Movie Review: Wall-E (2008) by Jason

The Essentials

Title: Wall-E (Official Site)
Directed by Andrew Stanton
Written by Andrew Stanton (screenplay) and Jim Capobianco (titles)
Running Time: 1:37
MPAA Rating: G

The Plot of Wall-E

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? Wall-E, spends every day doing what he was made for. But soon, he will discover what he was meant for, as he adventures across the galaxy chasing his dream.

The Story of Wall-E

Earth has become a trash heap and humans have abandoned it and left it in the hands of robots who compress and stack the mounds and mounds of trash into neat little piles. Unfortunately, 700 years after the humans have left, poor little Wall-E is the only robot left in working order.

Every morning Wall-E powers up via solar panels and begins another day of cleaning…and rummaging. You see, Wall-E is also pretty lonely and pretty curious about the things he finds in the trash. He’s so curious in fact, that he saves many items and takes them to the trailer where he lives with a pet cockroach. One of his most prized possessions is a VHS copy of “Hello, Dolly!” which he seems to play quite often.

However, the humans have finally sent a probe back to find out what has happened on earth and on that probe is EVE, another robot who Wall-E falls for almost immediately. When EVE makes an unexpected discovery, however, she is recalled to her ship and Wall-E is forced to make a split second decision that will change the course of mankind forever.

The Review of Wall-E

There can be no doubt – Pixar knows how to make movies. Pixar has yet to stumble with a truly bad movie and has, in fact, made several that are down right incredible. With Wall-E, they have made one that is truly magical.

I have been saying for some time now that I felt Wall-E would be a great film and I’m happy to report that my prediction was correct. In Pixar’s body of work it immediately stands as one of the top two or three and must certainly be considered one of the best pictures released this year thus far. I kid you not.

What is so amazing about Wall-E is not that Pixar has put together an entertaining and funny picture because they always do that, but it is that they managed to create a virtually silent film that conveys more emotions (by robots!) than most films are able to pull off with some of our best actors. The members of the SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) should be both embarrassed and worried that I found Wall-E to be the most endearing and lovable characters I’ve seen on screen in a long time. He only communicates through basic movements and rudimentary sounds, but the audience, from the very young to the very old, are able to comprehend his loneliness, his fright, his love, and his joy, all at various times and at various levels throughout the course of the film. It’s a testament to the tremendous filmmaking skills that went in to this film that the audience is able to connect to this animated robot on such a personal level.

The animation of the film is simply stunning. I know computer animated films are a dime a dozen these days, but Pixar was the first and they are still the best at bringing the animated world to life. The images on the screen are crisp and clear and their camera angles are no less than perfect. The music and editing were spot on and the sound effects were better than many action films I’ve seen. Until I saw the film I was thinking that talk of Oscar nominations this early were far too premature, but now I cannot see how we can NOT discuss possible nominations. It’s just that good.

There’s been a little bit of controversy concerning the “green” message in the film and I can understand where it’s coming from. I’m not really sympathetic to anyone trying to impart politics into children’s films, but I didn’t really think they crossed the line with this one or anything. Sure there’s a moral to the story and there’s a lot of stuff you can read in to the plot if you want to (and maybe we should, I don’t know), but it’s not so heavy handed that I was offended in the slightest.

So, although the movie was really good, I’m still not ready to crown it the greatest Pixar film of all. The original Toy Story was so incredibly good and I think Monsters, Inc. has one of their best screenplays, but additional viewings of the three films and this one in particular may change my opinion. Like I said, it’s easily one of the best films of the year so far and deserves to be discussed as a Best Picture candidate (and I don’t mean just Best Animated Film). Andrew Stanton has proven once again that he’s simply the best in the industry when it comes to directing animated films.

An additional bonus is the short film Pixar always shows before the film. This film’s short, Presto, is one of their funniest and best yet.

Watch Wall-E If…

You want to see a movie that will actually let you have a good time and allow you to leave the theater feeling like you spent your money wisely or if you’ve seen any of Pixar’s previous films and you thought they were good or if you have a strange fetish for robot love (I’m not judging).