Review: Wall-E
Pixar’s movies have all revolved around a single idea: the fish out of water who learns to grapple with a new situation. Woody is displaced by Buzz in Toy Story, Flick the unconventional ant trying to fix his mistakes, Mike and Sully trying to get rid of the dreaded Boo, Mr. Incredible forced to live the life of a normal human, Lightening McQueen stranded in hick-ville, Remy a rat in the kitchen, and of course Nemo and Marlin each take the idea of the fish out of water literally. Despite this seemingly repetitive simplicity even their two weakest films don’t come across as recycled despite the fact that both are remakes (Bugs Life is Seven Samuri and Cars is Doc Hollywood). What is behind this ability to make simple concepts entertaining? It seems to me that the answer is craftsmanship. Pixar puts an amazing amount of work into each picture. Unlike other CGI houses they aren’t just churning this stuff out for a quick buck. They’re in the business of crafting classics.
On the surface Wall-E is just the next variation of the theme: an outdated, quirky robot taken out of his element and placed in a situation that he doesn’t even understand. Yet the difference here is that Wall-E doesn’t grow so much as find what he’s looking for. It is everyone, both man and machine, that he comes into contact with that must now rise to the occasion and defy their programming.
Initially Wall-E is in his element, compacting 700-year old trash and stacking it in skyscraper sized formations. Of course centuries of such work could drive anyone mad and Wall-E has developed some decidedly non-robotic characteristics. As he’s collecting trash each day he finds little treasures for himself which he sorts and stores at the end of each day. He lives in a vehicle that used to house other identical trash bots on rotating racks. Those robots have all ceased functioning and the racks are now filled with Wall-E’s knick-knacks.
Somehow he’s rigged a VHS player to an iPod which he magnifies with a fresnel lense in order to view Hello Dolly each night. From this he learns to sing and dance which serves to distract and entertain him, but he also longs to hold hands with someone else as the characters in the musical do.
This is a difficult proposition since other than his pet cockroach Wall-E appears to be completely alone.
Wall-E’s world is forever changed by the arrival of EVE, a sleek new robot on a mission that she refuses to reveal. The little trash compacter is instantly smitten and his attempts to court Eve while she singlemindedly goes about her mission should bring a smile to the face of anyone that has ever experienced puppy love.
Things soon kick into high gear and Wall-E is thrown into situations that he clearly doesn’t understand, but he keeps pressing forward because of his devotion to Eve.
This is a movie that is filled with amazing imagery, incredible sounds, and clever animation. Since most of the characters can’t speak properly the beeps and chirps they use for communication have to convey to the audience things that would normally be handled by clear dialog. Also Wall-E, Eve, and all the robots must emote through the limitations of their metal bodies. Wall-E is blessed with puppy dog eyes that convey longing, crude hands, and a set of very expressive treads. Eve is even simpler, relying mostly on a simple screen as her face that can display simple blue eyes in various states of emotion. Yet the storytelling, animation, and sound flow together so smoothly that you never even stop and think that 30 minutes have passed without a word being uttered.
Two examples (note that they’re SPOILERS) highlight the animation and the storytelling. The scene in which Eve begins to care for Wall-E struck me as particularly well done. The always attentive little robot ignores the critical events unfolding around her that have a direct bearing on her purpose as her eyes are glued to the screen displaying what Wall-E did for her while she was inactive on Earth. The change of attitude is immediately apparent.
The second scene I’ll mention is when Wall-E becomes a normal garbage robot. Physically this is clearly the same character that had been on the screen all along, but his soul is palpably missing. Suddenly the magic that had been there up until that point becomes clear.
As the movie ends the backdrop to the credits is a series of increasingly beautiful scenes that tell the tale of what happened next. The style in which they are rendered progresses from cave paintings to impressionist. Oddly enough I found this credits sequence to be incredibly beautiful. As this sequence comes to a close a pun that was set up at the start of the movie becomes clear: the planet has been “re-booted”. Then more conventional credits begin and the entire movie is retold in faux 8-bit computer graphics which aren’t nearly as lovely as what preceded them, but still entertaining. I recommend staying until they turn the house lights on as there is a final joke at the very end that I found worthwhile.
I’ve now seen Wall-E two times. My children were enthralled each time. When I asked them if they wanted to go again my son said, “No, we should go buy it and watch it at home again and again.” Both of them want to be Wall-E and Eve for Halloween now. Any of the disturbing aspects of the movie went right over their heads as far as I can tell. Of course they also missed the references (both visual and audio) to 2001, Silent Running, Star Wars, and others. I will note that my son caught the Superman reference that was in one of the trailers but not the film itself.
Pixar has created another masterpiece that everyone in the family can enjoy. This one is an unusual cinematic experiment that in mind mind clearly worked.
Excellent review, arJ. Thanks.
Comment by Supergenius — July 8, 2008 @ 10:28 am
I’m gonna wait for the dollar theater. Not sure I can handle 30 minnutes of no dialogue. The short before the Pokemon movie has scarred me for life.
Comment by Susan M — July 8, 2008 @ 10:39 am
Thank you! We had been debating on whether to take our kids or not, and this closed the deal.
Comment by cheryl — July 8, 2008 @ 10:58 am
I should mention that my son is 4 and my daughter is 2. My 6-month old seemed captivated as well but was unavailable for comment so I’m not sure what he thought of it.
Comment by a random John — July 8, 2008 @ 11:07 am
I wonder if I used the word “simple” often enough when describing Eve…
Comment by a random John — July 8, 2008 @ 11:08 am
Great review! To check out the trailer for this awesome movie look at zuguide.com, a great new website with tons of trailers and screen shots
http://www.zuguide.com/entity.php?ref=14138
Comment by JohnS — July 8, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
Thanks! I was already excited now I really can’t wait to go see it. Oh, I mean take the kids to go see it…
Comment by shazbraz — July 8, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
Make sure you get there early for the Beverly Hills Chihuahua preview!
The fact that it will probably make $300 bazillion dollars is a surer sign of the apocalypse than the return of Beverly Hills 90210. The kids in the theater were laughing like idiots at the trailer. Ugh. Those poor parents who are going to be dragged along to that turd have my sympathy.
(Oh, I loved Wall-E).
Comment by Brian V — July 8, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
“must now rise to the occasion and defy their programming”
Nice catch.
Comment by Eric Russell — July 8, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
This truly amazed me. They took an animated thing made out of metal, and right away I could tell the soul inside had changed, I can’t even tell you why. Slightly different metal eyes? Less movement in the arms? However it was done, it was brilliant, and caused the theater to get a little bit dusty for me so I had to use my sleeves to wipe my eyes.
This is the best movie I’ve seen this year, and probably my favorite Pixar movie since Finding Nemo. I can’t wait to see it again.
About twenty seconds into this preview I leaned over to my daughter to whisper that there was no way I’d be taking her to see that movie. It looks horrible.
Comment by jjohnsen — July 8, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
Spot-on review.
I saw it last week with our 3-year-olds. It was their first time going to a movie theater. I imagine that it mostly went over their heads, as the plot is quite nuanced and depends on a lot of context that must be inferred. But they still loved it. For days they couldn’t stop talking about their new favorite friends Wall-E and Eva. Interestingly, one of the things they talked about most repeatedly was when Wall-E, as you say, “becomes a normal garbage robot.” They really understood something was wrong there.
Agreed that the art in the credits is amazing.
Yes. I saw the trailer on youtube a while back and thought it just HAD to be fake. Sigh….
Comment by sister blah 2 — July 8, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
Beverly Hills Chihuahua seems to be inspired by the dancing penguin movie. The trailer was about all I could take. I will admit that my children were entertained.
Comment by a random John — July 9, 2008 @ 10:28 am
I think it’s one of those movies that would be hilarious if it was done Pixar style. i.e. a simple plot with cute characters and lots of physical comedy for kids and then a more subversive satirical element for adults. I’d be surprised if that is what it is though.
Comment by Clark — July 9, 2008 @ 11:22 am
Wall-E totally looks like the robot from “Short Circuit”… minus the cheesy 80’s style
Comment by patrick — July 10, 2008 @ 9:50 am
Having seen the vignettes where Wall-E meets everyday objects I was expecting a lot of funny and a lot of adventure, in line with the other Pixar’s offerings. Instead, I got the best movie, animated or otherwise, I’ve seen in a while. The first half of this movie is simply sublime, in a way that I wasn’t expecting at all. I rarely see a movie more than once while it’s in the theaters, but I’ve already seen Wall-E twice, and I might again this weekend. It’s just that good, I can’t wait for the DVD.
Comment by Leandro — July 11, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
Poetic, lovely, symphonic. It is the best Pixar movie I have yet seen, though I think it will be hard to top this one.
Comment by Dan — July 15, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Honestly, I think Wall-E is another great film from Pixar, but it’s been a bit over-hyped. I’d rate Ratatouille, Toy Story, and the Incredibles all as better films.
There’s an undeniable brilliance in the first half of the film. The lack of dialogue returns the audience to the purely visual story-telling roots of the medium, but once we’re on the Axium and humans enter the storyline it suffers. The film becomes much less original. Detours are taken to satirize our Costco and Big Gulp consumer culture. Yes, in many ways Americans are headed to becoming big, fat, infants crippled by our own technology, but those elements reminded me of Idiocracy, which is a more brilliant satire. They distract slightly from the themes here—is technology, robots and the like, a positive or corrosive influence? Wall-E tries to give us both.
I just felt that much of the film is borrowed, (E.T. is a major influence) and its a less original work than many of Pixar’s creations. Of course, any Pixar film is amazing, and their streak is unparalled, but Wall-E is a bit overhyped.
Plus, what’s up with Fred Willard? Why put one single live-action human in the film? Why not remain consistent and animate the CEO of BnL? I think that inconsistency was odd.
Comment by Brian G — July 15, 2008 @ 12:58 pm