Geekshow

Wall•E Movie Review

Pixar’s masterpiece?  Movie of the year?  There is not a person in the world who can resist the charm of Wall-E.  From the very first trailer, kids, teens, adults, and robots alike were all emotionally bonded to this little guy.  Take one look at the picture above and try not to go "Awww."  Pixar has once again shown why they are the leaders in CGI feature films.

When we first met Wall-E, all alone and working away at… whatever he’s doing, it seemed like just another animated robot movie.  The more we saw of his everyday life, the more we felt sorry for him for being alone.  With absolutely no dialog or facial expressions, we still felt what he felt.  Knowing nothing about the plot, voice actors, or pretty much any other details, almost everyone walked away with the same reaction.  "I have to see that."

The first 30 minutes of the film reminds me very much of Castaway.  The last robot left of earth with no company except for a pet roach makes for a very empty feeling.  Fortunately it was filled with wonderful images that told the story of our future.  It seems that Wall-E was not the only one of his kind, however he is the last.  Mixed in with CGI, we have a few scenes of actual actors shown on screens that are solar powered to show advertisements which conveniently let the audience know what the last humans were doing right before leaving earth.  This clever storytelling can only take us halfway through the movie however, so we need to see some new characters to take us through the rest of it.

If Apple Computer were to build a robot, it would be Eve.  This little egg shaped wonder looks like something the designers of the iPod made up as a joke, only Pixar said "We gotta put that in our movie!"  Once we have her around, Wall-E just gets more cute.  The two of them seem to have a bond early on that obviously will bloom into such a touching relationship.

Although this is a Disney/Pixar movie, there is quite a bit of social commentary going on in the main story line.  The writer’s vision of the future is that we rely so much on technology that we become lazy and in turn, slaves to it.  One scene that ties this to our time right now is about halfway through.  You see a man in a floating chair talking to another on a screen floating in front of his face, discussing what they want to do for the day.  When the camera pans out, we see that the person he’s talking to is right beside him.  I’ve had roommates block me on instant messenger programs because I would talk to them on there instead of walking 5 feet to say what I want to say.  The fact that we do rely of technology so much these days just makes this vision even more frightening.  Some people may not like the "lesson learned" from this, but we can all understand what they are saying.

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical going into this movie.  I didn’t know if it was going to be another Nemo or Cars.  I have nothing against Pixar, but I don’t generally like Disney movies.  I loved this movie so much that I plan on going back and seeing it again with other people just to see their reactions.  As soon as it’s released on DVD, I know I’ll own it.  Pixar has really outdone itself this time.  If you have not seen it yet, then you really need to get out there and just have a day of enjoyment.  Who knew a little robot could be so fun?