WALL-E
US, 2008, 95 minutes, Colour.
Fred Willard, voices of: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver.
Directed by Andrew Stanton.
Andrew Stanton directed Finding Nemo and contributed to many Pixar Studios films including Toy Story. This is enough to recommend a look at WALL.E. And the reputation of Pixar with its string of excellent animated films (always preceded as is WALL.E) by an entertaining short film, stands very high. It may go even higher with this unusual film.
It should be said at the outset that this is not a film made with small children in mind. They may well not follow the plot and may lose interest despite an initial curiosity about WALL.E and his world. Rather, this is a film for adults to enjoy and for children who enjoy reflecting on what they see.
Next, some words of praise for the animation itself. It is highly imaginative in its creation of WALL.E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class), the lone robot on earth who is still programmed centuries later to keep collecting garbage, packing it, processing it and piling neatly produced blocks into litter skyscrapers. WALL.E moves with agility and, with the aid of a mechanised voice (supplied by Ben Burtt who worked on the robots in Star Wars) and binocular eyes, seems almost human. The other robots are also striking, especially the leading ‘lady’, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a modernistic polished oval who is ethereally mobile. And there are some other humorous robots like a malfunctioning umbrella as well as the spy on the space ship who rids it of contaminants and the sinister wheel autopilot, AUTO, who is made to look like a relative of 2001’s HAL.
While the abandoned earth and the decaying metropolis are fascinating to watch (and so much of this is without dialogue), so are many of the scenes (some almost balletic) in space. On the other hand, the hedonistic spacecraft looks like a luxury liner with its two dimensional obese humans.
This is a message film through story and characters rather than an explicit lesson. The Earth has been abandoned 700 years earlier and lazy humans are having an extended holiday in space. But, the captain is still on the lookout for signs that they should return. When WALL.E finds a plant, EVE is sent to investigate and drama ensues as WALL.E follows EVE into space, when robots following orders try to destroy the plant and when the fat humans actually try to stand up and walk (to the music of Strauss’ Thus Spake Zarathustra evlking 2001).
One of the devices for helping establish WALL.E and his character and routine is to have him play his only remaining video (no DVDs seem to have survived). It is Hello Dolly and he replays the ‘Put on Your Sunday Clothes’ song as well as ‘It Only Takes a Moment’, over and over as happy reminders of what cheerful human life could be. The finale of ‘Moment’ with Michael Crawford’s hand clasping Marianne McAndrews’? hand becomes a key symbol.
So, one might say this is a cross-genre film. There is amusing robot comedy and human spoofs. There is the unlikely romance of two robots made credible. There is futuristic drama. There is science fiction. There is space drama. And there is ecological message – and hope via a green future.
1.Critical acclaim for the film? Popularity? The range of audience: for adults, children? Reflective audience? Concern for the environment?
2.The quality of the animation: the Earth, the landscapes of the city, the garbage piles, the robots and their movement, personality? The two-dimensional humans? The luxury spaceship? The assortment of robots? The Wheel and its eye? The portrayal of space?
3.The score, the final song? The use of the songs from Hello Dolly?
4.The opening, the focus on the universe, narrowing it to Earth? Seven hundred years into the future? The abandoned city, the skyscrapers, the huge mounds of garbage? The advertisements for the Global Corporation? The neat blocks of garbage, WALL-E collecting them, sorting out the toys from other goods (and throwing away the diamond and keeping the case)? Hello Dolly being his only video? The cockroach, its personality, playing with WALL-E, its intricate movements? His home, his life in the shed, renewing by solar energy? The vagaries of the weather, the huge winds and storms? Sheltering? The film creating a future world?
5.The premise of what if the only robot left on Earth was not turned off? The last one an active? The significance of WALL-E? His discovery of the plant in the boot? Hope? The arrival of the spaceship, the echo of Close Encounters? EVE and her arrival? Her meeting WALL-E, the conflict between the two, her appearance? The mobility? Her discoveries, consuming the plant? The communication between the two, their voices?
6.Earth, space, the journey of the human beings, abandoning Earth, the luxury liners in space? The pools and other amenities? Enjoying them? The television speeches by Shelby Forthright Britt, the CEO of the Global firm? His encouraging people to enjoy themselves? Their obesity, relying on the robots, the malfunctioning of the robots like the umbrella?
7.The captain, his concern, his sending EVE to Earth? Wanting to return to Earth? The robot checking on interference of foreign contaminants? EVE and her return, the spaceship arriving, WALL-E clinging to it, being taken up into space? Into Axiom? The chases and dangers within the spaceship?
8.The romance, the dangers, WALL-E and his rescuing EVE, their both going into space – and the ballet of light as they went past each other? The rescue? Using the extinguisher?
9.The evil Wheel, the echo of Hal from 2001? The voice, the control? The conflict with the captain? The issue of the plant, its going into the disposal, trying to save the plant?
10.The humans, John and Mary, ordinary people, enjoying themselves, needing something more, getting up, despite the obesity finding they could walk?
11.The possibility of the return to Earth, the hope in the plant?
12.The return, the arrival, the planting of crops, the harvesting? The activities and a new life for human beings?
13.The robots themselves, their limited speech, their mobility, their romance, the courting, saving? WALL-E and the end, losing consciousness? EVE, trying to restore him? The hands gripping together as in Hello Dolly?
14.The use of Hello Dolly, the dialogue, the Sunday Hat song and the dancing? ‘It Only Takes a Moment’? The romance and the hands?
15.The film’s impact, at the level of sense entertainment, emotions, intellectual themes? Its ability to cross genres of space, science fiction, comedy, romance, environmental message?
