Friday, June 27, 2008
Movie review: WALL-E
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WALL-E
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. Joining WALL-E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.
Source: Cinema Source
Pixar films have a way of taking the seemingly mundane and turning it into something awe-inspiring. Toys, bugs, cars, rats – all have been transformed into gasp-inducing works of art in the hands of the Pixar animators. So when they decided to make WALL-E, a story about robots in the final frontier – space – how come it feels a little less magical?
As with any Pixar film, though, critiques come secondary to everything else. First off, the character of WALL-E is among the most memorable that Pixar has ever created. WALL-E (or Waste Allocation Load Lifter--Earth Class) is a robot tasked with picking up all the trash that humans create. And what a mess he has to clean up: After years of rampant consumerism (thanks mostly to a corporation, Buy-n-Large, that literally owns everything on Earth), humans have abandoned the planet. They’re now living in ignorant bliss aboard the spaceship Axiom, waiting for Earth to be inhabitable again.
Hundreds of years later, though, WALL-E is the last robot still working and he has developed some, shall we say, quirks. Along with compacting mountains of trash, he also collects various things that strike his fancy. And his tastes run a little old school: He plays the Atari classic Pong (against a non-existent opponent), watches a videotape of Hello Dolly! (with the help of a video iPod, but still – Hello Dolly!), and even features the old Apple start-up “gong” when he reboots (a nod, I’m sure, to Pixar head honcho Steve Jobs).
WALL-E can emote more with his "eyes" than some human actors could ever hope for.
WALL-E also has a decidedly non-robot feature: emotions, including loneliness. The reason he watches Hello Dolly! repeatedly is because he’s yearning for companionship and love. At its heart, WALL-E is a love story. WALL-E’s dreams of love seem to come true when EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), an ultra-sleek robot whose job is to find any sign of vegetation on Earth, shows up. His pursuit of her, even into the deepest reaches of space, is what makes up the bulk of the movie. That his blind pursuit of happiness makes him an unwitting part of a process that could bring humans back to Earth is where the film derives much of its fun.
WALL-E represents several changes for Pixar in how they approach animated films. First is the presence of live-action humans – in video form. Fred Willard makes several appearances as Shelby Forthright, CEO of Buy-n-Large (and, apparently, President of the United States). Scenes from Hello Dolly! are also live action. Strangely, though, most of the humans in the film are animated, making one wonder why it was decided to include live-action humans in the first place. The second noteworthy change is the dearth of dialogue. WALL-E is as effective a silent movie actor as there ever was, instituting eyebrow wiggles, pratfalls and hand gestures to more than adequately make up for his limited vocabulary. The dialogue does pick up in the second half of the film, but even then it's less than you might think.
The most significant change, though, is what would appear to be the presence of overt sociopolitical messages. There’s the environmental message (the classic overhead shot of New York is replaced with hundreds of trash skyscrapers), which goes hand-in-hand with the anti-consumerism message, which rolls into the not-so-subtle potshot at Wal-Mart, for which Buy-n-Large is an obvious stand-in. There’s also a shot at the ever-increasing laziness of humans and their over-reliance on machines. Humans onboard the Axiom have evolved into obese slugs who must be transported by hovering chairs and communicate via screens five inches in front of their face, even to the person right next to them.
EVE is your classic femme fatale -- sexy and more than a little dangerous.
The result is what feels like the most adult Pixar film to date. That’s not to say that there isn’t anything for children to enjoy in WALL-E; director Andrew Stanton makes sure to include more than enough broad moments to satisfy the kiddos. But more than any previous Pixar film, it feels like much of WALL-E was aimed at grownups. The social messages, the old movies and video games, even things like callbacks to 2001 and Alien (Sigourney Weaver voices the controlling main computer onboard the Axiom) – they are all things that no child would ever recognize or understand.
What usually sets Pixar films apart from other animated fare is the perfect marriage of computer graphics and story. However, when Pixar showed us the hidden world of toys, bugs, and rats, they were showing us familiar things with new eyes. The intricacies of robots and space are still so beyond what most people know that showing extraordinary images of them seems, paradoxically, ordinary. Of course, Pixar’s “ordinary” is still light years ahead of what other animated films can do, so any complaint is really only a minor quibble. WALL-E is by no means a misstep for Pixar – it’s really more of a deviation that’ll take repeat viewings to fully appreciate. Pixar’s films continually bring new ideas to the animation table, and WALL-E is no different.
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Comments
Laura Evans Staff
I saw WALL-E last night and was really surprised by the depth of the storyline and how much it drew me in. But onto the real reason for my comment:
Almost as enjoyable as the movie was when they started playing the previews before the film. I thought they seemed a bit adult for a Pixar film audience but realized they had royally screwed up when the preview for Pineapple Express came on. For those who have not heard of this HIGHlarious movie, it's about a stoner and his dealer on the run after witnessing a murder. I thoroughly enjoyed the preview but was pretty sure the families with their kids were none too happy. And I soon was also not happy when the theater realized their mistake and then decided to play the real kid friendly previews after making us watch the first set of previews.
Anyway! WALL-E was great, Pineapple Express looks freaking hilarious, and now I'm just left wondering what movie they were gonna play before realizing they had the wrong reel?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Brett Hoerner Verified
My favorite part about seeing this was that I know all the families got up out of their seats when it ended so they could head over to Northpark to buy a bunch of useless crap and stuff their gaping maws.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
(stretch) Good movie! Who wants a Baskin Robbins heath bar shake?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Can I get those with bacon mixed right in?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
Of course. You'd have to explicitly ask for "no bacon" if you didn't, but who in their right mind would do that? (Feed sack extra.)
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Brett Hoerner Verified
Seriously though, it's amazingly ironic to be fed (nom nom nom, we 'mericans love being fed) your dose of "don't be wasteful", "save the planet", "cure cancer", "world peace", while you sit in a freakin' huge air conditioned theater shoveling $6 popcorn into your corn hole. Especially when it's a combination of million (billion?) dollar companies giving you the lecture.
I laughed my way out of the theater. I sure feel like I did my part, back to the status quo!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
Not one mention of Johnny #5 in the review. Alex, you make baby jebus sad!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Alex Bentley Staff
Brett, I had similar misgivings about the movie, especially when there is tons of WALL-E paraphernalia being hawked at every toy/grocery/department store. But I guess I'd rather them try to give kids (and adults) the message in a manner that's entertaining, which I think is more likely to enter their consciousness than a lecture would.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Alex Bentley Staff
Already addressed this in another thread. WALL-E is so much better than Johnny #5 that no comparison is necessary (or worthy).
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
But it's a blatant ripoff! I won't stand for it!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Blatant ripoff is quite precise, imo. Guarantee they wanted parents to think back to their childhood with Johnny #5 so they'd show up in theaters and cram overpriced junk down their maw.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Brett Hoerner Verified
Anyone saying it's a ripoff hasn't seen the movie. It's chock full of amusing easter eggs that are, in my opinion, there to honor and not simply to steal.
OH GOD YOU MADE A ROBOT WITH EYES, THIIIEEEF.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Alex Bentley Staff
Sigh ... listen, I'm becoming more and more cynical as I grow older, but the director of the film has stated that the inspiration for WALL-E's look was a pair of binoculars. He's acknowledged the Johnny #5 comparison in other interviews, but says it wasn't even a thought in his mind when he came up with the look of the character.
If you know Pixar, you know that they don't do anything half-assed, so the "blatant rip-off" claim doesn't ring true. Look at the picture again -- the only thing that's even slightly similar are the tank treads for feet:
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Haven't seen the film, and I don't care to. But it doesn't take a genius to follow a timeline.
Original Short Circuit came out in 1985. Short Circuit 2 in 1988. I was 2 and 5 respectively, and I'm 25 now. 30 year old was 7 and 10 respectively. Methinks the similarities are no accident, regardless of what the director babbles about.
DOYLE WILL NOT CONFORM
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Chad Jones Verified
Something sinister has happened to this staff, causing them to really, really give a crap about this robot. I am very confused.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
Fire Alex from. Replace with Johnny #5.
The end.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Mike Orren Staff
More on the origins of the film/robot. I was among the ripoff conspiracists until I read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/mov...
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Alex Bentley Staff
Yes, I can see his thinking now, Doyle: "Let's rip off a character that was last seen 20 years ago and that only those who grew up in the 80s really remember and base our whole movie around it!"
xdavidwattsx -- don't make me reveal your true identity.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
That's why it's the perfect ripoff. Only us old lamers remember. But hey, Wall-E may be a very good movie for all I know. I know Short Circuit was good times.
Alex, you don't know me!!!!!! I am a masked crusader - avenging all that is wrong and corrupt on the internets! I am dark and stealth like - a modern day Inigo Montoya if you will.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
I hear Honda totally ripped off Ford's idea of a moving vehicle with four wheels, and people inside. Jerks.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jeremy Dunck Staff
Regarding preaching conservation from the big screen: hypocrisy, yes, but still something that (apparently) bears repeating.
Here's the executive summary for my personal improvement, as far as I can tell:
I'm rather puzzled by the general message that conservation is up to you though, because I think if reduction really is a personal issue, we're screwed. The planet is the ultimate commons, and the tragedy is a long emergency.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Jeremy, there is hope for a greener burger Kangaroo bacteria
I'm actually eager to see WALL-E. I had a few collaborations a zillion years ago with different effects houses and there was already concept art floating around. This has been in the works for over a decade.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
12ozfred Anonymous
Wall-E was the longest "DO NOT LITTER" commercial I have ever seen!!!!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
I'm on a waiting list for some local co-ops. Pretty sure the wait is like a year long. But I eat food from my family's garden and stock up on it when I come visit, so that helps.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Alex, would it be a shock that a director made a kids movie that subconsciously caters to their parents? Pretty decent marketing, imo. Not knocking it, necessarily - they're out to make a buck in the end. Calls 'em like I sees 'em.
From Miko's linked story:
David A. Price...“Pixar films reach whole audiences because they know how to make characters that are appealing to children and then give them adult problems,” he said.
Maybe I'm just part of a tinfoil hat brigade, but I'm still squinting my eyes at this one.
And Pavel, God made us with 4 limbs just like those crazy chimps of old. Nothing wrong with recycling an idea, just own up to it and move on!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Alex Bentley Staff
Doyle, the least you could have done was read my review and quote a similar statement I made:
"That’s not to say that there isn’t anything for children to enjoy in WALL-E; director Andrew Stanton makes sure to include more than enough broad moments to satisfy the kiddos. But more than any previous Pixar film, it feels like much of WALL-E was aimed at grownups."
Pixar films have always found ways to appeal to both kids and adults -- that's why all nine of their films have been successful, a perfect track record nobody else can touch.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
so, apparently some conservatives are up in arms about Wall-E.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/r...
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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