Not many movies out there can convince you that robots have individual personalities, much less that they can fall in love! Even less can convince you that a cockroach is suitable pet material! But Pixar's latest effort, WALL-E does both!
Earth has been turned into a wasteland of un-recyclables and whatnot. Humans have abandoned the planet to go on an extended holiday in space while robots clean and compact the garbage. After 700 years, there's only one robot left, Wall-E. Everyday he goes about his compacting with his pet cockroach, collecting little things that interest him in the garbage. Things change when one day a rocket arrives and deposits the robot Eve...and Wall-E falls in love.
Being a Pixar movie, we all know the animation is top notch. The space shots of planets, galaxies and nebulae look like they could have been taken by the Hubble. If there was a problem, it would be the use of real-action photography to show the how and why the Earth was abandoned and then changing the the cartoony humans on the spaceship. Sure, they've spent their entire lives being lazy and eating junk food but it was a bit jarring.
However the real strength in this movie is the characterisation. The ability to imbue personality and make the audience invest emotionally in a pair of robots who communicate through a series of bleeps, now that takes real effort! We get a feeling of the chemistry between Wall-E and Eve to the extent that when some moments happen at the climax of the movie, I started to tear up! Really! The movie also avoids the more contentious reason as to how humans wrecked the world (global warming) and instead opts for it being the result of our consumption and laziness. It also has a nifty reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey that made me go - Oh, that's evil!!! And I liked the cleverness of showing the regrowth of the human civilisation by invoking art historical styles over the end credits.
However, as much as I loved it (and I did) I didn't feel as blown away with it as I did for The Incredibles, Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc. but I can't explain why. I'll think a bit more on this.
Nonetheless, a worthy addition to the Pixar canon.
8.5/10
3 comments:
Aww I want to see Wall E!!
Sorry for these pointless comments, I just miss Callie! :D
xxx
Lu! The comments are good - the Pom at work commented to me how there seems to be a lack of comments so convince the others to write too :P
Wall-E was released in the UK in july!!! I ...might...still be showing? :(
xoxo
I agree! there seemed to be a 'lack' somehow much as it was a commendable feat, a personal breakthrough for the producers I think. Btw, I think, it's 'Eva' - Wall-E's love interest. Keep the reviews coming!
Post a Comment