Rating: 
Summary: Most original movie in quite some time
Review: Take film as a medium and inject the creativity that should be the standard, but isn't. Add the visuals of a calibre reminiscent of Cezanne, Renoir, and Kandinsky. Stir in a love for the spoken word as a conveyor of ideas with impact. Let stew for an hour and a half. Voila, you have "Waking Life". Knowing the box office marketability of an art piece in America, I can safely say that it took guts to make this film.
Rating:
Summary: Very impressive!
Review: It's not very often that I'm impressed with our entertainment industry. I was impressed with The Matrix for it's breakthrough effects, I was blind-sided by The Sixth Sense because I actually did not know Bruce Willis was dead and I really enjoyed myself with American Beauty because it helped me to see our society in a new light. That being said, I did not, think that I'd be impressed with Richard Linklater's new animated film, Waking Life. Much to my surprise I found myself immediately ordering the DVD and repeatedly forcing it upon each friend who walked through my door. Each time I've found catching new and unusual special effects and human insights every time. It was original, beautiful and bursting with life. A+
Rating:
Summary: Extreme Dreaming
Review: Waking Life is a fast ride through the subconscious of humanity. I felt as if I was being thrown philosophical ideas and metaphysical dreams, twisted in colorful and poetic imagery. I hung on every word (you just about have to if you're going to make sense of it all) and immediately wanted to watch it again to catch everything I knew I had somehow missed. It was brilliant. I immediately ordered the DVD, which has excellent commentaries, real live sequences (without the animation) and an animation software tutorial, so we can all begin to create our own waking lives.
Rating: 
Summary: what the heck was linklater thinking?
Review: I loved both "Slacker" and "dazed and confused", so I thought I'd appreciate "Waking Life". It is an animated film that revels in philosophical conversations and dream sequences. That is all this movie is; there is no plot. It's just Wiley Wiggins, who was in "Dazed", floating around talking to different people about life. Is he dreaming? Is he awake? I don't know nor do I care. I think it was the animation itself that turned me off this movie. It was too out of control, and to try and catch the conversation and the animation is virtually impossible. THis is better as an audio commentary. Just listen to the conversations, which were actually pretty interesting, and not watch the animation. Unless you are a serious animation fan that appreciate all kinds of animation, I don't think you will fully appreciate this movie. I thought I would just because it was a Linklater film, but I was sorely disappointed.Many of the "voices" are actors from Linklater's previous effort, "Dazed and Confused".
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of truth-telling artistry...
Review: Visually delicious and innovative, yes, but never mind: this is a masterpiece of truth-telling artistry. Puts the first glimpses of the young sage under a well-focused pop culture macroscope, and every seeker i know who saw it wanted to watch it on infinite loop. Gentle warning: this film requires extra humility from people who think they don't have any big lessons left to learn, extra patience from those who get restless sitting still and listening, and extra courage from those who are so jaded that they resist being stirred to dream of awakening.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent film, but not for everyone.
Review: If you are the philosophical type, you will probably love this film. The loose story is brought together nicely by numerous vinettes of quircky actors, most of whom are simply playing themselves. I loved the film, but I could see that if you are the kind of person who wants action, characterization, or even a comprehensive story, you probably will not like it. The movie-making style and soundtrack are incredible, however. On the DVD, the live-action clips that they used to make the animation are really fun to watch as well.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: In some ways this film is a companion piece to Linklater's earlier film "Before Sunrise." In "Before Sunrise," Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy wander around Vienna all night, having a philosophical discussion about life, the universe, and everything. "Waking Life" is similar--basically its protagonist, played by Wiley Wiggins from "Dazed and Confused," has encounters with a wide variety of unusual people, all of whom explain their personal philosphies to him. The question is, how much of this is a dream, and how much is real? Some of the characters in "Waking Life" are more interesting than others, but on the whole the format of the movie works very well with the amazing animation--live-action footage was drawn over and otherwise messed with to create a film with fascinating and varied visuals. (How was this not nominated for the best animated film Oscar? A travesty.) I was especially happy that Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy appear again, picking up where they left off on a conversation from "Before Sunrise" whose implications have nagged at me since I first saw that film several years ago! Everybody should see "Waking Life," and while you're at it, see "Tape" as well--another strikingly original Linklater film released in 2001.
Rating:
Summary: I want to like it, but can't
Review: I'll admit that there are many amazing qualities of this movie; the animation over live action technique produces brilliant effects that are visually interesting the entire way through. The wealth of ideas presented about dreams, life and the world around us are incredibly vast and thought provoking. The acting (predominantly the voices) is incredibly well done, as is the music. But unfortunately, there is no plot. Not only that, but the ideas keep coming at you. While some of the ideas were interesting, others were not. And the ones that were interesting became lost in the shuffle. I went to see the movie with three friends; whithin half an hour they were all asleep. This movie is a few good ideas and scenes stretched out far too long. That it keeps throwing out more and more ideas at the audience doesn't serve to make it good...and i'm usually very open minded.
Rating: 
Summary: Sophomoric Speeches, Amusingly Animated
Review: Well, for the most part, anyway. There are a couple of monologues here that rise slightly above the level of a mediocre second-year student, though none could be accused of being profound or particularly insightful. (It is a testament to the intellectual poverty of our times that so many viewers think otherwise.) Sex and drugs (mostly sex) would have greatly livened this movie. They would have fit in well, too, since they are as natural a part of the sophomore's life as waxing sophomorically philosophical. Of course, something with philosophical depth might have served the auteur's pretenses better. But the fact is that movies cannot do serious intellectual work; they consist, after all, of pictures, noises, and music. (Speech, too, of course; but that takes second place to the pretty colors and sounds.) This is probably why introductory philosophy courses haven't yet been reduced to offering cartoon enactments of Plato's dialogues, though I have little doubt that a comic-book version is on the way. Not that the movie is all bad. It contains several moderately amusing scenes, and the unique visual style is both soothing and alluring. The plot--or complete lack thereof--makes it an easy ride, very like a pleasant dream. Watch it late at night, preferably when you are either very tired or on pot, and with someone you find sexually appealing. Then do some "philosophizing" in the style of "Waking Life" until the two of you are breathtaken by your collective wit and wisdom. Then get it on like starry-eyed college kids inaugurating the Summer of Love. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Visually remarkable, intellectually frustrating
Review: "Waking Life" is an unusual and rather bizarre animated film that many critics, including Roger Ebert, thought was one of 2001's best. I don't agree, though I can't deny that it's challenging and ambitious. A challenge that one person finds exhilarating is one another finds irritating. Or, in my case, frustrating and exhausting. Cult director Richard Linklater took his digital camera and filmed a tale about a young man who finds himself in a dream from which he can't awake up. With the help of computers and several animators, these live images were then drawn over to create a colorful and surreal world. The visual results are interesting and artistic. These aspects I enjoyed. As the young man dreams on, he encounters strangers who tell him their theories about the meaning of existence. Many intellectual ideas are covered, including existentialism, the theory of time, evolution, and free will. The man eventually comes to his own conclusion. I have always enjoyed free ranging debates about who we think we are and why we are on this earth. The problem for me is that you can't have a debate with a movie. It can only present its point of view and, thus, can be only one-sided. Since the main character in "Waking Life" sits passively and listens for the most part, there is little debate even within the movie. Some viewers, like Mr. Ebert, thought the characters sage and enlightening. I found them pretentious because most of what they say isn't so much intellectual as it is an assemblage of trendy pop culture theories. Of course, I couldn't tell them so.
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