WALL-E Review [3]

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 07.02.2008

A new Pixar movie that's cute in all the right ways.

WALL-E



Directed By: Andrew Stanton
Written By: Andrew Stanton and Jim Capobianco
Runtime: 103 min
MPAA Rating: G

WALL-E/M-O - Ben Burtt
Eve - Elissa Knight
Shelby Forthright - Fred Willard
AXIOM Captain - Jeff Garlin
John - John Ratzenberger
Mary - Kathy Najimy
AXIOM's Computer - Sigourney Weaver

There's probably no other studio in Hollywood that has the impeccable, untouchable track record of Pixar, who year after year cranks out huge hit after hit, as well as Academy Award nominees and winners. Now it seems every year Pixar releases a fantastic new animated classic in the making. As far as animation goes, the past decade has seen the near death of traditionally drawn animated features and the rise of CG animated movies with their own set of dregs. However, Pixar seems to be the only studio that emphasizes story over visuals -- not that the visuals are sub-par. But unlike many Dreamworks Animation features or Blue Sky features like Robots, Pixar doesn't cast horrendously gratuitous celebrity stunt casting as the movie's main marketing plan.

In terms of the history of Pixar's movies, WALL-E takes one of the most minimal approaches of all time, minimal as in the dialogue. In this story of a lonely little trash compactor robot named Wall-E, the last of his kind still operating on Earth, the narrative moves toward a much more minimal, organic use of dialogue.

In the future, and the slightly cautionary/pro-environment premise of the story, mankind has left Earth which is full of trash and pollution, and Earth has become virtually inhabitable. A big corporation that runs everything, Buy N Large, headed up the operation to move mankind to outer space and clean-up and colonization effort of earth. Over the years, Wall-E has continued to compact trash, but developed his own sense of self. He enjoys collecting various objects and takes care of his pet cockroach. Wall-E also loves to watch Hello, Dolly on his i-pod in his makeshift home.

Eventually, a routine probe robot sent by the AXIOM ship (where the remnants of human kind reside) arrives right in Wall-E's backyard. This probe robot, quite a feminine one named Eve, is looking for any signs of life or evidence that Earth is again becoming inhabitable. Walll-E is quickly quite smitten with Eve and tries to befriend her, even though she's quick to blow-up any moving objects in her path. Lucky for Eve, Wall-E managed to find a growing plant lying around, which could be the key to restoring Earth. But after Eve goes back to the mothership, Wall-E follows along to hold hands with the robot of his dreams.

Wall-E tells most of its story through characters and striking images rather than heavy dialogue and exposition. What little dialogue exists comes in leftover video footage featuring Fred Willard as the face of the BnL corporation. While there's clearly a bent and slight paranoia to the future of Earth, the story plays more for positive optimism, romance, and fun. The grimness is nowhere near as heavy as say, Children of Men. Equally amazing is the fact that the "voices" for the robot characters like Wall-E were created electronically by the legendary, Ben Burtt, the sound artist who created many of the classic punches and "utinnis" we know and love from the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films.

WALL-E is filled with fun and cute robot characters. Wall-E himself is even cuddlier than Short Circuit's Johnny-5 with whom Wall-E shares more than just a familiar resemblance. Once Wall-E infiltrates the ship filled with lazy, overweight humans who are drowning in food shakes and electronic noise, he encounters a bevy of machines. Wall-E's personality seems to rub off on the humans quite a bit. There's M-O, the cleaning robot who can't help but try to follow all of Wall-E's dirt tracks and clean them up. Other characters include malfunctioning rogue robots that Wall-E liberates who quickly befriend Wall-E. However, the heart of the story is the development of the relationship between Eve and Wall-E which is really cute, fun, and sweet. It's silly and cheesy, but dagnabbit if it doesn't work.

The 411: This summer, you will believe . . . a robot can love. WALL-E is pretty much everything we all expected it to be. More continued, fried funnel cake dynamite gold from Pixar, guaranteed to have a great opening weekend and perhaps even some award glory. Fantastic visuals, great stories, and characters. Sorry, Kung Fu Panda, you were good but Dreamworks Animation will always be the inferior to Pixar.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]