Wall-E

12 Aug 2008

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Wall-E is awesome – the best Pixar film yet… although I say that pretty much every time they release a new one. It tells the story of a lone robot, left to clear up the mess left behind on earth by an escaping human crowd. Like many robots Wall-E does not speak, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. What he does do is beep and whirl much like another R2-D2 from Star Wars – anyone who notices an aural similarity between Wall-E and R2D2 will be pleased to hear the man behind the sound effects for R2-D2, Ben Burtt, also did Wall-E and most of the other robots from the film.

One of the biggest and best things about the film are the tiny tiny bits of detail and dirt and dust that are added to every little thing. There are moments where, despite the absurdity, things look totally photo realistic. The film starts silent (ie no talking) with you watching Wall-E trundle round doing his job enjoying the company of his best friend, a cockroach. There is no speaking, yet you can instantly empathise with this tiny little, very lonely, robot. He works hard at his job, and he has too since he’s the only “person” left on the planet.

However his peaceful, albeit lonely, life is soon interrupted by the sexy Eve – a robot on a mission – deposited on earth by a massive space ship. Initially she refuses his silent advances – then just as she’s softening towards him she finds what she’s looking for and goes totally quiet – and then the real story begins.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the film, I knew it was silent initially, and thought that sounded like a fun thing to do. I also knew it featured a cute little robot who looks vaguely familiar (I put it down to the expressive eyes) – however I didn’t know how the story fit in – thankfully it turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable. I shouldn’t have been surprised since it’s a Pixar movie, but I hadn’t expected what I got. I shan’t let on to the story as I don’t want to spoil it for any Wall-E virgins out there, but I really enjoyed the film, it’s possibly my favorite Pixar movie, and I think the best new film I’ve seen this year. I loved it.

I should also note that I really enjoyed the short that came before it. Like the films the Pixar shorts are evolving at a rapid pace, and the one shown before Wall-E is by far the best to date.

Whilst writing this mini review I got a new message in my feed reader from the ever active Alice from the Wonderland blog – about some very cool Wall-E paper art – so if you like that sort of thing that could be worth a look as well 🙂