I have seen every Pixar film in the movie theaters, and I wasn't about to break that tradition this year. So, as soon as humanly possible, I made my way to the nearest John Loeks' cineplex for Pixar's latest master-creation, WALL-E.
I had some apprehension about this movie going in. Not too much -Pixar never fails to impress me. Even the weaker movies the studio produces (A Bug's Life, Cars) are still a thousand times better than any of the CGI wannabe competitors or even compared to other films in general. Pixar is a wonderfully inventive, original, and groundbreaking film studio, so any fear I had about a movie where the sole subject was a robot (who hearkens back to Johnny 5 from Short Circuit for me, while sounding a little like ET, if he were Robocopped) was minimal at best.
And, of course, I was right. WALL-E is another Pixar masterpiece - even more, the studio has reached new heights. This is one of the best entries, and oh that little robot is so cute!!! I could eat him up. I want one.
WALL-E stands for Waste Allocation Load-Lifter, Earth-Class. He is the last functional robot on Earth, in the year 2700, and his sole purpose is to gather up garbage in easily digestible cubes. The trouble: the Earth is filled with so much garbage, human existence and life in general is nowhere to be found. WALL-E, instead, who's become quite sophisticated for a garbage robot, has found companionship with a cockroach you can't keep down and whiles away his routine by collecting interesting trinkets and being mesmerized by the romantic whimsy of "Hello Dolly" (on videocassette, no less). His routine is dramatically shaken when a fancy new robot, EVE, lands on Earth from places beyond. EVE's directive is unclear, but the robot, who seems to be a girl, knocks WALL-E off his rotors. He is clearly smitten, until he shows EVE the one surviving plant he found in his scavenging. EVE suddenly clams up and is collected by the space ship that brought her, but WALL-E doens't let her go quietly. He follows her into space in a highly original adventure to follow - where he finds more robots and also the last vestiges of humanity, though they are fat, lazy, and sponsored by the Buy n Large corporation, which apparently achieved monopoly over the entire world.
Perhaps you've heard words like "Chaplinesque" to describe WALL-E. In many ways, the film, which contains no true dialogue for at least the first half, plays very much like a silent film, but it's not really silent. It's truly astounding just how creative and inventive the director and writer, Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo), was in creating a film where the first half is so engrossing without too many bells and whistles. WALL-E has a limited vocabulary, but the few sounds he can make take on all shades of emotion and soul. The animation in this film is divine; it feels three-dimensional because camera-angles and, simply, the quality of the CGI has improved and clearly been massaged so well, the suspension of disbelief is complete. Between the towering piles of garbage cubes, the dust storms, and the animation of objects in space, like solar flares, all of it is truly breathtaking.
Plus, the story is wonderfully creative, even if obviously didactic. But since Pixar always tries to maintain a family-friendly balance, appealing to children and adults alike, I have no problems with the messages the movie portrays: the consequences of thoughtless waste, the downsides of technology, the exploitation of commercialism, the growing sloth of humanity but also the hope in humanity, and other philosophically rich themes that play very well, even if they are less-than-subtle. Though the crux of the film still centers on the growing love between two sophisticated robots.
I feel like WALL-E will only get better with mulitple viewings because there was so much to appreciate on first impression, visually and sound-wise. Thomas Newman's score is as inventive as the movie for which it's been composed. Easter eggs visually, deft nods to all manner of science fiction biggies, including Star Trek, 2001, and Alien. This was a jampacked 97 minutes! And it's a movie with so much heart and soul, it's hard not to become smitten by it yourself.
Also, the short, which is one of the essential reasons to see a Pixar film in the theater (because you get both presentations back to back), was hilarious. It's called Presto!, and it gives me new respect for bunnies.
The truth is, I can't find a single flaw in WALL-E. Not only is it perfectly entertaining, but the gutsy little robot is in every way an artistic creation and the focal point of a larger artistic masterpiece. Yes, I used the "M" word to describe an animated film, because I think it gets a 10 from me, and it SOOO passes the test. Not only do I own every Pixar film, I watch every Pixar film (some more than others), and I anticipate that WALL-E will be no exception. It's such a fabulous film.
As a footnote, I just wanted to say, that from the bottom of the movie page, the All Movie Guide only liked WALL-E, but their review is glowing. I think that's kind of wack.