What Did You Think: 'Wall-E' and 'Wanted'?
Filed under: Action, Animation, Drama, New Releases, Fandom, Family Films, Comic/Superhero/Geek

The numbers are in, and both Wall·E ($62.5 million) and Wanted ($51.1 million) absolutely rocked the box office this weekend. We'll save the full report for tomorrow morning, but we here at Cinematical wanted to know what you thought of each film. A Cinematical poll last week -- asking which movie you planned on seeing over the weekend -- showed that 40% of you were interested in watching both flicks. Since these are two completely different movies, we're not asking which one you liked better (though feel free to offer up that info). Instead, what did you think of each?
How does Wall·E stack up against the previous Pixar efforts? Was it better than Toy Story or The Incredibles? (Speaking of, don't forget to vote in our Best Pixar film poll, which currently has The Incredibles kicking total ass.) What about Wanted? Did it rock your socks? Or did style get in the way of substance? Sound off below ...









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-29-2008 @ 5:33PM
Matt Lemieux said...
I saw Wall-E at a midnight show Friday morning. Saw Wanted on Friday afternoon.
Wall-E: I thought Wall-E was an absolutely incredible film. I've not seen such good characterization in film in quite some time. There's not a moment in this film where you aren't caring about the central characters. Beyond that, the story is intriguing and fresh while at the same time honouring the genre films that have come before it. Pixar, of course, does an excellent job with the visuals and the voice acting was top notch. One other thing that I don't think is getting enough play is the score of the film. I think it does a wonderful job of setting the mood without imposing it. My only real complaint was that there are moments that get simply too "cute". Like those kitten pictures around the Internet, there seem to be moments that simply exist to make you go "awwwwwwwww". (4.5 out of 5)
As far as where Wall-E fits in with the rest of the Pixar films, I really don't know at this point. Wall-E stands pretty unique in the Pixar collection. It's a bit like picking the best apple out of a bushel of prize apples.
Wanted: I understand that it's supposed to be a popcorn action film, but this drives into the absurd and never once looks back. I simply was not drawn into this film at all. None of the action seemed all that suspenseful. None of the plot twists were all that intriguing. But you did get to hear Morgan Freeman cuss more than once, so I suppose that's something. I'm sorry, but by the time the Loom of Fate makes an appearance, I had to turn to my friend and make sure I understood what I had heard. There was simply no end to the ridiculousness of this movie. ARGH! I simply don't understand what people see in it. (1.5 out of 5)
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6-29-2008 @ 10:47PM
Roger Brooks said...
Well said on both counts. I actually walked out on Wanted.
6-29-2008 @ 5:53PM
Cesaria (cesariatic.wordpress.com) said...
Wall-E was balls deep.
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6-29-2008 @ 6:22PM
DylanG said...
I thought Wall-E was pretty poor. It had good visuals and the characters were great. I mean, I wanted to like the movie just because I liked Wall-E himself so much. But it was fairly unoriginal, predictable and at times, boring.
I know I'll be bashed for saying that, but the movie was dull. Besides the fact that the protagonists were robots, there was nothing original. We've all seen the same interpretations on the future before and this movie didn't add anything new (in fact, an early MAD comic had almost the exact same portrayal of the future). For a lot of the movie, nothing happens. I realize I'll be called stupid for not being able to appreciate a movie with little dialogue, but that wasn't the problem for me. It would've been just as dull either way.
For me, WALL-E is one of Pixar's worst. I'm not the biggest Pixar fan, but I thought that Toy Story, Monsters INC, The Incredibles and Ratouille were all much better.
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6-29-2008 @ 6:41PM
Linda said...
Both of these films were poetic in their own ways. WALL-E on the smart, sweet, slightly political side, with an amazing visual, that was given the task of telling the story. Then Wanted alternately smacks you in the face with a violent morality tale, while offering almost balletic action sequences. Though they each have very different audiences, folks like me will love both. An interesting, exciting weekend at the movies. I was glad to see both films do so well at the box office.
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6-29-2008 @ 8:01PM
chris said...
Watched Wanted, wasn't expecting a lot, just wanted something fun. It was fun, it was cool. Though. . after reading wikipedia I think the original "super villain" would of made more sense. I mean, I'm all about Suspension of disbelief but if I can't believe someone shoots bullets out of the air UNLESS he is a superhero (Or Villain)
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6-29-2008 @ 8:28PM
eugene said...
thought WALL-E was amazing. On a technical level the camera movement and the "focusing" was amazing and made a HUGE step forward towards what real glass and film looks and feels like. The story was a little simple, but honestly... the way it was done was amazing. To make an audience empathize with a box with wheels and a floating egg... with nothing but gesture and nearly nonsensical sounds? That's incredible film making... story telling at its finest.
Wanted was a fun ride... some cool visuals and wicked pacing. It's not going to revolutionize the genre like the Matrix did but it will probably make McAvoy a household name.
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6-30-2008 @ 2:42AM
uforeader said...
WALL-E was absolutely incredible. There isn't really another movie like it.
WALL-E functions well as both a friendly sci-fi and a dark children's movie. Pixar continues (well, with the exception of the Incredibles) to take story-telling risks that pay-off. WALL-E is a movie made for the sophisticated movie-goer, but one that kids will enjoy too thanks to the wonderful animation and the occasional sight-gag. The first 30 minutes of the movie functions almost completely dialog-free, and the main character says only four different words the whole film. The magic of WALL-E is that a film about a mostly-mute, electronic, garbage collector is really about what makes us human - the ability to communicate and love each other. If ever there was an animated movie worthy of an Oscar nomination, this is it!
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6-30-2008 @ 2:51AM
V.M.L. said...
WALL-E was just perfect! I left the theater feeling mesmerized. My friend thought I was feeling sick! XD
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6-30-2008 @ 2:53AM
joe fec said...
Wall-e ! A terrific, engaging story that's visuals are so crisp and interesting that you buy into the premise immediately. I was captured by both Wall-e and his fabulous counterpart, Eve. See it, adults and kids. I even found its low-word count refreshing. You see the emotions on the characters, and they carry the story.
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6-30-2008 @ 3:21AM
pete thomson said...
I saw Wall-E at the Edinburgh Film festival on saturday as its not out in the UK till mid July. I thought it was excellent, great expressive characterisation of the robots and a strong message about over consumerism and obesity aimed at the fattest, greediest country on the planet. It was humorous without being preachy. And the EVE robot looked a lot like an IPOD. We got a half hearted talk and vis-pres from one of the directors an a free gift of stickers the packaging for which may end up being cubed into a landfill by a droid in several thousand years time.
Wanted I saw on Thursday and thought was nonsense. The CGI was really nothing new and the absurd story about assassin inspired weavers and binary thread was terrible. It was violent to the point of making me cough and having everybody's favorite Papa Smurf as the baddy was predictable. The worst thing about it though was the glamourisation of the violence, kill one to save thousands hardly makes any sense when you consider how many people died on the train crash- and the constant use of guns was offensive- Charlton Heston must have been delighted, Not to mention unoriginal. It wasnt the worst summer movie so far - that honour must go to The Happening, but its a close third!!! Ironman being little more than Transformers without wheels. On the plus side I did also go an see an excellent documentary about Antarctica by Werner Hertzog as part of the EIFF where he refered to the abomination of aerobics studios and misguided linguists. Check it out.
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6-30-2008 @ 7:39AM
Beth said...
Giving away the ending is so not cool.
6-30-2008 @ 9:19AM
Kevin said...
Totally agree Beth. What a dick move.
6-30-2008 @ 8:45AM
Jason said...
I didn't even see Wall*E, but I did see Wanted twice. It as awesome.
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6-30-2008 @ 12:02PM
dana said...
The first half of Wanted was truly awesome -- shootings! car chases! fights! But then it takes a turn in the second half and decides to take itself deadly seriously, which is a mistake. It's a good action film with a lot of good sequences, but not quite all I was hoping for.
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6-30-2008 @ 6:19PM
Jonathan Kuhn said...
I saw "WALL*E" twice. I plan to see "Wanted" eventually, but "WALL*E" blew me away and deserve a second viewing.
Is it the greatest cinematic love story of all time? Maybe. Here's my take on it:
http://slowclapchildren.blogspot.com/2008/06/category-five-my-5-favorite-films-of.html
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7-03-2008 @ 11:42AM
Jeffrey laptew said...
Wall-E, I thought Wall-e was a remarkable film it had great visualization and great voice acting and everything Wanted didnt give its promise like the trailers give you I for one go with wall-e
Wall-e (5 out 5)
Wanted(3.5 out of 5)
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