Review: Charming Wall-E Sweeps Up Trash, Hearts
By Jenna Wortham Email
June 26, 2008 | 6:29:00 PM
Categories: Movies, Reviews, Sci-Fi
Behind Wall-E's puppy-dog binocular eyes lies a deep-rooted message: If we don't clean up our act, our Roombas are going to inherit the Earth.
Pixar Animation Studios' ninth animated feature film, Wall-E, rolls into theaters Friday, bringing with it a desolate vision of the future that is softened by sophisticated storytelling, memorable characters and a good sense of humor -- impressive, considering the film is largely lacking in dialogue. Humans have abandoned Earth for luxury liners in space following a catastrophic buying blitz that has left the surface of the planet covered in waste.
Despite its post-apocalyptic subplot, the film is a shining example of what Pixar does best: Create a visually stunning animated landscape and populate it with easy-to-love anthropomorphic characters. The sweeping aerial views of a desolate cityscape and the jaw-dropping space scenes alone are worth the price of admission. But embedded in Pixar's first science fiction film is a scathing glimpse at the ugly side of consumerism and what may be in store for humanity -- a message that the movie's director maintains is unintentional.
(Note: Spoilers below.)
Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed Wall-E, denies that the film has any underlying environmental or social agenda. "It was all reverse engineering," said Stanton last week in a round-table interview at Pixar's studios in Emeryville, California. "I knew [Wall-E] had to be the last robot on Earth ... but it wasn't going to be a happy situation because everybody had to leave [the planet]."
And indeed, the first portion of the film follows Wall-E (for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) as the lonely automaton zips around the trash-strewn landscape, faithfully compacting sky-high piles of garbage left by humankind. Amid the wasteland, Wall-E's Charlie Chaplin-like pantomiming is the only bright spot of levity amid the bleak backdrop of the post-consumer crash.
Younger audiences may squirm as the first half hour or so goes boldly without much dialogue, but Wall-E's personality-infused whistles and squeals are executed seamlessly by veteran sound designer Ben Burtt, the maestro behind R2-D2's bleeps and E.T.'s throaty warble. These endearing early scenes of the weathered bot bumbling around Earth, collecting artifacts and wistfully watching Hello, Dolly!, a 1969 musical directed by Gene Kelly, boost Wall-E's charm and personality to enchant audiences.
But Wall-E's got the hearts (and maybe even the tear ducts) of audiences in the bag. Even though he has the company of a pet cockroach, his loneliness is heartbreakingly palpable -- especially when viewers catch sight of the bot's broken-down robobrethen, and it hits home that the tender droid has been by himself for a long, long time.
The film's pace picks up when an egg-shaped probe called Eve (voiced by Elissa Knight) arrives on Earth. She's a sleek, white, laser-equipped fembot sent by the megacorporation that fueled the current disaster. Although Eve has an infectious digigiggle, her itchy trigger finger and cool exterior don't radiate charisma quite as deeply as lovable Wall-E does.
Still, it's love at first pixel for Wall-E, who does his best to woo Eve with his treasure trove of salvaged goods before a simple sprout wins her heart and simultaneously shuts her down, summoning her mothership.
From then on, the film is a wild ride through space that lands Wall-E and Eve on Axiom, the spaceship that contains what's left of the human population. The first glimpse of humans nearly 1,000 years into the future -- they're "giant babies, completely devolved," as director Stanton put it -- is not a pretty sight.
After hundreds of years aboard Axiom, humanity has turned into a sea of lazy, machine-dependent consumers content to float on plus-size hovering recliners and slurp supersize sodas. People are immobile blobs of overindulgence, but the ugly reality is deftly delivered as comedy.
A great cameo by actor Fred Williard (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind) as the CEO of Buy 'n Large reveals that humans are never meant to return to Earth. His revelation results in a 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired fight scene between the ship's captain (voiced by Jeff Garlin) and Axiom's autopilot that raises lingering questions about humanity's future and our relationship with technology.
A truly romantic film at heart, the film ends on a cheerful note -- for Eve and Wall-E. The fate of humankind is left rather vague, probably wisely, since their enlarged physiques, jellied bone structure and total lack of agricultural knowledge doesn't exactly spell promise for rebuilding Earth.
It's a message kids might miss, but a potent, topical theme that will surely ring with adults.
At least the robots will love, and live on.
Wired: Adorable characters, impressive visual design, masterful sound design.
Tired: Cautionary environmental message is a bit of a reality-checking buzz-kill.
Rating:
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Photos courtesy Pixar Animation Studios
