Pixar has made some of the most memorable and relatable characters in animation history but to me Wall. E takes the cake for being the character I relate to the most. Not only that, when the movie titled Wall. E came out I was around 10 or 11 years old and I remembered liking such things as robots and space adventures so when I heard Pixar was doing something just like, you can bet that I pleaded with my mom to go see it in the theater. Directed by Andrew Stanton the same person responsible for Finding Nemo, Wall. E manages to speak with me on so many levels and even more so as an adult.
In the future, a major corporation called "Buy In Large" has bought the rights to everything imaginable including world leadership. However, the company’s power over the entire planet leads to massive pollution and overuse of consumerism. It gets so bad that the earth becomes inhabitable so BNL comes up with the idea to wisk the population of earth away on a five-year cruise in space using spaceships called the axiom. a group of robots called Wall-E’s will clean up the earth’s mess while the people are away. 700 years pass and humanity has not returned to earth and only one surviving Wall. E robot remains. Wall. E continues his work as instructed but he also manages to develop a personality and feelings for love especially when he watches his favorite movie, Hello Dolly.
Wall. E starts to feel lonely since he is the only robot left on earth. That is until a spaceship pops out of nowhere and produces a female robot called an Eve probe. Eve at first is very destructive, but Wall. E manages to find a way to communicate with her and they form a small bond. When Wall. E tries to show Eve a little surviving plant he found earlier Eve scans it and suddenly hibernates which concerns Wall. E as he tries to take care of her while she is sleeping. When her rocket comes to pick her up Wall. E grabs on to it not wanting to be alone on the earth and it launches into space and toward one of the Axiom cruise liners. Wall. E now must pursue Eve through the ship and along the way he comes across many other robots, the remains of humanity, and even some hidden secrets that are keeping the axiom from returning to earth.
The first half of the story starts with little to no dialogue as the movie has to completely rely on movements and the facial expressions of the two main Robots. Even with Wall. E and Eve having few speaking lines you can still understand what they are thinking and their emotions/motives can be understandable and even relatable. I relate to Wall. E the most because me and him are both collectors of interesting items we both are very curious and we are both romantically naive. The story strikes a perfect balance between sci-fi space adventure antics and a great romance between Wall. E and Eve.The world the movie takes place in is a cautionary tale of where humanity could be heading toward but it does it in a way that is entertaining and not at all preachy. As to be expected of Pixar, the world-building is off the charts as it is both a creative vision of an apocalyptic world both on earth and in space and complex in its themes of consumerism and how too much power can lead to an economic collapse
The Animation is amazing and I love all the character designs for all the robots. Each of them have a specific programing they need to perform and the movie goes all out with showcase as much of their abilities as much as possible. The backgrounds are great at depicting the apocalyptic polluted waist-lands of earth and the clean colorful look of space and aboard the axiom. Like I mentioned before the robot characters have to rely on the visuals instead of speaking like the human characters and they pull it off outstandingly well. It helps when the sound designer is none other than Bent Burt who not only voices Wall. E, but also has previously provided the sounds of the droids in the Star Wars movies.
This is also the first Pixar movie to use live-action footage in some scenes which may feel kinda weird at first but the story is so amazingly told that it barley becomes distracting and in a way it adds to the unique style the film goes for. Thomas Newman returns after his music scoring session in Finding Nemo and his melody is as beautiful and delightful as ever before. Much like the visuals, the music also helps in telling the story of Wall. E and the trails and tribulations he and Eve have to go through. There is also the added addition of the music from Hello Dolly which is completely unpixar related material but it helps in showing Wall. E’s love story with Eve especially when it comes to “It Only Takes a Moment”
Wall. E is regarded as one of my favorite movies of all time for a reason. The film’s perfectly balanced storytelling, lovable characters, beautiful animation that still holds up years later and a lovely music score from Thomas Newman make this an absolute must watch for both kids and adults. This is what I like to call an almost perfect film because it really is something to behold and my guess is that the love the people have for this movie will never die down anytime soon. I’ve gushed on about this movie long enough, see it if you haven’t already.
(Final Grade: A+)