Movie Review: WALL-E

WALL-E: A feast for the eyes and soul

By Vanessa Ho

Pixar has another hit on their hands in WALL-E. First it started with the playful Toy Story and continued with last year's delicious Ratatouille.

WALL-E is about a robot named, well, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class and "voiced" by Ben Burtt) that was left behind on Earth to clean-up the mess we humans made when we took off for space after the planet became uninhabitable. It has been 700 years that WALL-E has been doing his job and he is endearingly curious, finding everyday mundane things wonderful and keeping them as souvenirs like a bra, a lighter and a Rubik's cube. Also cute is how he sets out every morning for work with lunch box in hand and comes home every night to his pet cockroach.

His only source of entertainment is his love for the movie musical Hello Dolly! And he constantly watches two musical numbers from the film: "Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment" the latter features scenes of the two romantic leads holding hands that affect WALL-E throughout the film. Then one day, while toiling away, a ship lands on Earth and out pops EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, Elissa Knight). WALL-E falls in love with her and is very cute as he tries and court EVE, especially when he is hesitant in wanting to hold her hand.

As a romantic gesture, he gives EVE a potted plant that he finds while working. But as soon as EVE sees it, she grabs it and goes into lock down. This was what she was sent to Earth to discover. Here WALL-E tries all he can to wake EVE up and does various things to protect her. Eventually, EVE's ship comes back and gets her and brings her back to the Axiom, a space cruise ship that is home to Earth's former citizens that because of years of being in space and inactivity (due to relying on hover chairs) have become morbidly obese. Adventure ensues when the plant goes missing and WALL-E and EVE must rescue it in order for the ship's captain (Jeff Garlin) to fulfill his mission of finding sustainable life on Earth so humans can go back home. I was definitely tearing up near the end of the film.

The blending of live-action clips of Hello Dolly! into the animated sequences are marvelous and seamless. As well, Fred Willard plays the only live person in the movie as Shelby Forthright, CEO of the Buy N Large, a company that features prominently in the film. His blending into the action was also seamless.

The animation is visually appealing in particular the scenes with WALL-E travelling from Earth to the Axiom and WALL-E himself was drawn very well and loved how he expresses emotions through his eyes.

While the film features very little dialogue except for the sounds created by sound designer Burtt (who also created some of the legendary sounds in Star Wars such as the lightsabers' distinctive noises), the story was very effectively told through the animated emotions of the two leads as well as using the music from Hello Dolly!

As well, the messages of the film: global warming and inactivity leads to obesity were never in your face and told well through the use of humor. As with all Pixar films there was definitely something for everybody young and old.

Looking forward to see what Pixar brings in 2009. If it is anything like their past nine, then I expect nothing but greatness.