Wall-EI think it's clear that Pixar, quite simply, can do no wrong. They have consistently produced quality story's with such heart that it's almost baffling how they've become so successful. Greatness on this level shouldn't be universally adored. They were undeniably clever about marketing their wonderful stories. Dress 'em up in fancy CGI and make it seem like a kid's flick. But what adults won't be prepared for, when they're dragged into the theaters by their kids, is what a beautiful treat they're about to receive.
Everytime Pixar has an idea for a movie, the result is something special. Wall-E is no exception. I'm hard-pressed to find fault in this wonderful film, and that's because the story is so earnest and sincere. Wall-E himself gives the most convincing CGI performance since King Kong. He is an incredible accomplishment for the animators because he's the first robot in film history that's infused with such spirit, even though he barely says a word. His emotional reactions are immediately recognizable, mostly through his body language, and his longing to hold someone elses hand is almost heart-breaking considering he's the only sentient being on earth.
Humanity took off on a shuttle named Axiom some seven hundred years ago, leaving robots to take care of their refuse and clean the planet of pollutants. After all this time, Wall-E is the only one left. He is tasked with cleaning up the mountains of garbage on the face of the planet and crushing them into cubes, which he then organizes into veritable skyscrapers of landfill. Supposedly all the other Wall-E robots that were given this job somehow shut down or deactivated by forgetting to charge up their solar-powered energy units. It's never really explained why Wall-E is the only robot left on earth, but his loneliness and his endless curiosity in particular items he finds in the trash makes him incredibly endearing.
When Eve, a sleek, sexy robot from the shuttle Axiom, lands on earth and begins her probe of the garbage.....Wall-E immediately takes notice. He's desperate for contact of some kind, since the only lifeforms left on earth are cockroaches. Eve is a blazing fast MacBook Pro, as compared to Wall-E's being an Apple II, and he is smitten with her from the start. Once they meet, he takes her back to his lodgings...where he's collected a number of interesting gadgets and oddities from his travels.....including a small plant, which is the sole reason Eve is on earth in the first place. To find a living biological specimen, which would allow the humans on the Axiom to return after hundreds of years of laziness and drinking themselves into obesity.
I've said enough of the story for now, I greatly encourage you to go see it for yourselves. That being said, I have to note how effective the film was in terms of communicating emotions and conveying thoughts. The minimalist talking within this film is an absolutely brilliant way of making these characters feel both inanimate and yet organic at the same time. These robots have life, and they feel as though they occupy the space on screen in a way that no CGI human ever has. Which leads me to one of the few flaws of the film. Having the video be real live footage instead of CGI was a great decision, but that choice left the overweight humans looking even less realistic than they might've otherwise. The contrast between the two is just too egregious. What they should have done was either cast hundreds of men and women who weighed more than 300 lbs and simply animate their hover chair, which may have been a hard order to fill. Or they should have taken the time to draw humans more realistically. . since motion-sensor technology has come a long way, as Beowulf can attest to.
Also, if they lounged about in hover chairs all the live-long day, there's no way they'd be able to stand even a little bit. Their muscles would have atrophied and their bone density wouldn't allow them the luxury of standing upright, perhaps on the shuttle where gravity was manipulated but certainly not when they returned to earth. And would anyone, living in the lap of luxury as they were, REALLY choose to get off of their chair and start anew on a planet as polluted as earth? I can understand there might be an argument for doing that if these people were educated, had maintained their physiques, and missed the soil, the sun, the sea, and the sky. But they've all spent their entire lives preconditioned to accept certain things as a given. For food to be readily available. For machines to take care of their chores. To clean them, to teach them, to keep them alive. Now, knowing no other life....do you really think they'd want to change that, given the alternative? The film doesn't care to expound on this issue, it gives the conceit a few seconds of time as the Captain goes through the records of earth's history and becomes enamored by all the joys of living. So, his sudden interest in earth and his desire to return somehow speaks for EVERYONE on board the Axiom? That's no democracy, my good man!
Another problem I had with the script was Eve's violent predisposition. Why was she given a laser gun? Her directive was to find a plant and return it to the Axiom. The earth was an absolute wasteland, bereft of life . .and this had to have been known by her creators. So why would they find it necessary to include an insanely powerful weapon on her body? I think it was a thematic device to show her as cold and calculating before Wall-E softened her heart and instilled a personality within her because of his own.
Despite my quibbling's, I truly love this film. It presents a unique and disturbing vision of the future while maintaining a strong undercurrent of kindness, love, and most surprisingly...humanity.
Rating: A-