Dvd
WALL·E
The year is 2800. After hundreds of lonely years doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE.
EVE comes to realise that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy.
WALL-E is voiced by Ben Burtt, the man who gave R2D2 his distinctive sound.
Starring Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, Ben Burtt, Sigourney Weaver
Directed by Andrew Stanton ('Finding Nemo', 'A Bug's Life')
Written by Andrew Stanton
Studios Pixar Animation, Walt Disney Animation
Festivals & Awards Best Animated Film - Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards 2009, Golden Globes 2009.
Science Fiction, Family, Drama, Animated | 1hr 38mins | Rated (G) | Origin: USA | Official Site »
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The Talk
10 votes / No comments
Flicks review
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5
Pixar Animation's latest film opens on a desolate Earth, 700 years after mankind has vacated for greener pastures. WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is a small robot left behind to clean up. He needn't bother, really. He's the only sentient being on the planet - aside from his little cockroach friend - and Earth, with its towering trash skyscrapers and a murky yellow atmosphere, is pretty much a write-off.
In the evenings, or in the event of a dust storm, he retreats to his home to re-watch his prized Beta tape of Hello Dolly, to see Irene and Cornelius fall in love one more time. His romantic inclinations eventually come to good use when he meets EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), an iMac-style robot dispatched to Earth to examine its status. She's a girl, WALL-E is smitten, and thus his adventure begins.
This first third of the film is perhaps its strongest. Dialogue-free, beautifully 'shot' (thanks to the expertise of Coen Brothers cinematographer Roger Deakins), and utterly engrossing, this masterwork of visual storytelling sets up a huge cachet of sympathy for our little rust-bucket.
We follow the two robots into space (for plot reasons which won't be divulged here) where they board the Axiom ship - sort of a luxury ark for the human race. The visual design here is no less impressive than the post-apocalyptic earth, but entirely different, complete with glistening surfaces and enough automated gizmos to make it a 'dream home from the future' on steroids. Residing here are human beings, but not as we know them. After more than 700 years of relying on automated lifestyles, they look, well, let's say a 'little different'.
Our hero immediately finds himself entangled in a bigger story, becoming the catalyst that lifts mankind out of an ignorant lethargy. Environmentalism and the dangers of rampant consumerism are big adult themes (all the more unusual coming from a mega corporation such as Disney) and may pass over the heads of younger viewers. But this film is so valuable for having a unique voice, shunning the lazy 'be yourself' mantra that every other cartoon chucks at us and coming up with something completely original.
What really sticks, post-viewing, is WALL-E's elegiac tone. There is something deeply melancholic about Pixar's vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth that even an optimistic ending can't diminish. This bold prophecy, aided by Thomas Newman's beautiful score, gives substantial weight to a tremendous film, packed to the brim with detail and invention. WALL-E is one of the year's must-sees.SHARE:
The people's reviews
12 reviews
Press Reviews
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Empire Magazine [UK]
5
To call WALL•E Pixar's best film would potentially denigrate films that deserve no scorn. But this is their most ambitious undertaking since "Toy Story" and storytelling of such charm and visual wit that it can stand proudly alongside the studio’s best. Absolute heaven.
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Guardian [UK]
4
What a rich, strange and intriguing picture this is; a wintry Cassandra in the guise of a pearl-bright summer blockbuster.
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Hollywood Reporter
The visual design of Wall-E is arguably Pixar's best. Stanton, who wrote the script with Jim Reardon from a story he concocted with Peter Docter, creates two fantastically imaginative, breathtakingly lit worlds.
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New York Times
The first 40 minutes or so of Wall-E -- in which barely any dialogue is spoken, and almost no human figures appear on screen -- is a cinematic poem of such wit and beauty that its darker implications may take a while to sink in.
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NZ Herald [Russell Baillie]
5
Unlikely as it might seem, the story of two star-crossed robots delivers a cartoon classic.
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Premiere Magazine [USA]
When it works, it really works, but it's debatable whether its target audience will really enjoy anything more than the nifty robots. Which is fine, too. Robots are pretty cool.
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San Francisco Chronicle
In the moment, it's intermittently transcendent, heartrending and beautiful ... and busy, repetitious and boring.
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