Andrew Stanton On The Treatment

This is a good one -- with the director of 'Wall-E'.

Is Pixar Further Out On A Limb?

When Pixar rolled out 'Ratatouille' I thought their streak would end. I just couldn't see how there could be that much interest in a movie about a rat who wants to cook classical French cuisine. I didn't care that he wanted to be a chef. I didn't even like the way he looked -- not that he's a bad rat, he's just drawn that way. I thought it was a mistake to name a movie after a Provencal soup. 'Ratatouille' did pretty good business, though (not as good as previous Pixar benchmarks, perhaps, but...). So, I was wrong. (I haven't finished watching the DVD yet, but...).

Now comes 'Wall-E', a robot that processes garbage, who lives alone, loves to watch 'Hello, Dolly', and yearns for a robot girlfriend. Katrina Onstad at NYT feels Pixar is gambling with this one. I don't see it. If Pixar can make a successful movie about a rat that aspires to preparing oh so haute cuisine for the French upper crust, why can't they make a successful movie about a lovelorn robot that collects garbage? I agree with Onstad that 'Ratatouille' seemed like a hard sell at the time, but can't see why 'Wall-E' is a gamble. The guy is cute, with those big eyes, and that snappy endearing ancronym/name -- what's not to like?

According to NYT, the film's writer-director, Andrew Stanton, scoffs at conventionality saying, "I never think about the audience. If someone gives me a marketing report, I throw it away." Fair enough. Add to that: "I'm not naive about what's at stake," he said. "But I almost feel like it's an obligation to not further the status quo if you become somebody with influence and exposure. I don't want to paint the same painting again. I don't want to make the same sculpture again. Why shouldn't a big movie studio be able to make those small independent kinds of pictures? Why not change it up?"

I'm not sure I'd call 'Wall-E', which cost $180 million dollars, a small independent kind of picture, but it certainly doesn't further the Hollywood status quo for fluff animation (unless you're Pixar and the status quo is making movies with increasingly off-the-wall premises. (Yes, I'll admit I thought about saying 'off-the-Wall-E' premises).

If Remy the rat can carry a movie about cooking classical French food, then Wall-E the cute robot can carry a movie about collecting garbage and looking for a girlfriend. The rat chef may have been a gamble but I think 'Wall-E' is money in the bank.

Pixar may be further out, but they're not on a limb. However, they might consider, just consider, making their next movie a bit more conventional -- the kind of thing where you don't have doubts about the premise and don't cross your fingers and hope for the best before taking the family. Just saying, is all.

WALL-E

Here's a trailer for a movie about WALL-E from a company called PIXAR.