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Though I’ve always been a big fan of Disney / Pixar movies, I had my reservations about WALL•E—mostly because the trailers made the main character look like a kooky metal Mr. Bean. I was worried that WALL•E would end up being an hour and a half of a bumbling robot who gets himself into all kinds of trouble because he’s not very bright. At the same time, I worried that a movie with little or no dialogue would get terribly boring after a while.
But I should have known better than to doubt the geniuses at Pixar.
WALL•E is a futuristic animated adventure starring a bug-eyed bucket of bolts named WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-Class) who’s trying to single-handedly clean up the planet. You see, back in the late 21st century, Earth became so overrun with trash that everyone decided to board a giant spaceship for a five-year cruise. They left behind a whole bunch of trash-compactor-like robots whose job was to clean up the planet’s trash and prepare for the people’s return.
Now, 700 years later, the ship is still cruising the universe—and the people on-board are getting fatter and lazier every day. Meanwhile, back on Earth, there’s only one WALL•E robot left—a lovable little guy who’s fascinated by the stuff around him.
One day, another robot arrives. EVE (Elissa Knight) is a female robot with some anger issues—but WALL•E falls for her anyway. Just as he’s finally getting through to her, though, he shows her his prize possession—a plant—and the two of them are whisked away to the ship. But while WALL•E’s on a mission to save EVE, EVE’s on a mission to save life on Earth.
Despite my reservations, it took me approximately three minutes to fall head over heels in love with WALL•E. Sure, he’s a bit clumsy—which means that the humor is often silly and slapstick—but that’s what makes the movie so much fun for kids. At the same time, though, it’s not so silly that it’s unbearable for adults. In fact, bumbling WALL•E is an irresistibly adorable character. He may be a robot who communicates in electronic beeps and boops, but he has more personality than some humans I know.
All of the robot characters, in fact, are brimming with personality. They don’t need to speak in sentences; the tone of their beeps, their body language, and their expressions say everything they need to say. You can tell that EVE is frustrated—and that WALL•E is totally lovestruck. And you’ll actually care. In comparison, the human characters seem flat and inane—and if they’d had a larger part in the movie, they may have taken away from its magic. Fortunately, though, they play a minor role.
As with last year’s Pixar release, Ratatouille, WALL•E is both wildly entertaining and wonderfully artistic. The characters are lovable and the story is cute (and meaningful)—and, at the same time, the animation is simply gorgeous. And that makes it a magical must-see adventure that the whole family will love.
DVD Review:
Leave it to the people at Pixar to develop new innovations in movie packaging. After all, they’ve already changed the world of animation—why not change the way it’s packaged, too? So the three-disc special edition DVD release of this eco-conscious movie comes in appropriately eco-friendly packaging. No kidding! You won’t find a single non-recyclable plastic bit anywhere—just foldout cardboard parts.
But there’s much more to this DVD release than just some foldout cardboard parts. In fact, there are hours and hours and hours of interesting extras. And if you happen to be fascinated by the inner workings of computer animation, you’ll want to watch every last one.
The first disc in the set offers the basic features: the feature, a director commentary, a couple of deleted scenes (with or without commentary), and two shorts (Presto, the hilarious short that ran with WALL•E in theaters, along with a new short called BURN•E). There’s also a fascinating feature on the history of sound design at Disney.
Disc two is broken up into two sections: Humans (for film fans) and Robots (for families). The Robots section includes just three features: an interactive storybook, a feature called Bot Files (with descriptions of 28 robots from the movie), and WALL•E’s Treasures and Trinkets, a feature that’s filled with silly, random fun with WALL•E and his friends. But the bulk of the features are found in the Humans section. Here, you’ll find more deleted scenes, six behind-the-scenes features (covering everything from character design to the score), two more deleted scenes, five extra Buy N Large shorts, and a feature-length documentary on the history of Pixar. And after watching every last minute of every last feature, I can honestly say that there isn’t a dud in the bunch. They’re definitely entertaining—and they’ll also give you a whole new appreciation for the careful planning and hard work that goes into every Pixar film.
Finally, disc three offers an additional digital copy of the film—so you can load it onto your favorite player and bring it with you wherever you go.
So whether you’re fascinated by the inner workings of Pixar or you just fell in love with a dirty old robot named WALL•E, this special edition release will keep you entertained for hours—making it a holiday wish list no-brainer for the whole family.
