'Wall-E' is a winner with critics – will audiences and Oscar voters agree?
"Wall-E" will be among the best-received movies of the year if the rest of the reviews follow suit with the early notices. Already, the latest Pixar picture has scored an incredible 100 with the top critics at Rotten Tomatoes and an impressive 91 over at MetaCritic. Such rave reviews certainly make "Wall-E" a strong contender at the Academy Awards for best animated feature. Just compare these results to those of another likely nominee -– Dreamwork's "Kung Fu Panda" -- which scored only 75 at Rotten Tomatoes and 73 at MetaCritic.
Read Kenneth Turan's review in the L.A. Times — CLICK HERE!
"Wall-E" should easily equal the takings of last summer's Pixar release –- "Ratatouille." That romp about a rat with culinary ambitions earned $206 million in the U.S. and another $410 million worldwide. It was such a big hit with the critics -- coming in at 96 on MetaCritic and 100 with the top critics at Rotten Tomatoes -- that it ended up becoming the best-reviewed film of 2007. At the Oscars, "Ratatouille" edged out "Surf's Up" and "Persepolis" for the animated feature Oscar.
Since this Academy Award for best animated feature was introduced in 2001, each of Pixar's pictures has figured in the race, with three wins –- "Finding Nemo" (2003); "The Incredibles" (2004); and "Ratatouille" (2007) –- and two losses: "Monsters, Inc." bested by "Shrek" (2001), and "Cars" edged out by "Happy Feet" (2006).
"Wall-E" is written and directed by Andrew Stanton, who is no stranger to the Academy Awards. He was among the scribes of "Toy Story" who made Oscar history in 1995 when they scored the first original screenplay nod for an animated feature. They lost to Christopher McQuarrie, creator of "The Usual Suspects." Stanton got a second writing nod for "Finding Nemo" in 2003, but he and his colleagues lost to Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation."
Tom - this really needs to be addressed. Wall-E is not only getting more Best Picture buzz than any other animated movie in recent memory, more Best Picture buzz than any other movie so far this year, period. It may not be too accurate an indicator for Oscar, but Wall-E is already ranked #9 all time on IMDB, and will surely rise even higher in the days to come.
Posted by: Mike | June 29, 2008 at 10:48 PM
HECK yeah Wall-E!
A movie so good it didn't have to depend on random famous voice actors to provide such deep connection to its characters.
Posted by: Isaia | June 28, 2008 at 08:19 AM
I agree completely. WALL-E is most certainly deserving of a Best Picture nomination.
Posted by: Alex | June 27, 2008 at 02:21 PM
WALL-E winning Best Animated Feature is as inevitable as death. I think the matter we should be discussing here is the fact that we have in our hands an animated film with the likeliest chance of snagging a Best Picture nom...since...well...
Ratatouille...or hell, anything by Pixar (Monsters Inc, Cars withstanding). Give them what they finally deserve. LOTR had it in 03', Scorcese had his in 06', Disney/Pixar deserves it in 08!
Posted by: ag2668 | June 27, 2008 at 10:55 AM