[dlavery]

I saw the pre-release screening of WALL•E last night, and it turned out to be just as much fun as I suspected it would. First off, it is a good story, without being sickeningly sweet. The story is engrossing enough that you are completely pulled into it. You are twenty minutes into the film before you realize that there has not been a single line of dialog - and yet the story and cinematography are good enough to carry that off without a problem.. And WALL•E is terminally cute (yes, I am already trying to figure out how to make one out of VEX parts...). As expected, the quality of the animation is stunning, although I will admit to being much more impressed by the scenes on Earth than on the spacecraft. The animators in the audience are going to just love it. Without giving away any of the story line, there are some fun things to look out for. You will catch a few subtle reminders that Pixar is still partially owned by Steve Jobs (just listen to WALL•E's reboot sound, etc.). I am still looking for the "Binford" tag that is hidden in there somewhere.

The special short up front, "Presto" by Doug Sweetland, is as good as we have come to expect from Pixar (probably my favorite since "For The Birds" led off "Monsters Inc.").

There is also a nice connection between this film and the FIRST community. Those of us that have been around long enough may remember Laura London (first at Autodesk, and later with FIRST). Her nephew, Brian London, is an assistant art director on the film.

-dave




.