Wall-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) has become a very lonely robot after spending several hundred years compacting garbage on Earth of the far flung future.
With no lifeforms left but cockroaches, he sifts out knick knacks to keep himself occupied - like a videotape from the film Hello Dolly, which he watches and sees two people holding hands.
Having developed an inquisitive personality of his own, Wall-E soon falls head over heels (often literally) when another robot, EVE (Elissa Knight), is sent to earth to find plant life. Does their love hold the key to saving our planet? Maybe, if Eve can stop shooting at him first.
They say:
MTV: “The picture is truly brilliant on several levels.”
Time: “Pixar's most enthralling entertainment since Nemo.”
Empire: “Absolute Heaven.”
We say:
Kids will adore Wall-E, but you will too. He's so lovable that mothers have been abandoning their newborns just to stare at the movie poster.
The movie itself is a healthy ninety percent pure greatness: funny, cutesy, moving and only slightly marred by a flabby ten percent of moralising and repetitive narrative.
There’s enough story here to fill a pleasant hour, if not a feature length release. The plot doesn't pull back and forth in enough directions to keep you totally engrossed. Not boring, no way, just drawn out in places. Scenes like the defected robot jailbreak keep momentum going though.
Wall-E is the film's merchandising gambit, though EVE emerges as its most satisfying character overall. She is instinctive and intelligent, Wall-E is impulsive and affectionate - they make a lovely couple.
When they touch heads, in what must count as first base in robot land, it's an understated cue for audience sympathy. The only way to get rid of that lump in your throat is to swallow it.
We humans don't fare quite as well, modelled as we are on contestants from Celebrity Fit Club. This reverse development is a scary pronunciation on the bodily and environmental decline of our world. Although it's not clear why the makers aligned live action people with obviously drawn counterparts - is this how we've evolved, into caricatures? It's an audacious idea but doesn't quite convince.
This is where Pixar can get a mite frustrating in their arrogance - it's as if they are lecturing us on how to be better people from their holy pedestal of wonderfulness. They probably have fifty recycling bins stacked outside the studio and eat mung beans for lunch.
Yet you can't knock their desire to create beautiful pictures for everyone to enjoy. The dreamlike, almost mute opening act of Wall-E is merged effortlessly with the interplanetary mayhem that follows. As he and a temporally incapacitated EVE depart earth, their love story really takes off so to speak. His loyalty is humbling to behold.
Way up in the stratosphere with Pixar's best, Wall-E takes animation in new, important directions while also entertaining the traditionalists amongst us.
If you're still not sure, just take a look at the little trash compactor's face - he's like the last puppy in the pound. How could you not love Wall-E?
VOICES
Ben Burtt
Elissa Knight
Jeff Garlin
Fred Willard
DIRECTOR
Andrew Stanton
TIME
103 mins
POSTED...
Sun 27 Jul at 9:36am
