I, Shane › Shane Adams’ personal weblog

Alli and I went and saw WALL·E last night and I gotta say Pixar has once again put together a masterpiece. The way that they’ve taken the small concept for robot tasked with cleaning up Earth and yet turning it into an unlikely love story of epic proportions is nothing short of magnificent. John Lasseter and Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton and Steve Jobs and everyone at Pixar can once again be proud of their little animation studio.

Every year, I look forward to Pixar’s latest release with great anticipation. With the exception of Cars, I’ve yet to be disappointed. (Even Cars is still better than a lot of the dreck that gets thrown up on screen.) When putting WALL·E into the pantheon of Pixar’s pictures, it falls somewhere above Cars and somewhere behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story.

What sets WALL·E apart is that it is largely a statement film, critical of mindless consumerism and environmental carelessness. (Sound familiar?)

Similarities to Short Circuit and Idiocracy aside, WALL·E is a brilliant and beautiful movie, full of stunning imagery on Earth’s landscape of desolation and isolation as well as the vast expanse of space.

Pixar explores some very adult themes with the movie, but presents them in a way that’s approachable, albeit a little bit obvious. They’re certainly not subtle in their criticism, but I found it interesting to be sitting in front of some kids who immediately were able to recognize, “Look at all that TRASH!”

At its most basic, WALL·E is a love story between two robots. As far-fetched as that may seem, it works on every single level and you walk away with an elated feeling, maybe holding your spouse’s hand a little tighter, but definitely smiling.

Go and check it out.

I don’t care what anyone says…

NASCAR IS NOT A SPORT.

Sure, it’s tough to drive a car 200+ miles per hour around in a circle, but that is some BORING driving. I realize that it is like the NUMBER ONE spectator sport in the United States, but MAN, I just don’t get it.

Now, animated movies about NECKCAR featuring famous people’s voices from Pixar Studios…THAT IS SOME SWEET ACTION.

Alli and I are testing out Netflix while I’m on vacation between jobs and Cars was at the top of our list. (We also have checked out Roman Holiday and A Prairie Home Companion and we have Art School Confidential arriving tomorrow.)

I am always amazed by Pixar’s innovation and creativity. In Cars, they have a great homage to the old American roadways (Route 66 and all that), but a great message about responsibility, friendship, and…well…cars. I really enjoyed the movie, although I could have done without Owen Wilson as the main character. Bonnie Hunt wasn’t great either as Owen’s love interest. (Sidenote: this is not a criticism of them as actors, although neither is great, but more a comment on my disenchantment with their voice skills.) Larry the Cable Guy was awesome, though.

Anyway, I would recommend Cars to just about anyone. In fact, you should buy it for me at Amazon. Thanks!

Saw the movie The Incredibles this weekend.

Pixar has done it again. I don’t know what it is that they put in the water out at Pixar, but their atmosphere for creativity must be spectacular. I can only imagine that with Steve Jobs as one of the owners, the working environment is pretty cool.

I read that Kevin Smith (a huge superhero fan in his own right) is calling it the best superhero movie ever. While I don’t know if I would go that far, it was…well…INCREDIBLE. The voices for the characters were perfect, particularly personified by Smith’s buddy Jason Lee as Syndrome, the bad guy in this 1st Incredibles movie (I’m saying first because there is no doubt they’ll make another one).

It’s not just the voices and dialogue that make this movie genius. It’s the concepts and ideas behind the characters and their situations. Some of the things that happen are so out there (in that normal people wouldn’t think of them), but they seem so natural, woven into the fabric of the movie so seamlessly that you can’t but admire John Lasseter and the folks out there in California for the brilliance they have brought to the field of animated movies.

5 out of 5 stars!