Wall-E Movie (2008)

Wall-E - A square-bodied, binocular-faced, wide-eyed, little robot named Wall E lives potentially one of the loneliest lives imaginable. He is the only remaining inhabitant of earth, machine or organism (that is save a cockroach he adopts early on). Day in, day out, he continues the dutiful task he was beset by his creators: compact garbage in an attempt to clean up the now deserted earth, which has become an endless desert of waste. Eventually his several hundred year routine is interrupted by the landing of a spaceship that sends out a sleek, white chrome, advanced robot that’s mission is to search Wall E’s wasteland home for signs of life. That probe’s name is Eve…and instantly Wall E is smitten. So begins a touching story of romance only Pixar could create, that soon launches to an unexpected journey (one I will not ruin, as some reviewers are) that whisks us off to a world and adventure that like the best of this studio’s work, captures our imagination and never lets go; culminating in something original, captivating, and sublime.

That’s the setup of Pixar’s latest marvel; an animated juggernaut to rival their ‘Citizen Kane’, “Toy Story”. Andrew Stanton (”Finding Nemo”) directs the first few scenes, in which the adorkable main character shuffles aimlessly and collects human relics, with a quiet mystery; it spookily evokes the lost world in which we are shown, even as it slowly builds Wall E’s character.

Then comes Eve, and Stanton continues to use this careful pacing to maximum effect. As Wall E and Eve develop an affection for one another, the film doesn’t get cheap, cutesy ‘aws’ by trying to make you go “oh how adorable. They’re cartoons and they like each other”. It earns your empathy. Their courtship comes at an elegiac pace that makes it believable. Through careful nuance, a nice easy build, Wall E and Eve’s romance is the most genuine, pure, real-feeling and emotionally absorbing love story in…well a long time in American cinema.

The real miracle here? It’s all accomplished without a word of dialogue. Wall E has tremendous emotional affect; it communicates visually, and spectacularly so. The sound department here deserves special recognition: with almost no words until we reach the culmination of Wall E’s adventure (and even here it’s sparse), we the audience are never in doubt of what is happening or what the characters are communicating. People, it takes a lot of talent to make that happen. This isn’t just a great animated work, or even just a great Pixar thrill ride. This is simply just spectacular film-making. Period.

Speaking of visuals, where “Toy Story” created a look that appeared thoroughly (and appropriately) plastic, the animation in Wall E looks spectacularly mechanical. It’s almost…real; a beautifully rendered photo-realistic world. Combined with a wonderful original music score, old music tracks that sound Kubrickishly eerie in the early scenes (and speaking of Kubrick, there’s a great reference to another sci-fi classic “2001: A Space Odysey”, with a villain reminiscent of Hal and…a gag using the main theme is all I will say), and a phenomenal use of physical comedy (Wall E is something of a little, mechanized Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton) and emotive sound effects, as I keep mentioning, “Wall E”’s universe continually evokes massive emotions through minimalist techniques.

Whoever said Pixar has to make a bad movie sometime just because is wrong. They can continue to make marvels forever as far as I’m concerned. This studio has proved they can accomplish anything: including whisk us off on a ride that has great humor, marvelous visuals, a subtle warning about consumerism, and the most genuinely touching romance this century has yet scene in a movie…all with virtually no speaking. Wall E is a beautiful love story, a witty kids movie, a successful experimental motion picture, and even a classic sci-fi flick. Now the question is do I dare use the “M” word? Well…I’ll let you decide. 10/10