Movie Review: WALL-E
Disney/Pixar film Directed By Andrew Stanton
Who would have thought that the most powerful love story of 2008 could be between two robots?
But that’s what WALL-E, the latest movie from writer/director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) delivers. In a summer season where eye-popping visuals almost always trump great storytelling, WALL-E dares to deliver both: a touching romance that’s set in space.
What's WALL-E about?
The titular robot (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth class) is a Chaplin-esque ‘droid that’s spent the last 700 years cleaning up the mess humans left behind when they vacated the planet. When he's not piling blocks of garbage into massive edifices, and weaving past his broken brethren (who he occasionally uses for spare parts), WALL-E communes with his pet cockroach and watches Hello Dolly every night.
You see, all he wants is someone to love.
Cue a passing spaceship that deposits EVE, a sleek robot lass with an itchy trigger finger. Despite nearly getting blasted during their first meeting, WALL-E strikes up a relationship with this thoroughly modern mecha. But it's interrupted when he inadvertently hands her what she’s been sent to Earth to find. That’s when the movie heads into outer space, as WALL-E tries to rescue his love, and discover what happened to the humans.
It ain’t pretty. Humans have become flabby blobs, trapped in their hover chairs while being served by countless robots. Chief among these ‘droids is the sinister Autopilot who conceals his agenda from everyone, including the lazy Captain (Jeff Garlin).
Since WALL-E and EVE have a limited vocabulary, there’s very little they can do to express their love (and keep this flick in 'G' territory). Therefore, the notion of holding hands, of physically touching another, becomes one of the central themes of this movie. The concept of two beings touching becomes a subversive act in a world where everyone communicates via holo-screen. It takes a pair of robots to help humanity rediscover what being human is all about.
Parallels between Pixar and Disney?
Pixar has once again raised the bar for cinematic, computer-generated animation. The Earth scenes are nothing short of spectacular, and it’s easy to forget that one is watching an animated movie during the first act. Unfortunately, that illusion shatters when we get into space, since the humans and backgrounds are more cartoony here. However, a zero-gee ballet between EVE and WALL-E (making inventive use of a fire extinguisher) is beautifully rendered, and is sure to become an animation classic.
During the 20th Century, the Walt Disney Company produced some of the most beautiful animation ever committed to film. Although their movies weren’t always financially successful, they raised animation to the status of high art before losing their soul, literally and figuratively, after Walt’s death in 1966.
WALL-E can be seen as art following real life. Pixar, a CGI movie studio co-founded by a Disney reject (John Lasseter), is demonstrating that great art and great profits can work together. They’re re-introducing Disney to the way the studio used to make animated films before it turned “It’s the way Walt would want it” into an excuse for not taking risks.
Walt Disney always took risks, even when he shouldn’t have, and that drive gave us classics like Snow White and Fantasia. Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and the rest of the Pixar crew are the true heirs of the Disney tradition. And now they’re trying to bring that tradition back to the company Walt founded.
It remains to be seen if Disney Animation will get the message, but it’s nice to think that the robotic Pixar is giving Disney back its soul.
For audacity, spectacular visuals, and (most importantly) its incredibly affecting story, WALL-E gets a 10 out of 10. It's a future classic.
Fun Fact: Running before WALL-E is "Presto," a hilarious 5-minute short written and directed by Doug Sweetland. It’s about a magician’s rabbit named Alec, who takes onstage revenge when his snooty master forgets to feed him once too often.
