With the release of “Inside Out 2,” the 28th Pixar feature, that’s enough reason to look back on the artistic peak of the Disney-backed animated company. Vulture recently did just that by ranking all 28 titles, and many other outlets have been doing the same exercise over the weekend.
Ever since the release of “Toy Story” in 1995, a “golden age” of animation emerged in the United States, spearheaded by Pixar. Thirty years later, and despite the resounding success of “Inside Out 2,” the “ golden age” era is, more or less, gone — consumerism has entered the fray at Pixar with sequels and spin-offs getting pumped into theaters.
This isn’t any sort of post-mortem either; another great animation movement, whether from Pixar or another studio, will likely resurface one day. For the time being, a sort of “bottom line” mentality has invaded the toon company, to the point where, this decade, the best animated films are coming from overseas.
With that said, can we all agree that Andrew Stanton’s “WALL-E” is the masterpiece of the Pixar library? It was surely the riskiest and boldest film Pixar has ever produced. The first half hour barely has any dialogue and plays more like a silent Chaplin film — that is, if he had ever decided to make a post-apocalyptic film about a lonely garbage-chewing bot who falls head over heels in love with an A.I. named Eve.
The second half of “WALL-E” is dialogue-driven but no less visionary. The future that Stanton concocts is that of a torn-up planet, ravaged by an environment-ending crisis, where the citizens have been evacuated to live aboard a space cruiser — they’re all overweight, lazy and glued to screens. However, hope arrives, in the form of a seedling, and the film magically blossoms into one of the great screen romances.
“WALL-E” is still the best-directed big studio animated film I’ve ever seen. The visuals — Roger Deakins advised on lighting and atmosphere — evoke the splendor of old-school cinema. The influences are clear as day, and the film plays like a wonderful mix of Kubrick’s ‘2001’, “Singin’ in the Rain” and “City Lights”.
Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "Pixar's ninth consecutive wonder.” Those were the days when they just couldn’t miss and laid down a careening path for original and inventive storytelling.
So, my weekend question to our readers is this: is WALL-E Pixar’s crowning achievement? If not, what film would be your pick? There's an abundance of riches to choose from, including “Ratatouille,” “Finding Nemo,” “Up!” “The Incredibles” and “Toy Story 3.”