Preview: Wall-E (2008)

• Poster: B-; C+; C-

Review:

The poster's relatively innocuous and bears the tagline that's featured in the trailer. And a robot on a junk pile isn't exactly an exciting prospect...thankfully Disney's done a good job with the trailers.

Of the two new posters, this is easily the better. Although it pales in comparison to the original, it is light years ahead of the third poster. It's a bit glossy and happy, which the later trailer reveals, but it destroys some of the loneliness the first poster conjured.

Clearly designed to sell to kids who want posters for their wall, this third poster is uninventive, unimaginative and un-interesting.

• Trailer: B; C+; A

Review:

With very little of the film ready for reel-transfer, we are instead given a teaser that features a small snippet of the film's animation and lead character named Wall-E accompanied by a "how'd the story come about" conversation. There really isn't much there yet and while the animation does look as spot-on as many of the companies past efforts, there isn't enough of a plot to give us a hint as to what might happen in the film.

Although I was charmed by the first teaser, this second one, while giving a touch more info on the story isn't very charming and is largely just a humor-factory, which dilutes some of the impact of the original.

After a rather redundant second teaser, we get the first full fledged trailer for this year's Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature. That's how I feel after seeing this entirely charming, exciting and humorous new trailer.

Oscar Prospects:

There isn't a year when the Pixar flick isn't a contender. We'll have to wait until the 81st Oscars to find out if this film makes it in, but I see no reason why it wouldn't be a success.

Release Date:

• June 27, 2008

Full Review Synopsis:

Charming, funny and entertaining. All you've come to expect from the greatest animation house in the history of cinema.

• Full Review: Wall-e

-Wesley Lovell (June 16, 2007) Original

-Wesley Lovell (October 27, 2007) New Poster; Buy the Poster Enabled

-Wesley Lovell (March 23, 2008) New Trailer

-Wesley Lovell (May 25, 2008) New Posters