 | by Isabella Jordan
Wall-E Directed by Andrew Stanton. Starring vocal talens of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, and more. All the hype you've heard about this latest release from the wizards of Pixar? It's all true. Wall-E is one of the best films of the year and here's why... Simplicity: Set on earth several hundreds of years from now, our tale opens with Wall-E going about his daily chores. Wall-E is a small, traveling trash compactor who, as we're told by an old running video commercial, is a unit designed to clean up the tremendous mess humans left their planet in. We're also told that the same company who produced Wall-E produced luxury, cruise-line spaceships. Humans were just invited to hop aboard for a nice tour and the company and its Wall-E units would stay behind and clean up. |
Apparently the humans didn't return and eventually all the Wall-E units, save for our endearing little metal hero, all stopped functioning or wore out. All we have at the outset of our tale is Wall-E, his pet cockroach, and mountains of trash and waste on the planet that once supported human life.
What's important to note is that aside from the afore mentioned video infomercial, there is no dialogue for the majority of this movie. It isn't needed. Wall-E doesn't need to talk to show us he's curious about everything the humans left behind. He shows us in the items he collects and takes back to his home. He also doesn't need to tell us he's lonely. It's in the wistful way he watches Hello Dolly! on an old-fashioned VCR, obviously wondering what it's like to hold someone else's hand.
Message: Pixar almost always packs some sort of message into their digital masterpieces. What they wish to convey here is heavy but not too heavy. It's not hard to gather from the commercials or any reviews that the movie takes on the issue of how we, as a human society, treat our planet. How, at least in the western world, we're serious consumers, a throw away society. We want more stuff and more stuff and more stuff... but then what? Eventually you run out of resources. And room. But instead of offering a bleak forcast for the future, the storytellers at Pixar send out a beacon of hope within the story and nuture it. The characters fight for it. The wonderful way the plot is handled makes it easy for all ages to rally behind the protagonists.
Universal appeal: There's something here for everyone in this movie. For the kids, the adults, the teens and tweens. This movie is truly a masterpiece. The visuals are incredible as always and it's hard to take your attention away from such eye candy to start with. Add to that an endearing little protagonist, a robot romance, a fight for the future, and an over-the-top, yet thought provoking look at our society, and you've got all the right stuff for a memorable classic.
The film comes in at 98 minutes and is suitable for most ages. There are some intense moments of confrontation, the only reason besides the heavy theme, that the film didn't receive a G rating, and it may be a little scary for the little ones. It's not enough, however, to prevent you from taking them because the other elements of the film will more than make up for it.
Isy