Originally Posted By dshyates There were several things in Wall.E that were very unconventional for PIXAR. One was the music. The used Etta James, Louis Armstrong, and Hello Dolly which were not written for the film. I loved, and I mean loved "put on Your Sunday Clothes" as the opening title song. And became Wall.E leitmotif. Peter Gabriel wrote a tune for the end credits, but I wouldn't say it is anymore significant than Christina's "Who's That Girl" in Mulan. But PIXAR, as best I can recollect, never used existing music. At least not to the extent as in Wall.E And Fred Willard. Has PIXAR ever used a real live actor in their movies before? One more thing I liked was how they replicated the panavision camera look with lens distortion and chromatic aberration animated in. They did do this to a certain extent in Nemo, but in Wall.E they did a much better job of realism. Nemo was a more idealized environment. And I love the homage to Stanley Kubrick. If you didn't get that Auto Pilot was a reference to HAL 9000, then I believe there is little hope considering when the Captain was wrestling with Auto Pilot Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001 Space Odyssey Theme) was playing
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>But PIXAR, as best I can recollect, never used existing music.<< Well, Cars used a lot of existing music, including Chuck Berry's version of Route 66, Sh-Boom by the Chords, and My Heart Would Know by Hank Williams. Finding Nemo used Beyond the Sea, albeit a cover version by Robbie Williams. (P.S. Etta James' At Last was used only in the trailers for Wall-E.)
Originally Posted By DlandDug That said, nearly every PIXAR film has had something new and unexpected. Indeed, the critics keep finding that, so far, it's been nearly impossible to pigeon-hole the studios' output.
Originally Posted By dshyates OK, you got me on Cars, but I really don't think it was used to the extent or effect as in Wall.E. But they have never used a live action actor. Right? The entire leitmotif was not written for the film. The use of stuff like Life is a Highway, as covered by Rascal Flats was far more of a pop referance than tone setting, like "Put on Your Sunday Clothes". The music was used in a much more artistic way than pop referances. As if Hello Dolly is a "Pop" referance, albiet featuring Micheal Crawford of Phantom fame. As a person with a bacholors degree in music performance and a film buff to boot, I found the use of existing music in Wall.E to be fantastic. I didn't get that with Lightening on Rt. 66 with Rt. 66 playing. thats sort of a no brainer as is life is a Highway considering that it was very popular as the film was being made. more like commercial expediency. As opposed to using Armstrong's version of La Vie en Rose. Andrew Stanton is a stud.
Originally Posted By DlandDug I also thought there was a Sergio Mendes number in the film-- while Wall-E is "dating" the comatose Eve. (That sounds so wrong.) But the number (entitled First Date) is original, just in a very, very Brasil '66 vibe. I don't think that Wall-E breaks Pixar conventions so much as Pixar really has NO conventions that are consistent from film to film. (Except, of course, for the voice of John Ratzenberger and the Pizza Planet delivery truck!)
Originally Posted By ecdc >>That said, nearly every PIXAR film has had something new and unexpected. Indeed, the critics keep finding that, so far, it's been nearly impossible to pigeon-hole the studios' output.<< Exactly. That's why Pixar is Pixar - they refuse to be formulaic, even though it would be easy for them. Ironically, this always seems to make people paranoid before their next movie comes out. "Well, their last one was great, but this new one - I don't know!" And now with the possibility of live action films coming from them, we're hearing even more of that.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>while Wall-E is "dating" the comatose Eve.<< Reminds me of my junior prom....
Originally Posted By danyoung >One more thing I liked was how they replicated the panavision camera look with lens distortion and chromatic aberration animated in.< I read an article where the director was discussing this very thing. He met with top cinematographers and lens manufacturers to learn the physics of this distortion, and then worked with the programmers to build the capability into their systems. I just loved how the lens would sometimes slip its focus a bit and then stabalize. Very realistic effects!
Originally Posted By jdub I think it's safe to say Pixar DOES tend to have its own formula. And part of why I like "Wall-E" sooo much is that it is NOT so married to the formula.
Originally Posted By Mr X Could Wall-E be considered Pixar's first "pure" love story? I mean, the Incredibles was, sort of (more of a family thing though), but aside from that all the Pixar stuff has been "buddy movies" right? Buzz and Woody, Mike and Sully, that kid and his rat, the fish and the forgetful lesbian fish...(I think I'm forgetting some...maybe Cars is more of a "mentor" movie).
Originally Posted By DVC_dad yes folks! Another home run one-liner from the 2oon-a-nator! Post # 7 ROFL! ! !
Originally Posted By Mr X Pretty cool that their first "love story" involved anthropomorphic machines.
Originally Posted By Mr X Doobie kindly located Mr X's original password. Sayonara, X-san. (I have a post count to consider, after all lol)
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Don't forget the huge ensemble of humorous, yet entirely forgettable characters that back up the main character. There were all the toys, the circus bugs, the Tank Gang, all sorts of crazy looking monsters, supers out the wazoo, stereotype cars, the herd of rats, and the escaped robots from the infirmary. While they play a slightly different role in each movie, they are always present and have about 3-4 more than are really nessecary.
Originally Posted By basil fan As I said in another post somewhere, that plot device has become pretty trite. I think WallE does the worst job yet with that gang of characters for reasons I mentioned there. Toy Story and Monsters Inc. did it better, IMHO.
Originally Posted By Mr X I actually felt that the rogue robot angle was totally unnecessary, personally. I loved the film, but thought they could've done without that entirely and the film would've been just as good (maybe even better...a little tighter and all). But, I suppose Pixar sees that as a sort of tradition or something.
Originally Posted By basil fan Sometimes it takes a Walt to come in and look at your storyboards and tell you that favorite scene of yours really needs to go. Disney's Hercules <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/hero.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/...ero.html</a>
