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WALL-E Voices of: Ben Burtt (Wall*E), Elissa Knight (Eve), Jeff Garlin (Captain), Fred Willard (CEO), John Ratzenberger (John), Kathy Najimy (Mary) and Sigourney Weaver (voice of the computer) Director: Andrew Stanton Scriptwriter: Andrew Stanton with titles by Jim Capobianco Composer: Thomas Newman Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios Animated Rating: G Running Length: 93 minutes Web site: www.Wall-E.com Pixar follows up their 2007 Oscar winning film Ratatouille with an animated film containing a lot less dialogue but a much louder message. The title character is full of charm and heart and though the intention is denied by the creator a character reminiscent of another fleshlier extra-terrestrial, ET. WAL*-E is another brilliant example of why Pixar is king of the animation genre. They are unmatched in writing, style and visual. The attention to detail and boldness to tackle themes that are not just there to appease the kids makes them a force in the box office showdown. But with this new one they take some chances that could short circuit their worth while intentions. WALL*E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) has been alone for hundreds of years fulfilling his directive of cleaning up the Earth we humans have left covered in waste. He spends his days collecting odds and ends of gadgets he finds among the trash and his nights are filled with watching old musicals. Along the way he has developed a personality which leads him to long for friendship and love. When another robot lands in his area, WALL*E is instantly smitten. EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is a search robot who is focused only on her job but soon discovers that WALL*E has found not only the key to survival but life itself. The first big risk I noticed with this endeavor is the lack of dialogue in the first half of the film. Though heartwarming and funny we spend the early moments watching WALL*E go about his day to day duties with only a few bleeps and whirrs. Even when EVE arrives we still have no audible communication between the two. It is only much later in the film that any sort of verbal interaction begins. This may or may not work for many viewers. Those who are drawn to WALL*E, as I was, will be fine just watching him do his thing while those who find him repetitive and cliché may end up frustrated at the lack of excitement. The other bold chance the Pixar peeps take, and the one I applaud the loudest, is their blatant depiction of our society and where we are heading. The reason WALL*E is all alone on Earth is that all the humans have taken a space cruise of luxury while the world they destroyed is being cleaned up. The problem is that several hundred of years have passed and no one has noticed. The humans all float around on hovering lounge chairs drinking shakes and staring at small screens in front of their faces. There is no personal interaction, or physical touch, only these screens of communication. They have all become overweight blobs of humanity who can no longer walk or think on their own. They are content just to float around and eat. When one man learns the great place Earth once was he tries to help EVE and WALL*E get things back the way they were. It is a bold slap in the face to most of today’s movie goers. In a country where more people are over weight than in shape and we spend all of our waking hours texting and instant messaging, it is not far fetched to picture our world in this sort of mess. Though the film makes it humorous, it is none the less sobering. WALL*E is rated G. Totally clean and fun
for the entire family. Though missing much of the quick wit and dialogue
of past Pixar projects WALL*E still has a loud message to proclaim and
does so with one of the most endearing characters to hit the big screen
in some while. I give it a solid 4 out of 5 sporks and hope that younger
viewers will some how garner a few helpful lessons from it along with the
silly robot antics.
Matt Mungle(6/24/08) "Matt is a member of the North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) and hosts a daily online talk show along with a weekend radio feature, The Mungles on Movies, with his wife Cindy. For additional reviews, interview clips and great DVD giveaways, visit the website www.mungleshow.com"
Review copyright 2008 Mungleshow Productions. Used by Permission.
Pixar does it again, but in a slightly different way. Here is an animated film about a little robot and for the first third of the picture, there is no dialogue, except lyrics from a “Mary Poppins” video. “Wall*E” is a science fiction film, finely drawn and with depth, that depicts life 700 years from now. In a phone interview with director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo” that won an Academy Award in 2003), he said they worked with a jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) and the make-up of the Mars Exploration Rover for an idea as to how Wall*E could operate. Also, Pixar worked with scientists on the effects of long-term space travel to see how the human body would react in terms of bone density. If children in your family weren’t interested in science experiments before seeing “Wall*E,” they may be afterward. The voice of the little robot, Wall*E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is cooed by Ben Burtt, who also happens to be a Pixar sound designer. The story begins with the camera zooming in on Earth and what we see to be a large city. A great part of it happens to be waste, that has been patiently compacted by a little robot. He makes squares of metal, which he then puts into enormous piles of metal. The little guy has a cockroach for a friend, lives in a storage shed and that’s where he keeps collectibles. Wall*E has made a home for himself that includes his favorite, an old VCR with a tape of “Mary Poppins.” The robot doesn’t eat, but manages to find an occasional old fast food item, for the cockroach. Enter a mysterious light from space which is the exhaust of a space ship. Leaving the ship is a vision in white to Wall*E, a new model robot named Eve. She can blast anything in her path, but eventually they become friends and Wall*E is falling in love. It is when Eve encounters a tiny plant that she turns, well, robotic. The plant is sealed in her mid-section, Eve turns comatose and the ship returns for her. Wall*E follows by hanging onto the spaceship for a wondrous view of the galaxy. What the little robot doesn’t know is that Eve is a space probe designed to find and bring back life. The plant is alive and Eve is during her duty. It’s when Eve, the plant and Wall*E arrive inside the mother ship that problems begin. We see what humans have become with no exercise or motivation, robots run everything and there even is a robot conspiracy. What to do? “Wall*E” is rich with detail. Scenes include those of a junk-filled Earth, Wall*E’s birds-eye view of the universe from outside the spaceship and Wall*E’s trip away from the spaceship. This is Science 101 rolled up with Astronomy 101 and Biology 101. It is subtle commentary on waste management, damage to the environment and lack of recycling. In fact, there are few bright colors in the palette of "Wall*E," so when green is shown, it really stands out and green here indicates life. There are robots for every type of work and each seems to have their own personality from the one who vacuums everything to the policing robots to the hair salon robots in pink. Humans are enormous and pudgy, eating all day and no exercise. You see, there is a science lesson right there. Animation is on a high level, and with a 3-D effect that brings the audience into some situations. Humor is provided by the hapless little robot who so reminds me of the robots from Bruce Dern’s science fiction film of years ago, “Silent Running.” You see machines that are machines, but have twinges of personality, reminding us of something human. “Wall*E” has a message about accumulating waste, treasuring plant life, exercise and using one’s brain power. Children over age eight may appreciate the film more than younger children, who could become restless with no dialogue at the beginning of the movie. However, the instant appeal of “Wall*E with large eyes and an ability to get into trouble is endearing, plus there is Eve to look after him and the cockroach as a friend. Imagine, the last live thing on Earth next to the plant is a cockroach. Copyright 2008 Marie Asner
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