WALL·E (2008) Review

Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight and Jeff Garlin
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Screenplay written by: Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter
Tagline: An Adventure Beyond the Ordinar-E

Not only do humans become fat... but they also transformed into CGI animated people!

In A Nutshell

In a distant future, mankind has abandoned Earth because it has become covered with trash. WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot, who can only say his name and the name of other robots, has been left to clean up the mess. One day, a sleek search robot named EVE is sent to earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with her as EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans. Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets an adventure into motion.

Prime Cuts

The CGI is revolutionary and the animation was top notch.

Our two mostly-speechless heroes are the most likable on-screen duo in recent memory. Their romance is believable and endearing. And yes this film has very little dialog, but guess what, IT DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' DIALIOUGUE!... The beauty of the film is in the interactions and responses of the little robots. I never really liked the romance genre the "forbidden love with laughs attached" movies really are getting quite old because there are so many of them. WALL-E and EVE showed much more emotional depth in their relationship than most Hollywood actors can in romantic comedies, and they're both freaking robots!

Fat & Gristle

While the CGI was terrific, I don't think it would hold the attention of a young child, since it has no plot (almost nothing happens) and you can only watch a cute CGI robot for so long.

The movie is ruined by the global warming propaganda and the preachy environmental theme. It just seemed like a big giant pat on the back of the idiotic "green" movement.

The hero himself is nothing more than an amalgam of ET and Short Circuit and a few other robotic movie characters, and what voice he has is that nasal/adolescent whine.

The never ending dialog basically consisted of "W A L L E..." and "E V E..." over and over again and endless shots of robots holding hands, robots figuring out how to hold hands, robots yearning to hold hands and robots thinking about the next time they could think about holding hands. I have to give Pixar credit for being faithful to their green theme - by applying the concept of recycling and conservation to their own movie.

Secondary characters are introduced, then dropped, then reappear an hour later to overcome some obstacle. So why introduce them?

The climax of the movie was a fight between a robot and the NAMELESS Captain of the spaceship, tossing Wall-E and Eve totally aside and when good finally triumphs it feels anti-climactic and forced.

In all the piles of junk there are no cars. It's almost like the car companies made this film, to take the focus away from themselves and say "You are ALL okay with your cars, just be sure to recycle those cans!"

Remarks

If you're looking for state of the art CGI you probably won't find anything better... yet. But if you're looking for humor there are tons of better choices, but if you're looking for something heart-warming then you found the right movie. The film can be pretty slow, so it might not hold up well in repeated viewings either...

I'd go ***1/2.