SCI FI PI

Starring (the voices of) Ben Burtt, Sigourney Weaver, John Retzenberger, MacinTalk, and Fred Willard (in person).
Director Andrew Stanton
Released Sep 18
Rated G





Wall-E is a movie that makes you glad that either a) you have kids, b) you have access to kids or c) you permit yourself to be a kid.

The story is very simple, but the psychology is rather complex, which belies a rather straightforward and honest appeal to the child and the child within. The only way that you can walk out of Wall-E disappointed is if you have something rather dark and sad where your inner child used to be.

The people at Pixar know how to make a movie, and there's so much going on here in raw symbolism and subtle but intentional graphic design, you may find yourself fighting desperately against the 'ooh' factor, hopelessly against the 'waaaah' factor and only barely be able to put up a struggle against the cutesy factor.

That said, that there's the only 'problem'. Wall-E, the character, and the movie, is cute. If you burn with anger every time someone offers you a pink cupcake, or have a homicidal thought for Julie Andrews, this may take a while to grow on you. For the rest of us, it's simple, pleasant, touching sci fi that will tug the heart strings, no matter how much we fight. For those willing to embrace the world of Wall-E, it's something special, up there with Pixar's very best.

The story begins on a ruined Earth , surrounded by a cloud of useless satellites. Giant pillars of garbage reach up to the sky like the skyscrapers of the city. The ground is dusty and barren, the atmosphere hazy, clouded over and prone to savage dust storms. The atmosphere of this wrecked planet is not dissimilar to the world's created for first person shooters like Half Life - the clever use of focus, of distance hazing and atmospheric modelling really creates a sense of savage dread - and that's just the background.

In the foreground, is Wall-E, happily going about his daily chores of scooping compacting and cubing garbage, and then building gigantic piles out of those cubes. As he toils away, his day is filled with the everyday wonder of the bizarre things that humans leave behind - sporks, zippos, and diamond rings. Wall-E has his routine (and a little cockroach friend) and that is it. He is all alone. The only thing that keeps him going is his ability to adapt and repair himself - the Earth is littered with other Wall-Es that have broken down. The other thing that keeps him going is a fondness for romance and old movies, of the the hope that one day, however impossible, he may also find his one true love.

And all this information is conveyed without a word. When the words do come, they're few and far between.



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Ben Burtt, the genius sound designer who created the Star Wars lexicon, has created sounds that are completely electronic, yet still manage to convey emotion. The Pixar animators have gone into pinprick detail to also help tell the story. The effect, whilst 'obvious' is created for the audience with so many 'subtle fingers' that it is very rarely that one reacts to the film in a 'hang on, it's only a movie' way.

Wall-E's routine gets bowled over by a new arrival - the first arrival on Earth for 700 years - a hyper advanced probe, with a special mission that seems impossible to fathom.

However, Wall-E has a mission of his own - to get to know this beautiful probe. Can robot on robot love work out? Stay tuned.

What follows is a heck of a journey, both literal and figurative, with a thorough exploration of humanity and its approach to the earth's resources, and a speculation (in the darkest way) of what would happen were our current western world consumerist tendencies to continue unchecked. Whilst the film may speculate on what humans may become, it's also fairly obvious that's it's a sharp jab in the backfat of what society already is.

This darker tinge takes the edge off the film's sweetness, and, when combined with some simply beautiful moments, you have more than just a movie about cute robots.

You have that - and kids, wow, you are going to love this - but for the rest of us there's enough substance to give us a feeling of nourishment as we leave the theatre.

Wall-E is highly recommended.