Pixar has become famous for creating detailed fantasy worlds within our own. Whether it's the secret life of toys or bugs or exploring life under the sea, these movies never fail to entertain. Their latest, WALL-E is another example of their wonderful creativity.
The films opens on a cityscape resembling downtown New York. But we quickly realize that these aren't normal buildings but towers of blocks of trash. At this point we meet our hero. WALL-E (voiced by beeps and Ben Burtt) is a glorified trash compactor. As we follow him across the vast landscape, we learn that he is the last of his kind and that he is indeed on earth. Humans fled years ago (how long is only established later) because they bought into the commercialism of the Buy-n-Large stores that ruled the earth. The resulting garbage overran the planet.
But WALL-E is not a mindless robot. He is curious and collects bits and pieces of things that are still intact. At night, he takes these to his bunker where they are on display a la Ariel in The Little Mermaid. His only companions are a cockroach and a video tape of Hello Dolly.
Into this world comes Eve (voiced by beeps and Elissa Knight). Eve is another robot but much more high tech. She is on a classified mission. WALL-E immediately falls for her. So much so, in fact, that when the spaceship returns to collect Eve, WALL-E tags along. Suddenly, the two will find themselves caught up in an adventure with the future of mankind at stake. Can they save humanity?
This isn't quite the homerun that Pixar often hits, but it is easily a triple. Think about it, we've got robots who hardly speak as our main characters, yet we are completely rooting for them. And even though the dialogue is limited, don't think for a moment that means they robots don't have personality. These are real characters in every sense of the world.
Interestingly, there are very few characters here. In fact, I'd say there are only four main characters with about as many supporting characters. Of course, given the extra effort it takes to develop character without dialogue, that's probably a smart move.
There are so many cute and funny moments throughout the film. And the best part is, most of these moments will appeal to the whole family. There are the occasional moments that kids might not get, but even those are appropriate for all ages.
Because it takes extra effort to build the main characters, the story can be a bit slow at times, especially in the first half. A couple times, I thought it was time to move on, and about 30 seconds later they did.
The animation is spectacular throughout, but this is especially true once we leave earth. There are some space shots that took my breath away.
There are several morals lurking just below the surface of the film. And you know what I appreciated about them? They lurked just below the surface. Oh, it's hard to miss, especially the environmental message. But the story was first and foremost. They never once stopped to lecture us on anything.
My only real complaint comes from the dialogue. There is little dialogue in the movie since the two leads can't really speak. Once we get into space, there is more dialogue. Frankly, I didn't mind the lack of dialogue that much because the characters were still interesting and compelling. What did bother me is that most of the dialogue seemed to consist of WALL-E and Eve calling each others' names. This got old in a hurry but especially got me during the climax. It would have been better had it been completely silent at that point.
While that did annoy me, I still left the theater with a big smile on my face. These robots are anything but, well, robotic. So gather the entire family together and go spend some time with WALL-E.
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