Devin Faraci from CHUD.COM, who despite being a bit of a grumpster really is one of the best movie journalist/reviewers on the internet, has seen WALL•E before you and me. Lucky guy. However, he took issue with the movie’s strong pro-environmental themes apparently contradicting the fleet of merchandising tie-ins surrounding the movie.
Here’s a piece of the piece to whet your controversial whistle:
When I got to the Four Seasons hotel the next day, the site of the junket for the film, and saw an entire room dedicated to showing off the marketing tie-ins, I lost the sense of irony and began to think what I was seeing was flat out hypocrisy. I wondered if maybe Stanton’s denials about the messages weren’t coming from a marketing point of view but from simple shame.
A minor warning that if you’re trying to stay completely data-free before you see the movie, you might want to wait until after. If you’ve been reading anything else about the movie, there’s probably nothing in there that you don’t already know.
Is WALL•E Environmental or Hypocritical? >Catena Ex Situ
June 29, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I found great deal of irony between the message of the movie and the fact that they handed out DISPOSABLE plastic watches to all of the children who attended. Made in China. The American Way!
July 9, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Keep in mind that the promotion of the film is handled by Disney, who distributes all of Pixar’s films. The free watches, marketing junket et. really has little to do with the creative team at Pixar that made the movie.
December 2, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Of course it’s going to be hypocritical. Disney has young Asian kids in sweat shops making the toys for the nice American children.