WALL-E
dir: Andrew Stanton
"A is for Axiom, your home sweet home. B is for Buy N Large, your very best friend." - Teacher Robot
Brief Synopsis
The last operational robot on earth, designed to clean up the mess left behind by the now space-bound humans, falls in love with another robot sent down to investigate earth. When a startling discovery is made, the two embark on a mission to the human's ship in outer space holding the fate of humanity in their hands.
Why It's Here
Often praised as Pixar's best work since their masterpiece, "Toy Story", and sometimes even considered better than that, "Wall-E" has certainly made an unexpected impact. What is it about a small, rusted robot living on an unhabitable earth all alone so appealing to the masses? Are it's praises warranted? Well, not always, but "Wall-E" does make an exceptional film that is surprisingly earnest, cute, and intelligent aided by the expected flair of Pixar storytelling, animation and memorable characters. Director Andrew Stanton is no fool, if you care to watch his 37 minute video embedded below, he understands creative passion and is in every sense of the world an artist. What makes Wall-E and all of Pixar's films work better than any of their competition is simple: it's not child's play to them. Pixar has always tried to break the mold of animation being kids only, and here they have broken that barrier better than any time in the past.
The concept behind "Wall-E" is strange for an animated film in the minds of most Western audiences. Dealing with an age in the future where we have polluted our planet to the point where we must sustain our lifestyles on a spaceship because the earth has now rejected us is not something most people consider "kid's entertainment". Wall-E, a worker robot programmed to clean up our waste has been working a long time, hundreds of years in fact, to the point where all his fellow workers have broken down and it appears that he's the only one left to do the job, and that he does. Wall-E works endlessly as we expect our machines to, however there is a spark of personality and humanity in Wall-E. He has emotion, something that most filmmakers keep away from their robotic characters in films like these. Wall-E finds objects that interest him and collect them, he plays and sings "Hello, Dolly" for his own lonely amusement. Wall-E's collection shows his own sense of materialism in this junk-filled world yet he is interesting to watch as he tosses away items that might be of value to us, but are of no interest to his curiosity, instead finding interest in fire extinguishers, rubics cubes and cassattes.
Pixar makes Wall-E as accessable as many of their other characters, despite the fact that he isn't human-like, the film shows a powerful subtlety in it's animation where the details of Wall-E's eye movements reflect his emotions, unlike "Kung Fu Panda", 2008's other favourite animated film, "Wall-E"'s animation aren't about flash and jazz, it's all about the little details. When EVE arrives her hostility is visualized through her digital eyes and her strong, fast movement when she blasts her laser rifle, while her giggling is animated through her gentle bobbing up and down. As with previous Pixar films, the odd characters work because of their quirks that are easy to identify them with.
The animation in "Wall-E" stands as the main way to evoke emotion and portray actions on-screen for the first quarter of the film as the little robot can barely say a word in through his primitive speaker system. Much talk has been made of this impressive feat, but most impressively, it's barely noticeable. You never really sit back in awe at how the story is being unravelled through actions and gestures, it's seemless with the rest of the film as Wall-E makes little beeps and bops reminicient of those R2-D2 squeaks out.
As the story progresses it becomes more layered and complex, again, Pixar treads on their familiar ground as the story expands into a layered adventure where young children can enjoy Pixar's vivid colour schemes (brought into play later in this film) and fun characters; slightly older children can grasp the usual messages of friendship, love, and this time around get the perfectly-timed "green" message of pollution; while older audiences can appreciate the maturity of the themes, the quality storytelling and romance. While director Andrew Stanton refuses to acknowledge the themes of technology reliance, consumerism, and materialism, it is still there. Whether "Wall-E" want to be or not, it is a politically charged film. The over-weight subordinate humans have access to anything they want at their fingertips, no need to get out of their seat, no need to even look away from their computer screens. When an advertisement informs them that "Blue is the new Red" everyone instantly makes a digital purchase and their uniform-like outfits all instantly turn blue, none of them seem to notice or care. Their life vessel of a ship isn't even piloted by a human anymore, instead authority and responsibility handed off to a robot named AUTO whose motives aren't really clear. A montage of captain's shows us the transformation from respectable, responsible men, into fat childlike bafoons, as if evolution has reversed and we've all become large infants incapable of making decisions on our own.
"Wall-E" may have commentary on humanity, but at it's core, the film is really just a love story. It's a passionate film that never treads anywhere near sappy, overbearing romance. It's light love story compliments the main plot nicely and adds a cute charm that holds the entire adventure together. It's a surprisingly simple tale, and that makes it work. For a science fiction film about our desolate, lifeless planet, "Wall-E" is refreshingly simple and upbeat, a necessary refreshment from the usual ugly portrayal of our future world in American cinema.
The concept behind "Wall-E" is strange for an animated film in the minds of most Western audiences. Dealing with an age in the future where we have polluted our planet to the point where we must sustain our lifestyles on a spaceship because the earth has now rejected us is not something most people consider "kid's entertainment". Wall-E, a worker robot programmed to clean up our waste has been working a long time, hundreds of years in fact, to the point where all his fellow workers have broken down and it appears that he's the only one left to do the job, and that he does. Wall-E works endlessly as we expect our machines to, however there is a spark of personality and humanity in Wall-E. He has emotion, something that most filmmakers keep away from their robotic characters in films like these. Wall-E finds objects that interest him and collect them, he plays and sings "Hello, Dolly" for his own lonely amusement. Wall-E's collection shows his own sense of materialism in this junk-filled world yet he is interesting to watch as he tosses away items that might be of value to us, but are of no interest to his curiosity, instead finding interest in fire extinguishers, rubics cubes and cassattes.
Pixar makes Wall-E as accessable as many of their other characters, despite the fact that he isn't human-like, the film shows a powerful subtlety in it's animation where the details of Wall-E's eye movements reflect his emotions, unlike "Kung Fu Panda", 2008's other favourite animated film, "Wall-E"'s animation aren't about flash and jazz, it's all about the little details. When EVE arrives her hostility is visualized through her digital eyes and her strong, fast movement when she blasts her laser rifle, while her giggling is animated through her gentle bobbing up and down. As with previous Pixar films, the odd characters work because of their quirks that are easy to identify them with.
The animation in "Wall-E" stands as the main way to evoke emotion and portray actions on-screen for the first quarter of the film as the little robot can barely say a word in through his primitive speaker system. Much talk has been made of this impressive feat, but most impressively, it's barely noticeable. You never really sit back in awe at how the story is being unravelled through actions and gestures, it's seemless with the rest of the film as Wall-E makes little beeps and bops reminicient of those R2-D2 squeaks out.
As the story progresses it becomes more layered and complex, again, Pixar treads on their familiar ground as the story expands into a layered adventure where young children can enjoy Pixar's vivid colour schemes (brought into play later in this film) and fun characters; slightly older children can grasp the usual messages of friendship, love, and this time around get the perfectly-timed "green" message of pollution; while older audiences can appreciate the maturity of the themes, the quality storytelling and romance. While director Andrew Stanton refuses to acknowledge the themes of technology reliance, consumerism, and materialism, it is still there. Whether "Wall-E" want to be or not, it is a politically charged film. The over-weight subordinate humans have access to anything they want at their fingertips, no need to get out of their seat, no need to even look away from their computer screens. When an advertisement informs them that "Blue is the new Red" everyone instantly makes a digital purchase and their uniform-like outfits all instantly turn blue, none of them seem to notice or care. Their life vessel of a ship isn't even piloted by a human anymore, instead authority and responsibility handed off to a robot named AUTO whose motives aren't really clear. A montage of captain's shows us the transformation from respectable, responsible men, into fat childlike bafoons, as if evolution has reversed and we've all become large infants incapable of making decisions on our own.
"Wall-E" may have commentary on humanity, but at it's core, the film is really just a love story. It's a passionate film that never treads anywhere near sappy, overbearing romance. It's light love story compliments the main plot nicely and adds a cute charm that holds the entire adventure together. It's a surprisingly simple tale, and that makes it work. For a science fiction film about our desolate, lifeless planet, "Wall-E" is refreshingly simple and upbeat, a necessary refreshment from the usual ugly portrayal of our future world in American cinema.