"Wall-E," no doubt, will be America's most popular Thanksgiving guest this year.
Set for release just in time for the most-familial of holidays, the animated adventure should make just about everybody happy during the post-feast screening. There's even a handy spot for extra-happy adults to nod off to, about 20 minutes into the film.
Along with the turkey leftovers, there are hours of extras to savor on the "Wall-E" DVD
and Blu-ray, including some sharp featurettes about the movie's making and a surprisingly good documentary about the film's creator, Pixar. Kids get their own play area.
and Blu-ray, including some sharp featurettes about the movie's making and a surprisingly good documentary about the film's creator, Pixar. Kids get their own play area.(The film comes in single- double- and triple-disc packages. This review refers to the three-disc Blu-ray of "Wall-E.")
"I wanted it overcast (on Earth), and then I wanted that cold, clean clinical (view of) space that you got in '2001,' " the director says in the extra features. Indeed, once Wall-E and EVA blast off, the sharpness and 3-D-like pop arrive.
The "Wall-E" deleted scenes fall somewhere between finished product and rough sketches, but all benefit from polished sound effects and music. The director introduces each cut scene and then returns to explain the logic in removing it. In the first, Wall-E and EVA play each other's parts in the spaceship garbage scene. Another depicts the captain as an idiot who doesn't know how to wear a cap.
At Disney, Michael Eisner had taken the reins and wanted to make movies with Pixar. "It was the best thing that ever happened to us," Jobs recalls. But the first project, "Toy Story," was shut down by Disney execs after they saw the poorly focused storyboards. Pixar tried again, and the computer animated film went on to make $350 million worldwide.
)The film looks and sounds up to Pixar and Disney's high standards for major releases. While the visuals seem too hazy and soft in the initial Earth sequences (compared with the theatrical's), director Andrew Stanton makes it clear that was the scheme all along:
The audio certainly delivers the high fidelity with the Blu-ray's 5.1 DTS-HD audio, but the surround mix is a disappointment, with the rear speakers too often doing secondary duty. Disney just did a magnificent, playful job on the sound-sphere for "The Nightmare Before Christmas" Blu-ray -- too bad the mix is so reserved here on "Wall-E."
The movie disc kicks off with a pair of cartoons. "BURN-E" is the made-for-DVD short, starring the welding robot that has a minor part in the movie. It's busy and mostly fun. "Presto" encores from "Wall-E's" theatrical run -- it left me cold in the cinema, but, to be fair, I was still in shock from witnessing the chihuahua trailer.
The making-of documentaries on disc 2 are short on rah-rah and long on good information and visuals.
In the short film "Imperfect Lens," Stanton talks about how he grew up with the space movies "2001," "Star Wars" and their many imitators. He sought to reproduce the anamorphic widescreen look of 70 mm films, using tricks with CG animation.
"The goal here is to get all of the CG-ishness out of it," Stanton told the troops. He wanted a "very photographed look" with simulated anamorphic-style depths of field -- "not photorealism, but dimensionality."
Pixar brought in cinematographer Roger Deakins ("No Country for Old Men," "The Big Lebowski") to show the computer animators how lenses and lighting behave in live-action production. Visual effects master Dennis Mirren of "Star Wars" also joined the "Wall*E" party.
In "Captain's Log," the storytellers look back on the film's early days, when it was darker and dumber. The initial concept for the space ship's occupants was not exiled humans but otherwordly "moving blobs of Jello" ruled by a jiggly king and queen and served by downtrodden robots. When the humans entered the picture, they, too were gelatinous until someone came up with the winning idea of them as big fat babies.
A smart set of "BLN corporate shorts" flesh out some plot points. They'd be essential in a director's cut.
Director Stanton does a feature-length commentary for "Wall-e" and there's a there's a Pixar "Geek Track"-- both requiring Blu-ray players with "Bonus View." Other extras include a sound-design featurette and 3-D set fly-throughs that'll appeal to lovers of fantastic art. Disc 3 has a digital copy of the film.
* * * * *
The 90-minute documentary "The Pixar Story" (on disc 2) tracks the animation house via the story of creative chief John Lasseter. In part, it's also a history of computer animation in movies. Steve Jobs, George Lucas and Michael Eisner are among the major players.
Lasseter started at Disney upon graduation from the animation college it founded. He got the sack after stepping on execs' toes while pitching a partially computerized "The Brave Little Toaster." He landed at Lucas' computer visuals unit. Lucas later blessed the group's spinoff, saying their film plans required $40 million he didn't have.
Apple founder Steve Jobs came to the rescue: "I ended up buying into (Pixar's vision), spiritually and financially." He was to lose $1 million a year for half a decade.
More triumphs and failures followed, including another split and reconciliation with Disney. The docu ends after Disney bought Pixar and before "Wall-E" begins.
"These people think differently than normal people," Pixar star Billy Crystal says. "They're strange, in a good way."
A great story, well told with some fantasic historic footage. The 1080p documentary was directed by Leslie Iwerks and narrated by Stacey Keach.
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