I went and saw The Wild Robot over the weekend without knowing a single thing about it and ended up enjoying the movie a lot. I truly think part of that was not knowing anything about the movie except seeing the poster, knowing the title, seeing the rating, and knowing it was for kids and was animated (which was evident by the poster and rating). Beyond that, I was clueless. I didn’t even know if the robot would talk or not. The story unfolding out for me entirely was nice to experience.
I won’t ruin any parts of the movie for anyone who may be in my position too, but if you’re into animated kids movies with a hint of sci-fi, you’ll probably like this movie.
I only became aware of this movie as I was checking on times for Alien Romulus and saw this instead. My girlfriend’s son is obsessed with robots so I knew this was likely a movie he’d like to see.
The only place where I’m bombarded with ads anymore is on YouTube on my phone and TV where my adblockers don’t work. So I had never had this movie advertised to me in the usual way others have been.
With the way YouTube ads work, I usually get bombarded with the same repetitive trailers that make the movie obnoxious to me after seeing the same trailer for the 100th time. And it seems that the theme over the past few decades is to spoil parts of the movie in the trailer. Like one of the trailers for Dogman that was shown before The Wild Robot in the theaters tells us how Dogman becomes Dogman… Being for kids, I’m sure it doesn’t matter and it’s not the focal point of the movie, but like, I would have preferred to find that out when watching the movie, not beforehand.
Speaking of Alien Romulus, I’m a fan of the Alien movies but the trailer before Deadpool 3 showed soooo many of the crew’s deaths that it really spoiled the movie. Part of my thrill of the Alien movies for me is finding out who survives from the crew of each movie. But not this one… which is why I still haven’t seen it. I just felt really unmotivated to go see it when it released last month and I didn’t see it this weekend because I’m okay with waiting for it to release for home and maybe I’ll forget what I saw in the trailer by then.
But The Wild Robot was exciting and very enjoyable and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact I knew very little.
I know that a lot of people share the same sentiment about trailers spoiling the movie, but my unpopular opinion is that I don’t want to see anything about it beforehand, in most cases. Give me a poster, title, rating, and I can figure out the rest as to whether I’d like to watch it or not.
This is not to say that movies should never have a trailer of any kind. No, far from it. Just don’t advertise the trailer so repetitively and even more than that, make the trailer available for watching on demand. If I am interested but still on the fence because your poster or title didn’t convey enough, then I can go searching for the trailer on a site like YouTube and watch it for myself.
I usually check the director and what other things had done.
I’m not really into kid animation, but judging by the director past movies (how to train upur dragon and lilo & snitch) I would watch The Wild Robot.
Getting more into movies I learned that I can usually tell if the movie will be good (to me) by looking at the director, the studio, and the rough cast. I add the cast because if it’s no one but A list stars usually to me that’s a warning that it’s going to just be garbage, they’re trying to make up for a garbage script. They have a couple a list with an interesting looking ensemble? Sounds good let’s try it.
Agreed about trailers but I’d replace rating with description. 1-2 sentences are enough to know the general theme without spoiling anything and ratings are pretty useless unless the movie has like a 2/10.
Irrelevant but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a trailer as a YouTube ad. Is that really a thing?
I almost didn’t watch The Wild Robot because of how bad the trailers were.
I’ll have to go see the trailers now after having seen it, but I have to say that the three of us really enjoyed the movie.
That’s a shame that happens. I wonder how often that’s happened for me too, that a trailer turned me off to a movie I likely would have liked.
Ad blocking on your phone and TV including YT is possible BTW.
I absolutely agree about trailers though. Trailers ruin movies.
What ways are you aware of for adblocking on the iPhone and Apple TV? I have a PiHole for my network, but ads are still getting through to both of these through the official YouTube app. I’d love to get a way to bypass them if it exists for the iPhone/Apple TV!
According to Internet randos you can install ad blocking extensions in Safari. So probably do that and remove the YT app, for your phone. Not sure how the Apple TV is bypassing pihole.
I’ve tried adblocker apps and VPNs with adblockers too but YouTube ads find a way through and this happens even when on my home WiFi for my iPhone where my PiHole is.
I’ve tried various lists in my PiHole and none seem to block ads. I only get to block ads on my computers with the uBlock Origin extension.
I’ve read a lot of people say that PiHole cannot block ads from YouTube because of the way YouTube serves up ads which is on the same server as the video the user wants to play. While adblocker extensions in the browser work similarly to how YouTube Premium does, somehow.
The most I got with PiHole was completely breaking all YouTube videos.
If I could get my PiHole to block YouTube ads, I could create a VPN and have that blocker available on the go on my iPhone too. But it doesn’t seem possible at this time from what I’ve found.
I’d love to find a way to make this to work though. It’s why I set up my PiHole to begin with but kept it up for the other features that have been useful.
Same. I went into cinema not knowing anything about Baby Driver beyond the title and recommendation, end up enjoying it more. Same as Rango, didn’t even know it’s a wild west movie, and aside from intentionally super ugly character it’s great.
Agreed, though I do like hearing that it’s a good movie from someone who has similar tastes in movies (and that’s it… no details at all). Helps set expectations. Getting suckered into watching a movie by director/actor/poster combo sucks.
For home viewing on streaming, I just want to know if people who like the same kinds of movies I do like it. Maybe a tiny bit more to know it doesn’t have the kinds of things that annoy me, but not most other people.
But to see a movie theater at the current cost I need to know it will be a good movie. Gone are the days that I would go see a random movie on a whim, because between the price and the odds of aome jerk spoiling the fun with their bright phone screens or rambling stories about the STD from the row behind me I would rather stay home and watch something there.
I never go beyond a teaser. If I decide after a random teaser that I wanna see it, I’ll just avoid any marketing after that
I think this is a good way to approach most entertainment.
Trailers and ads aside, it seems like so many movies/shows/games these days are either too good at generating artificial hype online (that dies out after opening weekend), or have people with political axes to grind telling you why you should or shouldn’t enjoy [thing]. It’s tiresome, and it inevitably colors your perception going in.
Yeah I am getting more and more acquainted with that idea. Growing up I used to see reviews and lists of must watch cinema and was grateful for it. It made me learn about the art and what I like or dislike. Now I am feeling comfortable with my own taste and know about directors, themes, plots, etc… that I like.
Watching trailers or lists nowadays makes me conflicted because it feels like I am being sold a product I wont like!
