July
5
Wall-E Follow-ups
Wall-E is the topic of discussion this holiday weekend, as it cleaned up at the boxoffice, outperforming Wanted. The Pixar family pic has already crossed the $100 million mark.
One subject for debate: will it make it all the way to best picture? The answer depends on the competition, more than anything else. Wall-E played well at the Academy last week, I hear, but not overwhelmingly so. Remember, the Academy is live-action and actor-oriented. That said, Disney's Beauty and the Beast did get nominated for best picture--before there was an animation category.
Another question: why are the musical numbers in the movie from the old-fashioned musical, Hello, Dolly!? According to this A.P. interview, as soon as writer-director Andrew Stanton saw the musical, he knew the two songs Put on Your Sunday Clothes and It Only Takes A Moment were perfect for his needs:
Stanton said he knew he wanted to juxtapose retro music with this futuristic setting, but discovered "a perfect fit" to his narrative when he stumbled upon the "Hello, Dolly!" repertoire and the lyric "out there." (In the musical, it is the song that a Yonkers store clerk croons as he and his apprentice plan their New York City adventure.)"I thought it was a perfect counterpoint to have this sort of almost naive optimism in the song," Stanton said.
"But then it seemed even more appropriate the more I thought about it, because the song is about two naive guys (who) have never left their small town."
The other quandary: how can a plant grow inside a closed refrigerator? Doesn't photosynthesis involve the magic combo of air, light and water? The answer to that one I suspect is standard: suspension of disbelief required.
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And a question related to the "Hello Dolly" issue: Why were there any live-action humans in the movie at all if the present day humans in the film were CGI? Especially in regard to Fred Willard's character...
Vic
Posted by: ScreenRant.com | July 05, 2008 at 07:57 PM
Vic - hey, what's up? Nice to see you outside of SR. Thanks for getting to my spam filter issue so quickly.
I can't shed much light (lol) on the photosynthesis issue, but I do know that sprouts are grown in a dark, damp place. Much like my fridge.
Posted by: Liz | July 05, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Actually plants can grow everywhere, especially if it's a weed.
As far as the Wall-E humans looking different than the ones in the Hello Dolly video. Ya never know how cartoony and CGI and chubby we will look after floating around in space for 700 years. ;-)
Posted by: Bonnie | July 05, 2008 at 10:56 PM
I assume 700 years in the future, an Eve robot can create photosynthesis in her refrigerated enclosure. Also, as I learned in college, you can grow a plant in a closet with a good grow lamp when you have a plant that you don't want police to see growing on your window sill.
Posted by: Josh Boelter | July 06, 2008 at 08:57 AM