wall-e

15 years ago

I've never met a Pixar film that didn't fascinate me, but this is the best one yet. At 103 minutes, it's a little long for a kid--I took a seven-year-old for his birthday, and he flagged around 20 minutes from the end. But that said, it's a wonderful film for anyone who is dismayed at the mountain of trash our planet is on its way to becoming. This is NOT a polemic, I hasten to add, but an eye-opener nonetheless.

WALL-E is a rusty little trash compactor who has been running around for 700 years among piles of trash taller than skyscrapers, busily compacting trash and tidily piling the bundles in neat stacks. It's an endless task, obviously, and there is clearly no way he can do this alone--but he works diligently at what he was made to do. He lives in a much larger trash-compactor, where he stores used parts of cast-off goods, using them as toys, devising uses for them never planned by their designers, employing them to repair himself--in short, he's the ultimate recycler. Humanity, in the meantime, is somewhere in space, lolling in self-indulgent and endless comfort, literally not having to lift a finger to summon food and drink--they are all obese consumers indifferent, in fact unaware, of the waste they create--on their spaceship, it's merely hurled into space without thought of the consequences. While you don't have to be an environmentalist to appreciate the film, it's clearly going to seem more significant to folks who are concerned about where we're headed and our growing dependence on technology--I know I use MapQuest instead of an actual map (which is also technology, of course, but requires me to participate in ways MapQuest does not). It's not about global warming or CO2--it's about human willingness to examine its own uses of the planet on the most basic level--what we throw away, which I did as I left the theater and tossed threw all those plastic food containers in a trash bin in the theater lobby.

The story line is pretty simple. The auto-pilot, here the "villain," sends a probe to earth to see if it habitable. Enter Eve, a charming little robot of great power. Then cue the "love" story. I think I've already provided too many apoilers, so I won't say anymore about that. Suffice it to say that there is a happy ending--this is Pixar and meant for kids--and that the shift in human perception of survival is what it's all about.

The film is awesome in its minutest digital details--even the flame of a cast-off lighter Wall-E saves looks unbelievably authentic--and the send-ups to the Jetsons or Space Odyssey are artfully done.

If I were an obese person, I would not like the portrait of humans presented in the film. While it's meant as a metaphor for mindless consumption, total dependence on machines and technology, I have a good friend who is morbidly obese and she's what came to mind when I looked at how Pixar depicts human gluttony and sloth.

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Comments (8)

lindajewell
15 years ago
Listened to a review of this movie this morning and it is one I would like to see, I love movies like this! LOL!
Thanks for your review, now if I can just find the time to go see it, or wait till it comes out on DVD.
jazzie
15 years ago
I went and saw it last night. I thought it was visually stunning and a beautiful love story.
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andie_rathbone
15 years ago
Pidge, I was wondering when you'd get around to reviewing the summer movies. Wall-e got a great review in the NY Times yesterday.

What else have you seen this summer?
Pidge
Original Author
15 years ago
Not much, Andie. Indiana Jones a couple of weeks ago (only okay, but just had to finish out the series--boy, is Harrison Ford getting way too old to play Indie--and see what they did with the hat, the whip, the snakes this time))and some others the names of which I can't even remember. There hasn't been much in the suburbs, and I've been doing other things when I've been downtown instead of seeing films. I'll be picking up, though--Batman opens soon and I can't wait to see Heath Ledger's performance. 'Til then...................
andie_rathbone
15 years ago
Harrison Ford is getting a little long in the tooth to be playing Indie, isn't he? We went to see it because it's one of those movies you really need to see on the big screen It was a good popcorn movie & with the Seniors discount we only had to pay $4.00/ticket.
rob333 (zone 7b)
15 years ago
"which I did as I left the theater and tossed threw all those plastic food containers in a trash bin in the theater lobby." Me too. I also agree totally with the assessment. My favorite "one liner" is when Eve reboots and you see "mice" scurry off. Cute.

Indy. I didn't remmeber that III showed how he got his scar, whip and hat. Just watched that the other day. Even LF thought IV was only ok. He definitely liked 2 and 3 better. He hasn't seen 1 ;) Saving the best for last.
tibs
15 years ago
Well, I go to maybe one movie a year if that. Last year it was the Bee movie not because I wanted to but because it was a birthday thing for my young neice and nephew and their first movie, at five! quite old for a first movie in this generation. This year I made dh go see Prince Caspian with me. At the cheap theater, so it cost us $7. I still haven't forgiven him for not sharing his raisonettes. But as a long time fan of the Narnia series, read them back in the '60's I was disapointed in what Disney did. The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe was prettty good, a little too epic, but this one was waaaay too epic. The kids are too old. I thint the Pevsney children are suppose to be 14, 12, 10 and 8. The original drawings in the books still have the boys in short pants. Too much battling. Love the scenery and all the mythical creatures. Of course they had to throw in a little love angle. If you don't think about the book is is based on it is enjoyable, tho too long.

Wall-e looks like a good one, but I think I am done for the year.
Pidge
Original Author
15 years ago
My single criticism of wall-e is that it's about 10 minutes too long. One could feel the wall being hit by kids all through the theater--suddenly the squirming in the seats, big sighs, heads drooping.

LOL, tibs: a little love angle is at the center of what makes wall-e as good as it is.