Wall-E

Review by Jason Gaston

With very minimal dialogue and, some would say, such a dour setting one would argue that Wall-e could be considered Pixar's greatest gamble. Certainly, it's got the things to attract people to theaters - cute robots and the Pixar name itself, but will the movie's message about humanity and the dark future that awaits us should we abandon it be enough to keep people there?

I sure hope to hell so. This is a spectacularly human movie... amazing considering how little human's play in the majority of the film.

I often said (up until Cars, at least) that Pixar created a better movie after a better movie after a better movie and posed the question (answered by Cars) of long long they could continue to ramp up quality. Now, after that chain was broken and fused together again by Ratatouille, I find myself asking it again and finding a very hopeful answer.

The whole point about quality is not trying to top yourself time and time again. That's simply not possible. The point is to not fall victim to repetition and monotony; to not string together a line of soon to be dated pop culture references voices by a well-known celebrity and be satisfied by it. The point is to look up and wonder - wonder what new and exciting things are out there to tell stories about and what new and exciting and different way there is to tell it.

In a sense, that's what Wall-e is all about; breaking the chains of repetition and discovering - or in some cases re-discovering - the wonders of art and the world.

In monotony is how we first discover our robotic hero, Wall-e, who is basically a trash compactor on treads. You see, Wall-e is the last functioning clean-up droid on a world that has been abandoned for seven centuries. Every day he goes out, crushes massive amounts of garbage, and stacks them into gigantic skyscraper sized piles. Day after day, year after year... same old thing. However, in Wall-e's case, he feels the need for companionship; poor little guy is a lonely artificial soul.

His chores come to an end when a spaceship lands and a sleek robotic probe called EVE floats out and starts to scan the planet for something. For Wall-e, it's love at first sight.

I don't want to give away too much of this charming, artistic, cautioning, and beautiful movie, but Wall-e's need to break from the familiar is echoed when human's finally get into the picture - now a slothen lazy herd of fat floating around in chairs and completely dependent on technology. Needless to say, there is recognition there that some things need to change despite the fact that some elements don't want them too.

Now, I heard lots of different things coming out of the theater. While the majority of people I overheard and subsequently bugged were happy and fulfilled by their movie going experience, some where offended by the "green" message of the movie (and you have to remember, I'm watching this in Texas where a lot of people are still offended by black people being able to run for president now) others were off-put by the depiction of fat people, while others were mad because the movie wasn't what they expected.

I disagree that the message of Wall-e was green or that it was a put down against fat people. The message of Wall-e is that humanity is precious and, if we loose that connection with each other and ourselves, we become no different that the machines we build to do our bidding.

Wall-e is an awesome and audacious film, both dark and gloomy while maintaining an air of sweetness and the promise of hope and a better tomorrow. I loved it. I wouldn't call it Pixar's best, but it is certainly their most daring and if you can't keep topping yourself, at least shoot for the moon - even when you miss, you'll end up in the stars.

Best movie I've seen all year. Seriously.