WALL-E (2008)Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
I had just enough time after Memento and Adaptation for something short so I decided to rewatch WALL-E. I loved it when I saw it for the first time early last year and had been meaning to rewatch it since I saw Up.
After pollution has made earth uninhabitable, mankind has packed its bags and moved into space, leaving it up to the Waste Allocation Load Lifter -Earth class robots to clean the place up. In the few hundred years that have passed since then these robots have broken down and crashed, to the point that only one remains, WALL-E (Burtt). WALL-E continues about his job of cleaning up, all the while collecting little bits and pieces that intrigue him. But one day another robot, Eve (Knight), touches down and captures WALL-E's heart. WALL-E's devotion to Eve then takes him on a journey which will change the course of mankind.
Toy Story was a real turning point in the history of film animation. The success of that film opened up peoples eyes to the potential of digital animation and it was not long before classic 2D style animation pretty much disappeared. Throughout this era of digital animation Pixar has led the way. I must confess however, that through the 2000s I thought that some of the praise heaped on Pixar was a bit excessive. In particular I felt that the critical response to Finding Nemo and The Incredibles went a bit too far. Both films were very good family films, but were treated as though they were masterpieces. Pixar had an incredible run of back to back hits and I think some people got a bit carried away. But with WALL-E and then Up I think Pixar have really hit their straps. WALL-E took Pixar and digital animation to the next level.
WALL-E is quite simply a beautiful film. Beautiful is the perfect word to describe it. Visually it is stunning. This is probably the first animated film where I've ever been conscious of the cinematography, the choice of shots and angles from which we view the action. Especially early in the film, when WALL-E is alone, some of the wide shots are breath-taking. But the beautiful visuals ultimately support what is a beautifully told story. The storyline itself and the themes it explores are nothing groundbreaking, but the way in which the story is told, the pacing, the focus on the characters, is just a delight. WALL-E is a simple, innocent, but at the same time heroic character, and is undoubtedly the most lovable robot since R2-D2.
What really made WALL-E stand out is how ambitious a project it was. It did not have the obvious commercial appeal of a film like Cars or The Incredibles. This was no sure thing money-spinner. This was a film conceived of by filmmakers rather than market-testers. For starters you have a protagonist who has a minimal vocabulary which consists less than half a dozen words. Dialogue in general is not the main feature of this film. The film opens up with almost half an hour of dialogue free exploration where we simply follow WALL-E around and are introduced to his world. While things do get a bit more conventional and dialogue-driven once they arrive on the Axiom, in general WALL-E is all about visual storytelling. Stanton and his team obviously really believed in what they were doing and stuck to it despite the fact it would no doubt have made a number of Disney executives a bit uncomfortable.
WALL-E was also the first Pixar film to use live action actors. The film contains a number of live action actors in videos from the past. Most prominent among these actors is Fred Willard. I love Fred Willard. He is pure gold and his presence instantly takes a film to the next level.
This is a magical film, both in terms of its visuals and its heart. WALL-E is, in my opinion, the film with which Pixar really reached its potential. If you haven't seen it, even if you are not generally an animation person, give it a look.
I had just enough time after Memento and Adaptation for something short so I decided to rewatch WALL-E. I loved it when I saw it for the first time early last year and had been meaning to rewatch it since I saw Up.
After pollution has made earth uninhabitable, mankind has packed its bags and moved into space, leaving it up to the Waste Allocation Load Lifter -Earth class robots to clean the place up. In the few hundred years that have passed since then these robots have broken down and crashed, to the point that only one remains, WALL-E (Burtt). WALL-E continues about his job of cleaning up, all the while collecting little bits and pieces that intrigue him. But one day another robot, Eve (Knight), touches down and captures WALL-E's heart. WALL-E's devotion to Eve then takes him on a journey which will change the course of mankind.
Toy Story was a real turning point in the history of film animation. The success of that film opened up peoples eyes to the potential of digital animation and it was not long before classic 2D style animation pretty much disappeared. Throughout this era of digital animation Pixar has led the way. I must confess however, that through the 2000s I thought that some of the praise heaped on Pixar was a bit excessive. In particular I felt that the critical response to Finding Nemo and The Incredibles went a bit too far. Both films were very good family films, but were treated as though they were masterpieces. Pixar had an incredible run of back to back hits and I think some people got a bit carried away. But with WALL-E and then Up I think Pixar have really hit their straps. WALL-E took Pixar and digital animation to the next level.
WALL-E is quite simply a beautiful film. Beautiful is the perfect word to describe it. Visually it is stunning. This is probably the first animated film where I've ever been conscious of the cinematography, the choice of shots and angles from which we view the action. Especially early in the film, when WALL-E is alone, some of the wide shots are breath-taking. But the beautiful visuals ultimately support what is a beautifully told story. The storyline itself and the themes it explores are nothing groundbreaking, but the way in which the story is told, the pacing, the focus on the characters, is just a delight. WALL-E is a simple, innocent, but at the same time heroic character, and is undoubtedly the most lovable robot since R2-D2.
What really made WALL-E stand out is how ambitious a project it was. It did not have the obvious commercial appeal of a film like Cars or The Incredibles. This was no sure thing money-spinner. This was a film conceived of by filmmakers rather than market-testers. For starters you have a protagonist who has a minimal vocabulary which consists less than half a dozen words. Dialogue in general is not the main feature of this film. The film opens up with almost half an hour of dialogue free exploration where we simply follow WALL-E around and are introduced to his world. While things do get a bit more conventional and dialogue-driven once they arrive on the Axiom, in general WALL-E is all about visual storytelling. Stanton and his team obviously really believed in what they were doing and stuck to it despite the fact it would no doubt have made a number of Disney executives a bit uncomfortable.
WALL-E was also the first Pixar film to use live action actors. The film contains a number of live action actors in videos from the past. Most prominent among these actors is Fred Willard. I love Fred Willard. He is pure gold and his presence instantly takes a film to the next level.
This is a magical film, both in terms of its visuals and its heart. WALL-E is, in my opinion, the film with which Pixar really reached its potential. If you haven't seen it, even if you are not generally an animation person, give it a look.
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