WALL-E
WALL-E
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2021.
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WALL-E is an American animated sci-fi movie made by Pixar and it's their 9th film to be released. It was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in 2008.
Plot
Centuries after humans left planet Earth due to the high pollution and climate change, the old rusty garbage robot WALL·E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) was doing his hoarder job until he found the only leaving plant in the entire world in a fridge, so decided to keep it. One day, a huge rocket landed and it released the probe EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) in search of any form of vegetable life. Once, WALL·E and EVE met each other, the first fell in love with the latter, so decided to show her his gadgets, including the plant. When EVE analyzed the plant, went into standby mode, making WALL·E upset and confused. After moments together, the rocket returns to pick up EVE and goes into outer space, discouraging WALL·E who climbs up it in the hope of saving EVE. After a trip to space, the rocket arrives at the Axiom, a giant space ark where all human life is managed by robots, and the humans themselves are reduced into giant meatballs unable to walk and without any memory of their old life on Earth. The Axiom captain, B. McCrea (Jeff Garlin) is informed by AUTO (an A.I. who commands the ship) that one of the probes arrived positive, allowing to start of an Earth recolonization protocol. However, AUTO doesn't like the idea, so it starts a plot to destroy the plant unbeknownst to the captain. Now it's up to WALL·E and EVE to solve the situation and permit humanity to live again on the Earth.
Why It Deserves a Plant
- The concept of a film about a lonely robot that finds a plant and goes to a Buy N Large's ship the Axiom to get back to Earth is incredibly original and interesting, as expected from a Pixar movie.
- Along with Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke, and Ferngully, it's considered one of the best ecological animated movies of all time.
- The movie's plot isn't something reworked, it's a completely brand new and innovative plot that wasn't made before. It's innovative because it recycles old ideas to make a unique plot which brings a big message about pollution. Effectively, the movie it's full of creative concepts, such as:
- The main story of a robot that takes care of human life.
- A love story between two different robots.
- A giant spaceship that contains all the humanity and the humans themselves that don't care about their normal lives.
- AUTO wants the plant to be destroyed to maintain his business on the ship.
- Incredibly stunning animation as expected by Pixar. Doesn't matter how much the movie gets old, the animation's quality will still look great as something that came out some years ago. The textures seem incredibly realistic, while the illumination is really well done. All this for the 180 million dollar budget, which used to be the highest of all Pixar's movie budgets at its time.
- Many scenes are spectacular to see for the human eye, in particular, space scenes such as WALL·E touching a Saturn-like planet's ring or WALL·E and EVE flying across the Axiom's afterburners.
- There are even scenes that have a ridiculously big quantity of details. Take for example the close-up in which WALL·E stares at Hal (his pet roach) after being almost killed by WALL·E, you will see many traces of dust and other rubbish debris.
- Also the character design is excellent, with the robots' designs are very creative.
- The film flows in a perfect rhythm. It's so good that there are no scenes that are too long or too short, and simple moments like WALL·E making rubbish cubes or interacting with the aforementioned garbage are memorable, also due to the humor.
- The opening with "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from the 1969 romantic comedy film Hello, Dolly! played in the background it's been considered one of the best moments in animation history.
- Incredible soundtrack by Thomas Newman, that mixes old romantic songs styles to make contrast with the post-apocalyptic ambiance.
- Well-written and memorable characters as.
- WALL·E,
- EVE,
- Captain McCrea,
- AUTO,
- MO,
- Hal,
- John and Mary and the list goes on.
- Tons of hilarious humor and scenes that became internet memes, such as:
- WALL·E gets followed by decines of shopping carts.
- WALL·E sticks his hand between Eve's body and left arm, and while trying to unstick it, hits a lamp with the lightbulb and falls onto his head.
- EVE stucks herself under a giant ship magnet, which makes EVE angry that she explodes it and ends up destroying the entire fleet.
- A faulty PR-T, the makeup robot, who paints Wall-E's head.
- All the scenes that involve MO cleaning.
- There are also some memorable quotes like:
- Directive?,
- WOA-WOAAAILLLEEE,
- I didn't know we had a pool!,
- Try Blue, it's the new Red,
- CAUTION, Rogue robots.
- Presents a satirical and intelligent pic of future humanity regressed to rely on bots to do their jobs and unable to live independently.
- Good action scenes, in particular the final battle.
- Awesome ending: EVE gives WALL·E a goodbye "kiss", which restores him back to his normal self. They reunite as the Axiom inhabitants take their first steps on Earth. During the credits, humans and robots turn the ravaged planet into a paradise, and the plant grows into a mighty tree, which EVE and WALL. rest beneath.
- The credits are creative, where the firsts are cool drawings for the epilogue and the rest are 8-bit.
- Speaking of credits, there's a cute final scene where Luxo Jr.'s lightbulb doesn't work anymore and Wall-E helps him by fixing it.
- The tie-in game made by THQ was pretty good and loyal to the original movie, despite it would take some liberties, yet not too much.
Reception
WALL-E received universal acclaim among critics and audiences, and it's often considered one of the best Pixar movies ever. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film got a certified fresh 95% score among critics and a 90% by audience, with the critic's consensus saying "Wall-E's stellar visuals testify once again to Pixar's ingenuity, while its charming star will captivate younger viewers -- and its timely story offers thought-provoking subtext.". Has an 8.4/10 on IMDb.
Trivia
- Continuing a Pixar tradition, the film was paired with a short film titled Presto for its theatrical release.
- This was the first Pixar film to use the current Disney logo.
- Small quantities of merchandise were sold for WALL-E, as Cars items were still popular, and many manufacturers were more interested in Speed Racer, which was a successful product line despite the film's failure at the box office. Thinkway, which created the WALL-E toys, had previously made Toy Story dolls when other toy producers had not shown an interest. On February 4, 2015, Lego announced that a WALL-E custom-built by lead animator Angus MacLane was the latest design approved for mass production and release as part of Lego Ideas.