A Tiny Robot With a Big Heart
WALL•E Will Fly You to the Moon
The magic of Disney/Pixar is never so grand as when it sees the world through the eyes of a child. Toys come to life in Toy Story. Monsters climb out of closets in Monster's, Inc. The innocence of childhood is the perfect inspiration for the computer animation of this studio. In the latest credit on the company's growing resume of sure-fire hits, the point of view shifts from the awe inspiring to the awe-inspired, a robot named WALL•E.
Written by: Andrew Stanton and Jim Capobianco
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy and Sigourney Weaver
Rated
Running time: 97 min.
FilmGuru's Rating : 10 out of 10.
WALL•E is a child. Well, he's a robot, but he has a child's wonder
about the world. He's the last of his kind, a series of robots left behind
on a future Earth to clean up after us. He does his job diligently, turning
trash into compact building blocks.
But he also has an unending curiosity. Whether by design or through some technical
glitch, WALL•E has developed a soul.
He seems more than a little interested
in the humans who left him behind. He collects our leftover rubbish as if it belongs
in a museum. His "home" where he powers down for the night is a monument
to the collected treasures of our trash.
His world is turned upside down the day a ship arrives. A lone robot, a sleek
flying feminine model named EVE, sails through the area collecting data. When
WALL•E finally musters up the courage to approach this new robot, he discovers that he
is only a secondary concern to her mission. Little does EVE realize that Wall•E
has saved away the very object of her quest.
The film is incredibly funny, with several gags given to us at the expense
of WALL•E's naiveté. His only friend on earth, a cockroach, acts
as straight man to the robot's zany antics, but also helps to show WALL•E's
humanity.
WALL•E is a bit of a departure from the Pixar formula. The story
dares to mimic old cartoons with a silent main character and a soundtrack filled
with music and sound effects. Eventually, as EVE and other characters are introduced,
there is more chance for communication. But the first half of the film revolves
around our silent hero. It reminded me of the R2D2 scenes in the first Star
Wars film, when the adventures of a lone droid could captivate an audience
looking on in wonder.
Another Pixar first is the inclusion of live action coupled with the computer animation.
In this case, the friendly funnyman Fred Willard appears in flashbacks and
news archives. He plays the charming CEO of the Buy n Large corporation, the massive
global entity that gained control of the universe. Also shown are clips of the
musical Hello, Dolly!, which Wall•E watches on television via an ancient – and
highly prized – videotape. The inclusion of live-action sequences to show
humanity before it left for the stars is an interesting choice, but didn't really
matter much to me.
Overall, WALL•E is a delightful story filled with humor, excitement and romance. It's a sentimental post-apocalyptic robot love story. And about how many movies can that be said?
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