Friday, June 27, 2008

WALL-E

WALL-E
WALL-E is PIXARs latest (9th) feature film and takes place in the year 2700, long after the Earth has been vacated by the human race. Wall-E (which stands for ‘Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-Class’) is one of the robots left on Earth to clean up the mess left by all the “un–green” people. (Don’t get me started on that topic!!) Whether all the other robots have totally broken down or someone just didn’t turn WALL-E off is not explained, but who cares, it’s not important. WALL-E is more human than robotic, he collects knick-knacks he finds as he continues his clean up and displays a child’s curiosity as to what it is all about. You find yourself relating to him instantly. He especially loves watching his VCR tape of HELLO DOLLY, which he seems totally enthralled with. WALL-E has a single friend on Earth, a small cockroach that is also his companion.

One day, a probe visits Earth from “out there” and WALL-E is introduced to EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a probe robot and with that the story really begins. Our hero finds himself in love with this new entity and tries his best, in ways we can all relate to, to get her to notice him. I won’t go into any more details; I don’t want to spoil it for you.








Finally, here is a movie that I can unreservedly say is good for the whole family. The story line is a simple one and was actually conceived before TOY STORY. This is a sweet tale of love and adventure, one that anyone of any age can relate to and enjoy. The story is smooth and well thought out. There are no scary parts for the little ones and not even a hint of improper language (from what dialog there is, since our robot stars say very little). The story is full of excitement and humor aimed at everyone.

The CGI effects are by far the best I have seen yet. PIXAR has always held the top of that category, but they have exceeded themselves with this one. It is just amazing how you can have such rich character development with these animated characters without the need of dialog. It is wonderful and refreshing.

WALL-E is directed by Andrew Stanton who also directed FINDING NEMO and A BUGS LIFE. He also did the screenplay for W
ALL-E as well as FINDING NEMO, MONSTERS INC., A BUGS LIFE, TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2, so you know what to expect if you have seen those other films. On another subject, I see that he and PIXAR are also starting on Edgar Rice Burroughs, JOHN CARTER OF MARS. But, we’ll have to wait until 2012 for that one! I loved those stories when I was younger.

The bottom line here is that WALL-E is by far the best, most entertaining film I’ve seen in a long time. It is one of those rare gems that you can see over and over again and still enjoy it. With no hesitation, this one gets a 10 out of 10 on my humble rating scale. Go see it!



PS: The short animated feature, also done by PIXAR, before the WALL-E main feature is also very good and very clever.


3 comments:

Brian said...

Wow. Is this the first movie that has been released in the last twenty years to receive a ten out of ten? :)

Wes Miller said...

No, just the first time since I started this blog!! (o:

guzzel said...

Concur with the 10 star rating. As we've come to expect from PIXAR movies, this one will not disappoint.