A Curious Robot Attempts to Save Humanity - "WALL-E" Movie Review

"WALL-E" is the story of a curious robot who chases across the universe to learn about life, love, friendship, and heroism. Wall-E is a robot programmed to collect and compact the trash that has taken over Earth, leaving Earth inhabitable. However, he's a very curious robot, and every time he finds some knick-knack in the piles of trash, he takes it back to his collection. He spends his time either doing his programmed job, investigating the land collecting knick-knacks, or watching old human films (some of the knick-knacks he collected over his time there).

When a space ship lands on Earth, Wall-E investigates, and meets Eve, a robot who is designed to look for plant lifeforms on various planets to find a suitable home for the survivors who escaped Earth 700 years ago. Wall-E becomes infatuated with Eve, and when she travels back to the Axiom (the spaceship on which the humans live), Wall-E follows her. Together they become involved in a plot to try and rescue the human race from the ship's computers and help return them back to Earth.

Wall-E is filled with comedy, action, and emotions seen through the eyes of robots. Wall-E's quirky personality, his desire for human emotions, and the fact that his best friend is a cockroach (showing that a cockroach will live through anything) make nearly every moment of the movie humorous. The plot of saving the human race puts Wall-E in some crazy predicaments. Combined with that, Wall-E experiencing friendship, love, and a sense of purpose for the first time make for a dramatic counterpoint to the humor.

While following Wall-E's adventures, the story attempts to give a social commentary on the way the human race is and could become. The humans on the spaceship have become overweight and lazy, spending their days eating and riding around on hover chairs talking with each other (including people sitting right next to them) over video monitors. They are oblivious to the world around them, which is shown when one of the women says after all her years on the ship, "We have a pool?" Movement becomes nearly impossible and they lack some portion of higher intelligence. Instead they are brainwashed by the ship's computers, believing that they are happier on the ship for the rest of their lives.

Although it's not a direct comparison to our own society, it does show what could happen if we let ourselves take for granted what we have. If we don't take care of ourselves and our environment, we could end up in a similar situation. The fact that Wall-E is on Earth because Earth is overwhelmed with trash is something that our society can relate to. The story behind the story in "WALL-E" is that we need to live a greener, healthier life in order to succeed.

The only places where "WALL-E" falls short is in minor plot points. For example, there are children on the ship, but the passengers on the ship are oblivious to everything but themselves. Another example comes in the captain's search to return home. As we've seen from the beginning, Earth is no longer a habitable place to live, yet the humans strive to return to Earth. Do we root for them to, even though we know it's not good?

Again though, these are only minor plot points, and after remembering that "WALL-E" is intended to be a fun family movie, these plot points are forgettable, and instead the humor, action, and family fun take center stage. "WALL-E" is a great movie. Even though there is very little talking in the first half of the movie, it is unnecessary, and the viewer is drawn in anyways, hanging on every action Wall-E makes.

Grade: B+

Kolin Kasten is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor's Degree in English. He is a freelance writer who also works part-time for Monumental Films, a Wisconsin-based video business whose goal is to capture the important events in one's life on film. To learn more, please go to: http://www.monumentalfilms.net

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Wall-E Movie Review

BOTTOM LINE: Pixar have done it again, producing another fantastic, visually stunning computer animated film about a trash-compacting robot with a heart that kids (and adults) will love.

THE GOOD: Pixar Animation Studios has built a reputation for establishing the benchmark of quality for computer animated films; in watching "Wall-E", it's not hard to see why. Much thought and care and has gone in to the character design, story and visuals to create an incredible future world where humans have left Earth because they've turned it into a garbage dump and only trash compacting robot Wall-E is left over, dutifully going around doing his job.

However, he's been doing it for so many centuries that he's developed a heart; he's lonely and yearns for company. His lonely world is changed when a visiting space ship deposits a probe called Eve on Earth. At first, Wall-E is frightened, and almost gets blown to pieces by Eve's arm gun (in a number of amusing scenes, Eve switches from sweet, sleek probe to gun-toting probe out to destroy in a second). Eventually, Wall-E convinces Eve he is no threat and starts to show her around his domain. When Wall-E shows her a plant he found, a series of events take place where the two end up back at the human space ship Axiom where the human race has been living for the past seven hundred years. Now with proof that life can grow on Earth again, the humans can return to Earth but not before the Axiom's autopilot tries to stop them in a fairly funny 2001-esque riff.

The story is quite nice and cute, and the amazing thing is that director Andrew Stanton and his animators successfully convey a 90 minute-long story with virtually no dialogue. In the first half of the film with the two robots, everything is conveyed visually, and this is where the strength of the Pixar animators is on display: the character animation is first rate (as an example, Eve has a sleek, reflective design and throughout the film, even the detail of the reflections of her body is flawlessly rendered), the visuals on the wasteland of Earth are absolutely stunning (you'd think they were really filmed), and the sound is perfectly captured in the audio track. Of course, kudos has to go to the execution of the characters, with Wall-E in particular conveying a number of quirky character traits. There are also a number of nice touches as well such as the fact that humans have turned in to fat, lazy slobs who do not do anything except sit in hover chairs watching TV all day, allowing the computers to do their work. Wall-E is another strong film from Pixar which should not disappoint unless you're not in to this type of thing.

THE BAD: As good as this film is, there are a few minor points. Wall-E himself, although spectacularly realised and designed, bears more than a striking resemblance to another loveable character, E.T. Wall-E's head, both in design and movement, is very similar to E.T (albeit faster) and it might have been nice to try something different. The other minor point I would make is that the visuals seem more computer-animated in the second half of the film when Wall-E and Eve show up on the Axiom. The humans on the ship are computer generated and unfortunately the film also has some scenes featuring real humans so the basis of comparison is glaringly obvious, despite the fact that they have an explanation for the visual design of the humans in the film. Also, compared to the stunning visuals in the first half, the shots on the Axiom seem more like a cartoon.

For the original review, follow this link: http://www.allaboutmovies.net/filmreviewwall-e.htm

Todd Murphy is a staff reviewer at the film/DVD review web site, All About Movies.net - for all the latest reviews on the newest releases. He also contributes reviews and articles for the Digicosm Film Blog: http://www.filmannex.com/Digicosm

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Disney Pixar's Wall-E Movie Review

I recently took my kids to see the Disney Pixar movie Wall-E. Not only did my kids love it, I loved it, and my mother loved it too. It appealed to three generations because it was just a great feel good movie for everyone. I swear I almost cried a couple times and no it wasn't sad, it wad just really, really sweet.

The best part about the movie though is the strong environmental theme. I have a green family and we try to maintain a green household but I try not to do too much lecturing on green issues because I don't want them to feel resentful. One way we sneak in some eco conscious thinking is by watching movies or playing with eco themes. This movie makes the eco theme very fun and enjoyable and really puts things in simple terms so kids understand the urgency.

The basic story is that Wall-E, an adorable little robot, is left on planet earth alone after humans abandoned it, when it can no longer sustain life. Wall-E collects little knick-knacks (forks and yo-yos) as mementos and spends his days compacting garbage and making skyscraper tall stacks with them. One day a spaceship drops off another robot named Eva and her directive is to find evidence that the planet can sustain life once again. In the event that she finds this evidence she must report back to the humans who are know living in space on a space cruise ship of sorts. This leads Wall-E and Eva on a wild adventure through space and beyond where they will find out that they can shape the future of the human race.

So can Eva find any evidence that earth can be inhabited again? How did it get this way in the first place? Can Wall-E and Eva bring humans back to earth and help them take care of their planet this time? I hope you'll watch the movie and find out. It is a wonderful adventure fill with love and good lesson for everyone.

Wall-E is being released just in time for Christmas Order your copy now!

Written by T. Washko - Check out the hottest Wall-E and Eva Christmas toys this year at http://www.hotwalletoys.com

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