Pixar’s new movie Wall•E opened this past weekend to big box office and rave reviews. I am really looking forward to seeing it. I had hoped to catch it on opening weekend but plans fell through. We had relatives come to visit and then my daughter broke her ankle (she’s doing fine, thanks).
However, I did download some little animated vignettes based on Wall•E from iTunes. You can also view them on the official site (just click on the “videos” link and then scroll through the thumbnails at left). They are absolutely brilliant! Cute, charming, and full of life. Like much of the film, they contain no dialogue. But the animation is so lively and entertaining you don’t even notice.
Go to the official site and view these clips (or download them from iTunes, they’re free!) Each clip is a perfect example of true character animation. Wall•E doesn’t just move, he lives, breathes, thinks, and feels. You get a real sense of his personality and who he is from just a few seconds of film, without a single word being spoken.
If you ever wanted proof that less is more, this is it. Good writers, actors, and directors know that actions and expressions are always more effective than mere words. You can often communicate more with an movement, gesture, or glance than you could with an entire paragraph of dialogue. It’s more powerful to show than to tell, a point these little vignettes make beautifully.