This film was simply mind blowing. I watched it every night before I went to bed for about 3 months, until I let someone borrow it and they lost it. It really opens your mind and your eyes to the simple truths of life and existence. From scenes of optimism to existentialism, there is a story for every type of perspective. One of my favorite quotes from the movie: "Hey. Could we do that again? I know we haven't met, but I don't want to be an ant. You know? I mean, it's like we go through life with our antennas bouncing off one another, continuously on ant autopilot, with nothing really human required of us. Stop. Go. Walk here. Drive there. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient, polite manner. "Here's your change." "Paper or plastic?' "Credit or debit?" "You want ketchup with that?" I don't want a straw. I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be ant, you know?"… Expand

This movie blew my mind. I can't wait to see it again.

Simply Awesome!

I'm an academic and I love that this film has been made and that there is an audience for it. But don't ask me to watch it again. Waking Life is new age pretension masquesarding as philosophy.

The film succumbs to the post-modern self-indulgence that it attempts to escape with its montage of misquoted topics covered in philosophy lectures. Moviemaking has lost a great deal of its originiality these days. It is tempting to like a movie like this because it's glossy and revolutionary to the eye. The writer and director of "Waking Life" is like that guy in the bar in "Good Will Hunting" who tries to pass of what he learned in class as his own, seemingly profound thoughts. It gets a 1 for visual creativity.… Expand

A movie which challenges the viewer, there is just so much content that you could watch it again end to end and not get bored. Film is the most complete and influentual media format out there and a film like this shows not only what is possible but what we are missing. It wakes you up to and makes you want to re-evaluate and explore the relationship between your conscious and subconscious states of mind in a world dominated by logic and need driven by boredom resulting from the absence of creative energy. This movie addresses this nicely. Thumbs up!… Expand

This is the best movie I have seen in several years. The content is provocative and intelligent. The images are creative. The experience is original. The impact is real and lasting, like a recurring dream.

This movie is bizzare to say the least. It tosses you into a barrage of philosphical and spiritual and scientific melee of how man relates to the universe, etc. The visuals are nauseating at some moments, but are never dull. The overall storyline is incredible, if you can get past the boring lectures and only pick up the key dialogues.

Highly uneven. At its best Waking Life uses images like music, where colors and shape resonate to the intensity of emotions, the topsy-turvy confusion of ideologies, the contemplative mood of philosophical musings, the surreal boundary between waking life and sleep, between life and death. It's less an animated work than the craft of painting merging with elements of music and film. A bold experiment. However, not everything sustains interest and some passages just seem pointless or indulgent. Nevertheless, a landmark achievement. … Expand

Unique and cerebral, but probably should be regarded more as a philosophical tutorial or documentary. I found the jittery animated visualization hard on the eyes and the lack of plot and character development disruptive of the continuity required for attentive viewing of a full length feature. The film appears to be a compilation of fleeting thoughts that didn't fit into other projects. While interesting to the introspective mind and containing an undeniably positive message, I didn't think they constituted a movie.… Expand

This film is not for the faint of heart: those that are too comfortable that their laziness keeps them stationarily conditioned into a dead state of existence. This is for those who choose life and not survive life. This is for all of you inspired by the possibility of freedom. Take it and enjoy the moment after moment, story after story, and become aware of how much you live life on autopilot, which is equivalent to dreaming. But the paradoxes bug me but I find that I can love and make love to them. And on great nights of SELF, I go salsa dancing with my confusion. And when one realizes that one is a dream character in another person dream. That is SELF AWARENESS.… Expand

A film that requires repeated viewings, and even short 'rewinds' withing the film. Watch it once and then decide if you'd like to study it.

So thought provoking it hurts. But not really.

Like having taken some shrooms in your apartment, and then on your way out being trapped in an elevator for 99 minutes with a drunk who insists on pretending he is an Oxford Don, specializing in philosophy and you are his student. That, or getting repeatedly hit on the head by a few Hackett editions, wrapped in the manuscript pages of publisher-refused monographs on Derrida.

The visuals hurt your eyes, the dialogue teases your mind, and then you think better of wasting your time.

Needs to be seen multiple times...

A thought provoking and extremely creative film. One of the few films in the past two or three years that I actually continued to contemplate after leaving the theater.

To those of you who call this movie pointless or egocentric, I challenge you to recall any other movie this year, or any year since Linklater's "Slacker," that so boldly attempts to use the medium of film as an extension of a more universal, classical artform and impress upon its viewers the pure value of art... if such a thing even exists anymore.

This is possibly the most intellectual, most philosophical, and most observant movie about sociology, and psychology. There are not many movies like thses made in such a fashion. Not only does the animation represent something, but how its presented and drawn. If people don't enjoy this movie, they don't enjoy life or is curious about it.

Most Critics that rated this film poorly are all action and no theory. but i am all theory and no action so i don't know which is worse.

As an intellectual vibration, smacked dab in the middle of spectrum - green can be a problem. That's because there are so many different kinds of green, inside of green. And each one has a different IQ...

Mind bending in both dialogue and visuals. Philosophical masturbation of the highest order.

Of the recent films dealing with this subject matter, Waking Life is the least satisfying. I fell asleep 30 minutes into the first viewing, and barely got through the second. The animation gave me a headache, although it did capture facial expressions and gestures better than any animation that I can recall. Far from 'thought-provoking' 'intriguing' or 'astounding,' Waking life is a collage of highlights from every philosophy class I've ever taken, with less satisfaction, because of the lack of group discussion after each rant. For example, in my metaphysics class, there was a dream discussion that would have rendered the Delpy/Hawke scene thoroughly ineffectual. Perhaps Waking Life would be suitable for an intro to philosophy, but there are other movies that handle similar discussions better. In addition, just because an art form has a modicum of originality to it doesn't mean that everyone should automatically believe it's genius. However, if you like trite, pretentious, and derivative movies and want to know what hallucinogenic drugs are like, then go see this critical darling! … Expand

Wow!

Made me want to think, and keep thinking.

Giving this movie a single rating is certainly tricky, if not altogether misleading. It first needs to be determined: "On what scale is this film to be rated?". 1. Treating it merely as a film and reviewing according to traditional criteria, Waking Life can't fare that well. While it is unique and stylish, it contains very few elements that are necessary to a "good film" (for instance, plot and character development.) 2. As for its entertainment merits, this movie joins The Wizard of Oz (played over Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", of course) on my top five movies to watch when you're high. Also, if you like the type of fresh air offered by NPR, foreign films, and the efforts of experimental bands like Sigur Ros, you will likely appreciate this film. 3. This film certainly has pedagogical merit if you are a teacher looking to either inspire younger students or assess their philosophical/ psychological savvy, or if you simply struggle to instigate good discussion. 4. If you aspire to be a pretentious bastard, this is a great starter film. If you have already achieved pretentious bastardom, then this film is "Excruciatingly elementary". (If reviewers David K. and Nick R. take this comment personally, I don't apologize. They need to get over themselves and undsertand this piece in its proper context. (i.e. they need to understand that they are indeed smarter than most people, but their intellect will never contribute to anything more than their little art-snob/philosophical orgies until they grow up and get over themselves. And curses to me for committing their same crime and assuming far more about something than prudent critical thought could ever allow.) This movie does as much to raise awareness for the more critical approaches to "the meaning of life" as Michael Moore's efforts raise awareness for various political agendas. (Thankfully, Waking Life demonstrates a far more scrupulous effort to uphold the ideals of sober-mindedness and rational thought.) This film has lent itself to hours of discussion among my students, friends, and colleagues who represent a wide spectrum of educational backgrounds, from high school students to tenured college professors.… Expand

This film is merely an exploration of lucid dreaming and philosophical thought. I highly doubt it is supposed to be taken so seriously as perhaps some of you have taken it. Consider the nature of dreams and the unscripted spontaneity of stream of consciousness writing. What I appreciate most about this film is the fact that it takes a new approach to the structure of film narrative and dares to explore something as subjective and abstract as dreams. Anyone who expects the subject matter in a movie to reach the clarity and cohesiveness of well written philosophical literature is a the true pretentious bastard. There is a reason that film is a visual medium and literature is not. So don't expect to get depth out of something when its main structure of communication is based around visual imagery and compare it to something that is information based... ie: a BOOK... That said, this movie is only pretentious if you base all your thoughts and ideas too literally around the philosophies presented within the film and just reiterate them to others without properly studying them. So, if you can think for yourself and you have an open mind...well you just might appreciate a film such as this that explores something that does not even begin to try to have all the answers but rather attempts to invoke some thought about some important life questions. Ok, so maybe "Waking Life" touches upon ideas that have already been discussed many times in philosophy books. If you look at any literature that is based around philosophical ideas, most of the ideas presented have been borrowed and presented in a different way, with different theories supporting those concepts. That's the nature of philosophy, it is endless, there are no right answers. Besides, I doubt anyone expects to find the meaning of life in an animated feature...if you do, then you're probably the pretentious bastard.… Expand

When watching Waking Life, you become apart of the film, rather than sitting like a lump watching a mainstream film. this movie opens your eyes and makes you realize that there are human thoughts outside of books and publications- free flowing ideas which are unfortunately over looked much of the time. this movie says "hey, lets find some meaning of why we are here and how we live."

Finally a movie that causes us to step back and reevaluated our existence and all those mundane things we surround ourselves with that we claim are the "most important things in our lives". It's a breath of fresh aire in a world that is hell-bend on suffocating any intellegent thought in order to increase conformity and thus consumption of unneccesary goods/services.

Simply put, this is the most brilliant movie I've ever seen. Most reviews I have read (even by the critics) have described the film in its literal meaning. "It's about a man who weaves through a dream state, meets some characters...." What anyone has failed to mention is the symbolic brilliance that is apparent through the entire film. This film brings forth all that is subconscious. The man who drifts through life and goes with the flow is driving a boat car, the man who represents our self destructive side sets himself on fire, the man in prison represents Satan, the man in the film (theatre scene) is talking about the scope of a film characters emotions being brought to life. Ultimately, my interpretation is that the conversation Ethan and Julie have about the brain remaining alive for 6 minutes after life sums up the whole experience of the main character. He is in transition between life and death and his subconscious is relaying everything he learned in his life to him. In my opinion, Linklater is one of the most brilliant artists of our time.… Expand

I feel as though this film created exactly what I believe it was trying to escape, an effortless post-modern dichotomy. "Being wierd...for the sake of being wierd!" Terrible film.

I seem to be the only person that I know that liked this movie. It's good if you just don't take it too seriously. It's not particularly deep or philosophical. It's just a film of whimsical visuals backed by ambient lectures on post-modern nothingness.

"Thought provoking" understates and really oversimplifies this movie. Its discussion of the possibilities of dreams and reality are fascinating, humorous, often hilarious. And the visuals are like nothing I have ever seen in a film...rich, compelling, and a perfect match for the content. I left the theater with my eyes filled with a new appreciation for every nuance of shape and color of the world outside....and wondering if I was only dreaming.… Expand

You can do whatever you want with this movie. You can let the information just flow over you, or you can try and figure everything out. Either way its a beautifully meditative experience. I'd had a crap weekend, and I came out of the cinema last night ready to take on the world. See it if you want to feel positive about being alive.

Waking Life is in my top ten best movies of all time. So of course I ordered the dvd before it even came out. I?ve had it for a few weeks now, and am very impressed. The picture and sound are great (which is my experience with Fox dvds generally). The extras are also wonderful, especially for an animation geek like me. A couple of short films, some clips from the live-action version, deleted scenes, an animation workshop thing, and a lot of other stuff too. However, the best part is definitely the commentary. There is one from Linklater, and another from the animators that worked on the film. Most excellent, and gives the movie an extra layer of depth. Overall, I am very impressed. And looking forward to more original animated films for adults in 2002?… Expand

If art is the pursuit of truth, this movie may be the truest thing I've ever seen. A beauitiful, exquisitely original harmony of sight, sound and lexicon; moviego-ers who fall asleep or rate the movie poorly should stick with Buffy. This one is for the lovers of life.

The movie makes you think, pure and simple. It embarks on a new path in the cinematic industry, leaving some people in the dust, misinterpreting and attacking this masterpiece.

It seems like it's trying to be sophisticated by being abstract. It's definitely original, but the movie's for philosophical old men.

The beauty of this film is that one doesn't need to agree with all the theological musings being thrown about. Everybody dreams, everyone has that curiosity of, "what exactly is my head doing?" instilled inside of them. This movie simply brings that topic to the forefront while adding some amazing visuals (Why wasn't this nominated for art direction? Oh wait, I know, because the Academy's an a@@!). … Expand

Waking Life is like a good song with awful, awful lyrics. Although some scenes appear to have been run through a simple photoshop filter, overall the visuals are captivating. The dialogue, however, is complete garbage. And the entire thing is dialogue. If Waking Life had appeared as a short story instead of a movie, it would have been immediately and rightly dismissed as being nothing more than a vague, unfocused first-year philosophy term paper. The movie has a tangible air of "dude this is totally gonna blow your mind" to it which is revolting. No philosophical idea in Waking Life can be found that could not be found first and in far greater clarity in a book. This movie, in short, has no new ideas. Its sole contribution to human thought is likely to be filed in a computer graphics journal of special effects techniques, nowhere near the works of Sartre and Nietzsche. Waking Life is a wonderful example of how film is inherently a poor medium for expressing complex theoretical ideas. It meanders around many different subjects -- each with their own narrator right out of your psychology 101 class. These guides try, like, very sincerely to get some, like, very deep concepts across in words with, like, mixed results. Often the idea is completely lost in the delivery. Those truly interested in philosophy and the workings of the mind will be better off skipping this pretentious flick and heading to the library. Those who are into dropping acid and dropping names, however, might as well hang around to see how the thing ends.… Expand

Kimmie K. pretty much hit the nail on the head. Basically an amalgam of basic philosophic debates combined with an original animation style that ultimately makes for a bad film. I enjoyed these debates far more when I read them in books and discussed them in class.

i was blown away. It will change the way you view and approach everyday of your life.

I can't remember the last time I was so thoroughly interested in a movie. It was entertaining, thought-provoking, and stunning. I highly recommend this movie.

Graphics were nausea inducing. First 20 minutes of the story were very hard to follow.

What a piece of pretentious crap. If I were 22, maybe this would be more of a Significant Film, but at 30, it's a yawning bore.

Masterful and mind-blowingly brilliant, Waking Life is basically a documentary for the mind and how different reactions are dealt with with the events and scenarios that take place around us.
This film documents a series of life views in regards to the simple occurrences in our life, politics, post-moderism, the human mind and even reactions to other people around us.
Not only is the film a series of interviews, but it is an entirely animated affair, using similar techniques to rotoscope that are beneficial to the dream state to which the film is told in, seemingly inside of the head of the dreamer (Wiley Wiggins)
The film contains some of the most inspiring and 'wake-up' moments of your life, whether its from a middle-aged sitting in leathers and drinking beer or from a wise old man, the thought-provoking dialogue and fast paced animation is enough to make you ponder your life choices.
The animation seems purposely low-budget, combining shifting colours with random screen situations, flying, clouds etc. It is truly unique and beautiful to watch.
Probably the most wonderful part of the film is the dialogue itself, one of the most quotable films in recent memories, it provides humour with realistic expectations, and one stand out is four men walking along a footpath, and one says "On the way to discovering what we love, we will find everything we hate, everything that blocks our path to what we desire".
This is just one of the many experiences at play here, and hating this film is perhaps a choice of film preference, but shouldn't be one that goes amiss.
The protagonist is taken on a wild ride of his imagination, with all these insightful people invading his mind, and the message of the title becomes clear, wake up your life and think, listen to the things going on around you, listen to peoples emotions and understand their choices.
A truly magical film that is simply flawless in its delivery of the state of dreaming but more importantly, the state of approaching your life with a confrontational and emotional stance, whether its basic human interaction or your decisions.
Beautiful and insightful.… Expand