If you've been tempted recently to think they aren't making movies like they used to, you're not alone. But before you totally write off today's efforts, you might want to take another look at animated movies.
Here's something to consider: only three movies out of the all-time top 100 movies (as listed by the American Film Institute in "AFI's 10 Top 10") were released within the past 10 years. But, of those three, two were animated-"Shrek" in 2001 and "Finding Nemo" in 2003. (The third was "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings" from 2001.)
Maybe not a very scientific analysis, but it seems to confirm what I've been suspecting for some time: namely that the talent and visual storytelling that used to be invested in live action films are now finding their way into animation.
These creative moviemakers are plying their craft at studios like Pixar or Dreamworks. Or they're sitting at computer screens anywhere in the world, from Japan to Iran.
It may be due to the inherent limitations of live action film or the increasingly powerful computer animation software that the 1930s Walt Disney could never have imagined. But for whatever reason, the best and the brightest of today's filmmakers are telling compelling and contemporary stories through what once were derisively called cartoons. Those who dismiss animation as just for kids really need to give it another chance.
All of which brings to me to this summer's unlikely hero-a little robot responsible for the big job of cleaning up our dirty planet.
WALL-E
In the future, humans have fouled Earth to the point that it's uninhabitable and have fled the planet aboard a gigantic space vehicle. Meanwhile, back on Earth, a robot is busy cleaning up our mess. He is a Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth Class, or WALL-E for short. As the movie opens, he is scooping up, smashing and stacking the garbage into gigantic skyscrapers of waste, and every so often, he sets aside knick-knacks that interest him.
But the curious little roving trash compactor makes a surprising discovery. That attracts a new robot to Earth-EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator)-and sets in motion a series of events that requires WALL-E and EVE to fight for the very future of Earth.
The entire first act of "WALL-E" is filmmaking at its most basic. With virtually no words spoken, WALL-E's comic slapstick pays tribute to the golden age of silent movies, with his character a sort of sci-fi Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.
But this elegant and warmhearted segment takes place in the most unlikely of animated settings-the debris-filled dump of post apocalyptic Earth. It's drab and dusty, a nightmarish location in which WALL-E's comedy is played out amidst the somber reminders of the destruction of our civilization.
In the final act, when the action moves to the spaceship of exiled humans, "WALL-E" begins to look a little too familiar with bad guys, a frantic chase and heroics required to save the day.
But that still doesn't take away from the message at the heart of "WALL-E." The movie warns us that if we continue down the road of rampant consumerism and environmental destruction, bad things await us. But it sounds the alarm in a lyrical way, with a gentle soul as the unlikely spokesperson.
In a summer of lame action heroes, special effects that are no longer special, and recycled formulas, "WALL-E" shows that a robot-and an animated robot at that-can display more heart and soul than any flesh and blood actor out there.
Rosa Goddard International Film Festival at the Kentucky
Sometimes, it takes an outsider to recognize something we locals take for granted. For years, Rosa Goddard of Plymouth, Mass., would come to visit relatives in central Kentucky. One of her favorite activities while here would be to go to the Kentucky Theatre and see whatever was playing. The eclectic mix of foreign and independent films, shown in the grand setting of our local downtown movie palace, was a treat for her every time she visited.
When she passed away in 2003, Rosa Goddard left a gift to the Kentucky Theatre with no strings attached. Manager Fred Mills sat down with his partners and they decided that the best tribute to this woman whose passions were film and international travel would be a festival of films from all over the world.
"You might see something like this on the campus of Berkeley or NYU," says Fred. "But it's very unusual for a movie theatre to show films of this caliber together on a program over the course of a single week."
So, beginning on Sept. 4, the fifth annual Rosa Goddard International Film Festival kicks off at the Kentucky, and this year's edition is a virtual who's who of world cinema. Here's the lineup. For more information or showtimes, call the theatre at (859) 231-6997 or go online to www.kentuckytheatre.com.
Thurs., Sept. 4: Malcolm McDowell in Lindsay Anderson's "If..."
Fri., Sept. 5: Lexington premiere of Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution"
Sat., Sept. 6: Jean-Jacques Beineix' "Diva"
Sat., Sept. 6-7: matinees of two classic children's films by Albert Lamorisse-
"The Red Balloon" (Sept. 6) and "White Mane" (Sept. 7)
Sun., Sept. 7: Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha"
Mon., Sept. 8: Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"
Tues., Sept. 9: "Fellini Satyricon"
Wed., Sept. 10: Melina Mercouri in Jules Dassin's "Never On Sunday"
Thurs., Sept. 11: Francois Truffaut's "The 400 Blows"