Wall-E! Great Movi-eee! (Great Review, not mine)

Wall-E is both entertaining and subversive at the same time. A truly enjoyable film that can be enjoyed by all, yet has a very subtle message for the masses. The message I am referring to is not the obvious one about the environment, but rather about apathy, and what can happen to an apathetic society. Though not a perfect film, it is pretty damn close, and easily the best film Pixar has ever made.

Director Andrew Stanton should be given high praise for crafting this groundbreaking new film that is filled with soul. “Wall-E” is the story of a waste management robot left behind on an Earth that was abandoned nearly 700 years earlier. The name Wall-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class. There is a lot of waste for Wall-E to lift. The Earth as been polluted to the point that it is inhabitable for most sentient life, except of course for the cockroach. Over the course of the 700 years since humans first left the earth and took to the stars, all of the Wall-E units, but one, have since stopped operating. The Wall-E of the story has sort of evolved over the years. He has learned to salvage valuables such as rubicks cubes and light bulbs that might be of use later. He has also built up a supply of repair parts that he uses to repair himself and stay in operation. Wall-E has also taken to watching a video tape of the musical “Hello Dolly” over and over again. It is through that movie that Wall-E begins to take on human traits, such as compassion, the ability to love, and a desire to be loved. But except for his cockroach friend, there is nobody for him to fall in love with.

This changes when a space ship returns to Earth, and deposits a lone robot, EVE. EVE stands for Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, and she has been sent to Earth to look for plant life. Unable to find any plant life, she becomes increasingly frustrated. When Wall-E sees her, he falls instantly in love. But EVE sees him as more of a nuisance, and even tries to blast him to bits a few times. But eventually, when a dust storm hits, Wall-E comes to her rescue and brings her back to his shelter, where he shows her the movie, as well as a number of items he has been hording. But when Wall-E presents her with a plant he has been caring for, EVE’s directive takes over, she scoops the plant up, shoves it inside her, and calls her spaceship to pick her up.
Unable to let the love of his life go, Wall-E stows away on the spaceship carrying EVE away. The ship eventually docks with a larger ship that is run by robots, whose purpose is to serve as a resort for human beings until the time that life is found on Earth and they can return home. On one level, the film is trying to make a statement about the environment and how we need to take care of our planet before it’s too late. But on a far more subtle level, the movie makes a point that the human race as a whole has become apathetic, and if left unchecked, that apathy will ultimately spell doom for our species. Wall-E arrives to the resort ship to find a human race that has become so obese that they can no longer walk upright. They are carted around in hovering chairs, plugged into virtual reality systems that keep them occupied, and they drink high calorie meals like “cupcake in a cup.” Humans only interact with one another via internet connections, and never look up from their computer screens to even notice that the ship has a swimming pool. The ship’s captain can’t even read because he has never seen or opened a book. Pixar’s analogy is that if we allow ourselves to become so detached from the world around us, the world will fall apart right in front of us, but we won’t even notice because we are too blind to everything but our own selfish desires. It is really a very subversive message to put in an animated film targeted to children. But then again, Pixar’s films have always been smarter than the rest, and aimed to parents as much as they are aimed for kids.

The animation in “Wall-E” is beautiful. The story is both simple and complex at the same time. For a screenplay with little dialogue, it is a brilliant story. At it’s heart is the love story of Wall-E and EVE. Their story is as touching and memorable as any live action romance in recent memory. When EVE powers down awaiting the return of her ship, you can’t help but feel the pain and anguish that Wall-E is feeling trying to figure out what is wrong with his beloved. This is not to say that the film is not without faults. At times the story falls into an all to familiar, predictable pattern. At times the film seems to slow down too much, and could have used just a bit of editing. But overall, this is as flawless an animated film as one could ask for. Watching it, I could not help but feel that Disney / Pixar might just have the second animated film in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The movie is really that good.