Pixar showdown Wall-e vs. Up

[JoeDavid 2]

Ok so there is only one real deal cartoon movie in the Canon, Beauty and the Beast (I know Waltz with Bashir is in there too.). While Devin has a hard no anime policy I do think there need to be more opportunities to have cartoons in the Canon. That said I think to prevent the Canon becoming overloaded with "kids movies" (after all its a podcast for us adult nerds) they should be versus episodes, especially with Disney episodes. That said I think that both Snow White and Toy Story should have their own episodes, or just be inducted automatically like Godfather 1 & 2, and of course The Interview, because of the reaching impact on popular culture.

Now I am nominating for the Canon a showdown between what are often considered the two best Pixar movies. That said the arguments for the movies will be too similar to merit the inclusion of both. Both are visually stunning, inventive, emotionally resonant movies that have appeal for both children and adult nerds. For this reason I think they should have to compete rather than coexist.

[SiSquires-Kasten 37]

I think Wall-E would take this one in a landslide. The opening to Up is one of the great sequences of ANY film, but the rest of the movie isn't head and shoulders above other Pixar work, whereas Wall-E is entirely singular in the canon in addition to being really fucking good.

 

Perhaps Toy Story v. Wall-E would be a better argument? I think the two are much closer in terms of quality, with Toy Story getting a slight edge for its place in animation history.

[HoldenMartinson 221]

See, I disagree. I think Up more than holds its own against WALL-E. The film on the other end of that opening is still incredible. WALL-E is still great, but Up is terrific enough to hold up against it.

[Ryan L 57]

Perhaps Toy Story v. Wall-E would be a better argument? I think the two are much closer in terms of quality, with Toy Story getting a slight edge for its place in animation history.

 

The thing about WALL•E that people forget about is that it's actually had a fairly large historical impact already. In 2008 there was a campaign to get it nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but remember that this is when there were only 5 nominees and the only animated feature to be nominated was Beauty and the Beast in the 1992 ceremony. Disney made a big push but it ultimately failed because, at least to the voters, animated films had their own category and didn't belong in Best Picture. WALL•E racked up the most nominations for an animated film in history that year, and the campaign to get it nominated (along with The Dark Knight, which had its own battle due to being a superhero blockbuster) paved the way for the Best Picture category expanding and the eventual nominations of Up and Toy Story 3 and allowing for smaller pictures to be recognized (The Hurt Locker as referenced in an earlier episode had the door opened by WALL•E's snubbing). Now that might not be a huge impact like Toy Story had on the animation world, but it's a pretty big deal in the movie industry.

 

In an ideal world, Toy Story and WALL•E would get their own episodes as both are definitely deserving, but if we wanted to do a Pixar battle royale then the best versus would indeed be these two - the original versus the best - and not involving Up.