WALL-E: In Review

Pixar has done it again! From Andrew Stanton, the director of Finding Nemo, and co-written with Jim Reardon (another Simpsons' alumni) comes the story of a robot who may not know the meaning of the word persistency, but he sure embodies the spirit.

It is 700 years into the future. Our hero is the last of a series of robots powered by the sun who is charged with cleaning Earth of its pollution in order to eventually welcome back the human population which has left the planet. His daily routine is fairly simple: pick up garbage, place it in his belly compartment to form small cubes and place them in an orderly fashion (forming most of the skyscrapers on the planet). But after 700 years of solitude, WALL-E has become extremely curious, picking up simple objects and collecting them in his shelter where he protects himself from dusty storms. But one day, his life changes as an advanced verification robot by the name of EVE (as you've guessed, a "female" robot) to find out if the planet is habitable. Of course, their encounter causes WALL-E to fall head over heels for EVE, even though she doesn't understand his intentions. When EVE returns back to her spaceship with a perfect little green plant that WALL-E uncovered, he follows her to an orbiting spaceship on the border of our galaxy and together, they will try to convince their human counterparts to make their way back home.

This film is such a breath of fresh air. As opposed to Stanton's Nemo, much more colorful, alive and very talkative, this film presents a skillful color palette of the mood and settings needed for the scenes and also of Earth's destiny, how we've destroyed our planet by taking too much for granted and leaving our survival in the hands of machines (pay attention because this film pays tribute to one, if not The, greatest science-fiction film of all-time). The film has very little dialogue, and most of it is composed of electronic whizzes, squeaks and purrs (designed by Ben Burtt, who voices WALL-E and we must thank for the Star Wars films). The genius of the film though, is that dialogue is not necessary, as their emotions and the way they address each other show their emotions perfectly as their messages transcend through, so adults will enjoy this film as much as kids will. It is funny how humans are presented in the future, seen as they've lived for so long in an low-gravity environment, they're confined to electronic reclining chairs and grown so fat you can literally put any fast food label combined with Wal-Mart shopping.

It is joyful to see the world through the robots' eyes because it is much easier to read their emotions than humans, and they probably control them much better which is cheerful because it keeps with the spirit of Walt Disney. This is a great animated film and a fantastic science-fiction flick as well. Rumor has it that Disney might make a push for this film for the Best Picture award come Oscar season. If that would be the case, I'm not sure it would help or hurt it's chances in the Animated Film Feature category, but I can easily say that unless another animated film surprises us by year's end, WALL-E will win the category by a landslide. It might compete in the Sound categories, the music categories as well. I'm also predicting an Original Screenplay nomination for this film, seeing as how this is the most refreshing animated features of the year. I won't go as far as putting it up for Best Picture, because we still haven't seen most of the films which will compete in this category, but it will probably make my top 10.

Rating : 4/4

P.S.: Before the film was presented, there was a Pixar short called Presto that was presented. It gives a great laugh, and it will remind you that if you possess an animal, try to be nice to it.