Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2008 > June > 26 > Entry
WALL-E: One of Pixar’s very best
How much did I love WALL-E? Let me list the ways.
I didn’t want it to end. Immediately after the credits rolled and the Pixar logo’s light clicked off, I wanted to run up to the projectionist and ask him to show the movie again.
Failing that, I immediately made plans to see the movie for at least a second time this weekend. Maybe even a third.
I called three friends to rave about the film only minutes after seeing it.
I also looked into buying the soundtrack with Thomas Newman’s absolutely gorgeous score.
Watching WALL-E, I forgot I was in a movie theater.
So why is the movie this wonderful? Aside from the visual splendor and the storytelling savvy I’ve come to expect from Pixar, it’s like no other animated movie I’ve ever seen. WALL-E has about 10 minutes of human dialogue, if that, so the movie relies almost completely on images to tell its story. The effect is spellbinding.
WALL-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth class, and he has lots of work to do. He lives on Earth, hundreds of years from now. Humans have abandoned the planet, leaving trash everywhere. We see that there had been a whole fleet of WALL-Es, but only one remains.
As dutiful as he is, WALL-E is not merely a machine. He’s a curious little romantic. He constantly plays with objects he finds in the wreckage, throwing away a diamond ring but keeping the box. His favorite pastime is watching a VHS tape of Hello, Dolly!, his only indicator of what people were like. WALL-E can’t speak English, but his forlorn eyes make it obvious he longs for company besides a cockroach.
Company arrives in the form of EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a sleek little robot with a gleaming white surface and lights that blink from within. (She’s clearly a nod to Apple products.) While she rockets around looking for signs of organic life, the smitten WALL-E follows her everywhere, to her initial annoyance and eventual amusement. But when he finds what she is looking for, things don’t turn out at all as WALL-E expects.
The last act of the picture, which takes place mostly on the spaceship where humans have been living, is brasher in tone, but necessarily so. A few people have accused this part of WALL-E of being preachy, never mind that there’s not much dialogue. The movie obviously has a “green” message on its mind, but it’s delivered in such a creative, lighthearted way that it only adds to the movie’s immense appeal.
I could go on about the technical wizardry of WALL-E, describing its marvelously inventive look and how it mimics science fiction films of the 1970s. I could talk about how special effects guru Dennis Muren (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2) and top cinematographer Roger Deakins (most of the Coen brothers’ movies) helped craft the images, and how the wondrous creations by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt (who also voices WALL-E) enveloped me. However, these things aren’t what I remember most about the movie.
What I remember most is how my heart sang during this movie. As ever with Pixar, the emotional resonance of the story makes the most dramatic impact. I never imagined that one of the most touching romances I’ve ever seen would be between two mechanical objects who don’t speak English, but here it is. Pixar can wring so much effectiveness from EVE’s LED eyes alone, it’s amazing. That the romance plays out almost wordlessly gives it a rare grace and beauty, worthy of Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece, City Lights.
Some people have wondered if children will be able to deal with a movie that has almost no dialogue. If the kids at my screening are any indication, the answer is, absolutely. When the kids weren’t laughing at WALL-E’s slapstick antics, they stared in silent wonder, asking nary a question and making nary a sound. Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo), and his co-writers Pete Docter and Jim Reardon have made a miracle.
I imagine some will wonder if this film could possibly be as good as I make it out to be. If other people think it’s half as good as I do, they should still come away very happy. Do not wait for the DVD. Even if you don’t have kids, see it. If you have a baby at home, hire a sitter and see it. And then make sure the sitter sees it too.
WALL-E is one of Pixar’s very best movies, making it one of the best movies of all time - animated or otherwise.
GRADE: A+
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Reviews
Comments
By Socialwrkr
July 3, 2008 12:32 AM | Link to this
I took the 9 year old to see the movie today. As soon as he saw the mountains of trash, he whispered, “we need to recycle more”. But what he came away from the movie with was telling me that even though he doesn’t like love stories, he was glad Wall-E and Eve ended up together. He told the rest of the family at dinner that we have to be “better to Earth”. I appreciated the gentleness of it. I wasn’t sure a movie with so little dialogue could keep my attention today, but it certainly did.By SRCputt
July 2, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this
I read an interview with director Andrew Stanton in Christianity Today, and he said he didn’t seek to make a political movie. At its core, the movie is a simple love story between two robots, and that simple story is well enough told that my 4 year old daughter understood it. The other stuff is secondary, and many of the kids won’t pick it up immediately. But kids will watch movies over and over and over again on DVD, and they will pick up the subtle messages over time. That, or they will be overcome with a desire to see Hello Dolly.By Sir Critic
July 1, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this
A well-considered argument, Scott, but still, I can’t quite agree. And judging by other comments on this blog and the kid reactions that I’ve witnessed, they seemed to have had different experiences than yours did. I think children can most certainly enjoy the genius of the film at their level, because telling so much of the story without dialogue is part of the genius. And that includes responding to the love story and the slapstick.By Scott Elliott
July 1, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this
Yes, but here’s my point. If you’re making an adult movie, make an adult movie. Animated or not. The genius of a movie like Toy Story was that it appealed to kids and adults equally. The characters and story telling in Toy Story are enjoyable to an adult and there are some extras thrown in to please the grown ups that go over the kids heads a bit. But that’s OK because at its core Toy Story is a kids movie and even if a kid don’t get all the adult jokes and references, they still wholly appreciate it at their level and have an overall shared experience with the adults. WallE was not a shared experience. In fact, the kids in the audience are a total afterthought. The movie was made to delight adults, which it does. But it does not appeal to the kids in a shared way. There is a sophisticated experience for the adults with lots of nuance and external references. But for the kids, the story is maybe too simple. The kids cannot enjoy the real genius of the film on their level at all. The are expected to enjoy the slapstick and the love story and buy plush WallE figure. That’s about all. That’s my critique. It’s a kids movie that forgot it was for kids.By Sir Critic
July 1, 2008 12:08 AM | Link to this
You make an intriguing point, Scott. It may very well be that younger kids could miss “the moral of the story,” but Pixar doesn’t try to make “kids movies.” Indeed, they never have. That’s a large part of why they’re 9-for-9 in making great movies. As Pixar director Brad Bird said, “I can’t think of one other art form that has its audience so narrowly defined. If you work in animation, people tell you, ‘Oh, it must be wonderful to entertain children.’ Yes it is. But that’s 10 percent of the audience I’m going for.” Or consider the words of one Walt Disney: “You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.” Once you start aiming for kids more than anyone else, you tend to end up with movies that are truly disposable … like, well - “Madagascar.” “WALL-E” will be remembered long after copies of “Madagascar” get consigned to giant trash towers.By Scott Elliott
June 30, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this
I also very much enjoyed the movie, although I do wonder if Pixar is shooting a little too high for a kids movie. I took three kids — ages 6, 7 and 9 — yesterday and today they are talking more about the trailer for the next Madagascar movie than about WallE. It’s my wife and I who are talking about the artistry of the film and the effectiveness of the dialogue-free storytelling. The kids liked the movie fine. But they didn’t love it and they certainly didn’t get it. My wife asked them today what the lesson of the movie was about the earth. They had no clue. She had to prompt them to get them to say anything about protecting the environment or reducing trash. And the nine-year-old this year had helped start a newspaper recycling program at her school!By ME
June 30, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this
Loved it! Will own it … Best Pixar yet? I think so! So creative so much to offer everyone in the family. LOVED IT! Thanks Eric!!By Christy
June 28, 2008 11:09 PM | Link to this
We saw it this afternoon. My kids loved it (ages 9 and 7).. my son already had the bed set and most of the clips memorized from seeing them over the last 6 months…but the film kept them both mezmerized..and there are a lot of cute and funny parts as well.. It was well worth the wait!!By SRCputt
June 28, 2008 5:56 PM | Link to this
Pixar does it again. Saw it today.By Steve
June 28, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
Pixar is amazing. My step sister is the voice of the robot EVE (Elissa Knight). A few years ago while in CA we got a guided tour of Pixar from Elissa and the director of this film. What a place!! Talk about magic, Pixar has mastered the art. A great film from a great studio, I’m very proud of Elissa.By SRCputt
June 27, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
Forget the sitter, my two youngest love the robot from the ads. We’re going to the drive-in this weekend. I plan on trying to convince my wife to stay until 3 am to watch it a second time.By Andy
June 27, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this
couldnt agree more. See this movie. Loved it and so did my 5 year old!By Susan
June 26, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
Well, that’s it then — our plans for tomorrow night are made! SUCH high praise for a studio that has delivered amazing films! I always wonder how Pixar can top themselves — but sounds like they have … again! Thanks for the review, Eric!