I�m not saying Wall*E isn�t worthy of praise. For one thing, it manages the use of Katzenberg�s signature unsentimental irony much better than previous DreamWorks offerings. Consider the soaring power of Michael Crawford�s opening notes as his youthful tenor trembles across the galaxy, turning old Broadway treacle into post-apocalyptic prayer; mocking it and meditating on it all at once. Nothing in the endless (and tedious) parade of topical Shrek-isms comes anywhere close to being that clever. But, sadly, neither does anything in Wall*E�s own second and third acts. Even the tender, weightless ballet between the Pentium processed pair owes more to Kubrick than to KoKo. The plotting wears thin, and feels very much like just that � plotting as opposed to story telling. It relies on anything but the desires and hopes of the hero, and the suspense is tacked on; doesn�t something more have to be at stake than whether or not the �off� button is discovered in time? And even if that were sufficient, shouldn�t the protagonist be the guy to push it? Wall*E starts off nobly enough, and gives us little peeks of promise in single shots, but never enough to constitute another satisfying scene that could only happen in animation � not just superior CG effects shots. And once it ends up using trumpets and timpani to remind us that we are consuming too much at the cost of our planet, and possibly our own humanity, we�re faced with the question of how to explain the shelves of WalMart and Target, filled with an awfully big carbon footprint of Pixar branded remote-control Wall*E�s that will doubtless be the stuff of landfills down the road.

Mark Osborne and John Stevenson�s Kung Fu Panda on the other paw, doesn�t have to try as hard to make the emotional connection. Portly Po and his comrades mirror our human folly with both worldly wisdom and noodle-slurping silliness, and never need violins to make their point. We laugh at the same time we clutch our heart and feel something for the corpulent panda poised with impossible grace for that split second before he gets beaten within an inch of his cuddly life by the soulless and side-splittingly sadistic array of training devices. I can�t imagine a better visual primer for leaving behind altruistic dreams and preparing for the harsh truth of life. No words, all action. Point made, and with laughter as opposed to sermonizing. The gentle sentiments of Kung Fu Panda are new for DreamWorks, and the laughter seems earned for the first time in the relatively brief history of the studio. The message may be too familiar for some, but Po is not only us, he�s the very heart of cartoons, and he seems to be saying �believe in yourself � to animation as much to the audience.

The characters in Kung Fu Panda are just as other-worldly as Wall*E. They are fantastical, fanciful, brilliantly designed (thanks to Nico Marlet), and stunningly well animated. The directors pull off potentially awkward moments, that could easily sink into maudlin mud, with a graceful matter-of-fact touch. For example, when we see Po�s obviously adoptive father reveal the secret that will free Po from his self-doubt, it is, at once, both an absent-mined moment for a silly goose and a heartfelt gift from father to son that soars with truth. It is neither hammered home, nor, more importantly, mowed down in mockery immediately thereafter by some fart joke, as has been the MO of all other Katzenberg offerings. This is the sophisticated movie Jeffrey Katzenberg promised he would produce when he stormed off the lot on Alameda and took up digs over on Flower Street. Has it come too late to set the animation bar at the right level in this digital age, having been overshadowed by an altogether different game? And how do we get him to keep it high, since it could be argued that a Best Picture nod for a pseudo-animated �real film� is less of a blow to animation than Madagascar 2? (Ouch!)

Childish as it is, I�d far rather see anthropomorphic animals kick the stuffing out of each other than watch Mac Books make love among the stars; those distant glimmering wished-upon icons of many a great cartoon, into which I stare these long summer nights and whisper: Oh Jeffrey, what took you so long?!

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Image of Po by Nicolas Marlet, Copyright DreamWorks Animation, all rights reserved.
Image of Wall*E Copyright Pixar/Disney, all rights reserved.

-- Posted April 15, 2008