Wall-E (Three-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)

As part of the Chicago Film Critics Association I thought long and hard about my vote for Best Animated Film and whether I would choose Wall-E. Every year the Award seems to wind up with some big budget American mainstream flick and my thought has been that if an animated movie isn’t as good as any other kind of film then why bother having a specific award for animation. And there seemed like there was a lot of competition this year. It didn’t help that LA voted Wall-E best overall film period.

Clearly I wasn’t going to vote for Fears of The Dark. As interesting as Charles Burns first feature film was it just wasn’t consistent enough to come across as anything more than an interesting sometimes compelling animation experiment. Waltz with Bashir- perhaps the strongest animated contender- left me oddly unmoved for much of it’s running time. Was it the flashback structure? The animation style itself, so similar if not identical to the one that had been used to such great effect in Waking Life? No, the success of Waking had to do with the way that each segment took you on a mysterious journey through mans search for meaning and reality. And Wakings style felt inextricably tied to that search tying the world of reality and dream together in a way that made you ponder about whatever division there is between the two.

Waltzing should have been able to take advantage of that style as well. Not only does it concern a character trying to discern meaning from a dream but also trying to remember history which grows increasingly more “real” to him the more he works through his dream. The difference is that Waltzing is ultimately a film with an agenda that its style isn’t really connected to. And we never really doubt where it’s going. By the time it ends up using live footage at its end to reveal the pivotal event the character is trying to remember we aren’t anymore enlightened than when we started. I think Waltzing is a very good film but it exists for me in a weird netherworld between documentary, animation feature, and message movie failing to be any one them enough to qualify or my vote as “best of.”

The only other real competition for my vote was Kung Fu Panda This was a very good film. Very funny, visually spectacular but ultimately I felt I had seen it before. It was clearly time to see Wall-E again.

I am in awe of this film. It invited me to think about the foundations laid by industry pioneers. It has the visual inventiveness of A Trip To The Moon, a complicated understanding of the relationship between man and machine ala Metropolis and Wall-E himself could have come straight from the child mind of Chaplin. It reminded me of everything I hold most dear about science fiction film in general. It is something that very few films (animated or otherwise) even try to be these days, it is winsome without being precious. The first third of the film is simply astounding revealing not only that Wall-E is a character for ages but that the world he inhabits is a world that would serve perfectly for any adult post apocalyptic science fiction film. The sophistication that has gone into creating his geography, the version of the future that he inhabits, are stunning cinematic achievements. I think this is a big reason Wall-E has been voted Best Film of 2008 period (much less best animated film) by both LA and Chicago Film Critics. And while I parted with my Chicago brethren on that choice (I honestly felt The Dark Knight was a bigger overall film accomplishment) I’m certainly not embarrassed by the CFCA bestowing best picture honors here.

Some have faulted the film for introducing human characters at all greatly preferring the first third of the film showcasing Wall-E and the way he finds wonder in the day to day drudgery of his mundane mission. That would be hard to argue with. On some level Wall-E seems like two films and that was ultimately the reason I passed on it for Best Picture. But the next two thirds of the film featuring Wall-E as a hero in a story peopled with, overweight unaware consumers is a dynamite little piece of satire even if it’s overall slickness and lack of visual realism (Wall-E is far more “real” looking than the humans who resemble a cross between Spongebobs friend Patrick and seem ready made to be Burger King Toys) ) suggests an appeal to exactly the sort of consumerism that the movie criticizes.

This may be a clue as too why many might choose to skip this flick. It feels more than a little tainted by the things we all hate about big budget American movies. To my way of thinking if all movies were as wonder inducing as Wall-E (and he is a character for the ages) we’d all be going to the actual cinemas more. This is dynamic inventive storytelling that offers a lot to any viewer with an open mind.

This three DVD set is packed with awesome special features. Including Andrew Stanton commentary, tons and tons of featurettes, deleted scenes and lots of other kid oriented games etc. You also get a digital copy for download with the three disc set. The best thing here though is The Pixar Story, a feature length doc on the history of the company. But almost as good are the two new short cartoons Presto and Burn-E. Presto features an absolutely hysterical battle of wills between a magician and his dissatisfied rabbit. Burn-E showcases the frustration of a machine given the unenviable task of securing a light fixture to the outside of a ship only to have it demolished, burnt out and lost at every opportunity.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Three-Disc Collector's Edition + Digital Copy)

Word just reached my ears that Disney is passing on a third installment in the Narnia series despite the fact that the first one made roughly $750 million and the second $450 million (more than doubling it’s investment). What gives? Caspian is one of the least interesting books of the series and the fact that there are potentially five more flicks in the offing should at least lend itself to a highly successful franchise. Whatever. Walden Media is shopping round for new sugar daddy and I have to wonder if that isn’t good news. Future adaptations will have to be more story driven if the budgets are lower or they’ll risk trashing the franchise. With any luck it may all work out for the better.

The real problem here is the audience senses the studio interference. Clearly not enough time has been spent unpacking and adapting Lewis’ source material the thought being that the Narnia books are more like the Potter books and as such are in need of trimming/dumbing down. In fact Narnia is far more similar in overall theme to Tolkiens LOTR and if anything less adaptable or easy to dumb down. The books don’t need trimming they need visual focussing and I could sense the Andrew Adamson trying to do that all the way through this second installment in the series.
Prince Caspian offers the stuff of great fantasy even if the spectacle seems a little overwrought. The cast has matured into their roles well and like other great recent fantasy films (see Spiderwick Chronicles) the proceedings are substantially darker than they might have been in less capable hands. This is a multi-volume story rooted in danger and heroism, character and self sacrifice and deserves another look as the year fades out. If fans have thus far stayed away in greater numbers it has to do with whether or not they’ve come to care about the characters and the fate of Narnia. The books have never had any problem attracting a large readership based on that.

There are lots of extra features here and this is liable to be the definitive version of the film. Those wondering if Caspian will eventually get the 4 disc treatment might want to just go ahead and make a purchase. Commentary by Adamson, the Pevensies and Ben Barnes, several featurettes totalling out at about an hour and a half, about ten minutes of Deleted Scenes , and a blooper reel.

Lost The Complete Fourth Season

Most underrated TV show of 2008? Lost is a TV show I’d be lost without and I’m picking it for my favorite show of the year despite the truncated season. Dexter just hasn’t had as great a third season and Heroes seems pretty well....lost ((although I still like it) Lost is never less than fun, and rarely unintelligent in the way it approaches character. And the fourth season picked up any slack left by season three and then some. Sure, Lost tends to float around the big questions but that never stops me and mine having great discussions after each episode. I especially like the way Lost humanizes even the most villainous figures. Pick up season four now and you’ll have just enough to time to review it beore Season five starts.

Extras here include 4 audio commentaries, a bunch of lengthy featurettes and deleted scenes. But the real fun is to be found in stuff like the hour long Course of the Future which puts all the flashbacks in chronological order and Oceanic 6: A Conspiracy of Lies which is a fake doc on the “real truth” behind the plane crash and fate of the survivors. Also much welcome is the collection of all the extra internet material and minisodes in Missing Pieces Mobisodes which let the viewer in on all that extra trivia that makes theorizing about the shows mysteries such a compulsive habit for fans. And of course the ever present Gag Reel is there.