI/ReWNVQ0FCTI/AAAAAAAAAG0/Rqhqi2SDcD0/s1600-h/WALLE1.jpg)
-R

[siouxfire]

That article was great although I did stop halfway through because I thought he was telling a little too much. I wonder if the Pixar employee who told him this will get in trouble?
I stopped early on as well and I was a little dubious about even posting this as it seems(to me) that he's giving a little too much away.

[FloydBishop]

OK here is a decent pic of the chap...

>>LINK<< (http://bp1.blogger.com/_IVz6eiQYukI/ReWNVQ0FCTI/AAAAAAAAAG0/Rqhqi2SDcD0/s1600-h/WALLE1.jpg)
-R

http://interocitor.com/images/johnny5.jpg
Son? Is that you?

[LucentDreams]

thing I like most about the lack of dialogue, is the direct contrast to other studios whose marketing rely mostly on voice talent and not the studios talent. When PDI/Dreamworks came to talk back when I was in animation school (studying 2D just in time to find out at the presentation that they were killing their 2D department what promising days those were) They went through 6 of their next films, many of which have been out now, and very sadly they already had all their voice talent casted. they showed us a single concept art poster for each film with giant photos of chris rock, ben stiller,Martin scorcese, jack black, Michell Pfieffer, Brad Pitt etc. And look at robots, even their final marketing posters and standing bill boards etc had a huge list of names like ewan mcgregor. To have a company who doesn't always cast the giant names, or at least doesnt' rely on those names to sell the film, has always been one thing i've liked about pixar.

To have a film where the voice talent doesn't drive the film much at all, even better imo. I just hope they don't cop out like dreamworks did with spirit (that horse could keep a kids attention without dialogue no problem, the acting was good enough for the character) Dreamworks chickened out too late and decided things weren't clear enough and got matt damon to narrate a new script after the film was practically finished.

[itsGuido]

this may be of some interest.... it's a final year project of Nikolas Filer who finished last year. Very similar concept, and no dialogue either! :) Maybe read his rationale before watching it, it doesn't explain the story but more his reasoning behind it.
The viewer has to deconstruct the story for themselves, and from what I've heard there is a huge backstory behind it. All I found from another forum was his explaining for the first half but it's definately on the same lines as this film.

quoted>>
"Basically its set in a dead city: the people have died due to environmental pollution and recklessness. The only "living" thing left alive is the maintenance robot found in all the scenes. He keeps the city going caus thats all he knows. The second character is a (little to late) creation meant to terraform the environment back to the way it was. The two loners become good mates and the environment eventually changes....."

http://digitalmedia.massey.ac.nz/exposure/student.php?id=50

I'm sure he won't mind me putting it up!

[fuss]

http://interocitor.com/images/johnny5.jpg
Son? Is that you?

Hehe, yeah, that's pretty much what was on my mind when I saw the concept art, too. I can totally imagine who's going to have his cameo and the first spoken line after 2 hours into the movie being: "WALL-E... I-AM-YOUR-FATHER."

But seriously, hehe, I was one of the people who couldn't imagine to enjoy watching a movie about talking Cars and when Pixar finally pulled it off I really had trouble pulling the foot out of my mouth... So I learned my lesson and now just keep my mouth shut and look forward to this movie, with a huge can of popcorn readied at hand.

[cresshead]

this sounds a great idea...getting away from the celeb voice talent!
and if anyone is going to make it work then it'll be pixar

the idea of the robots reminds me of the 70's film silent runnig which had voiceless robots but they have great 'camera presence'

http://www.retrofire.com/images/misc/silent_running.jpg

[John-S]

I love the idea. Sounds great! I even love the idea of a silent movie!

HOWEVER, Isn't part of the reason Pixar and other cartoon/animation movies are popular with the kids for such a long time is the memorable quotes and sounds? Like cars and the "ka-chiga-ka chiga" or whatever he does? Toy story and "To infiniti and beyond", etc, etc etc.

It will be a hard thing to achieve if silent. Kids may LOVE it at first but without repeating funny phrases 6 months down the road it may be forgotten...

I have blind faith in Pixar though : )

[agreenster]

Its funny. The same people who blabber on about how Pixar is too formulaic and all the stories are the same, are the same people who turn around and criticize Pixar for trying something different.

I say, go for it

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.