Quick Reviews: WALL-E, Get Smart, The Happening, and Wanted

Did a lot of catching up at the movies this week.

WALL-E



As promised in the trailers: very cute and sweet. I was hoping for more than cute or sweet though, like with Ratatouille, Toy Story 2 or Finding Nemo. All of those movies touched me. They made me re-feel things I'd forgotten about. The robots weren't able to do that for me. I liked them all and wanted them to be okay, but they didn't tell me anything about me, so I didn't like it as much as some other Pixar stuff I've seen.

Also, I have serious questions about life on that spaceship.

Four out of five Fred Willards.

Get Smart



Not at all what I expected, but I still really liked it. I've never watched Get Smart, but I imagined it was sort of like Inspector Gadget or the Pink Panther movies. I figured Maxwell Smart was one of those incompetent heroes who managed to bumble and slapstick their way to successfully closing cases. Steve Carell's Maxwell Smart actually knows what he's doing most of the time, but things just don't always go his way.

The funniest bits were in the trailer, so I was disappointed in it as a comedy. I was pleasantly surprised though about how well it worked as a straight - if lighthearted - spy movie. Everyone in it was awesome from Carell to the Rock to Alan Arkin (who had way more to do than I thought he would) to Anne Hathaway.

Four out of five swordfish.

The Happening



I like the premise. This would've made an awesome B-movie in the tradition of Day of the Animals or The Day of the Triffids. Absolutely nothing wrong with the plot. What's wrong with it is all in the execution.

Shyamalan takes the movie way too seriously and tries so hard to ground it in reality - to make us feel what it would be like if this really happened - that he achieves the opposite effect. The performances practically quiver with the strain of looking sincere in the ridiculousness of the situation. I wanted so much to lose myself in the story, but the dialogue and the acting were so forced and fake that I never could.

Two out of five killer plants.

Wanted



After seeing Wanted, I truly believe that if you sling your gun just right while pulling the trigger, you can curve a bullet. Okay, maybe not, but my problem with Wanted has nothing to do with unbelievability. My suspension of disbelief is quite healthy and the movie did nothing to compromise it. The story stayed true to the internal logic it set up for itself and it was a darn fine story besides. There were plenty of surprises and everyone stayed in character, even when doing so wasn't the easiest choice for the movie to make.

My complaint is about the main character. The movie goes to such great extents to portray Wesley as a loser in the first act that it succeeds too well. I didn't feel sorry for him; I pretty much hated him and felt like he was getting exactly what he deserved out of life. He was such a pushover and let people walk all over him to the point that I finally figured, "If this guy doesn't care about himself, why should I?"

The movie eventually overcomes that flaw by turning Wesley into someone I like and can root for, but then drops the ball at the end by having him go back and revisit his old life from his new perspective. I'd rather he have left that life behind completely, but he still cares enough about the jerks who've made his life miserable that he feels he has to go back and prove himself to them.

If Superman was created as wish-fulfillment fantasy for kids, Wanted is wish-fulfillment fantasy for the cubicle set. If I hated my life as much as Wesley does, I might like Wanted more. I might feel challenged by the final line of the movie instead of thinking it sounded hollow and stupid.

Still, lots of cool action sequences, a really smart plot, and the movie raises some interesting questions about things like faith and loyalty.

Four out of five super-bullets.

All in all, not a bad week at the movies.