WALL-E (2008)
NETFLIX SYNOPSIS: In a futuristic world, human beings have destroyed Earth and evacuated the planet, leaving the cleanup to an army of robots they’ve programmed to do their dirty work. Due to a mishap, the dutiful WALL-E is the only one left. But with the arrival of a female probe named EVE, the monotony of WALL-E’s existence is broken — and he experiences love for the first time. Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) directs this Pixar tale with a sci-fi twist.
REVIEW: I watched Wall-E this afternoon with some very high expectations. I’ve really liked all the Pixar films and this movie has gotten the best reviews of the year.
The movie is overflowing with so many different visuals and references that I’m sure I missed a lot. I know a lot of you like old sci-fi films (and so do I) - and you will appreciate Wall-E on another level. I noticed obvious nods to Omega Man, Silent Running, Star Wars, and especially 2001. [My Netflix avatar is the HAL 9000 eye which gets duplicated exactly for the ship's computer.]
The main part of the film is actually an homage to Charlie Chaplin movies. Wall-E is a low-class trash compacting robot (like Chaplin’s tramp) and he falls in love with a new model probe robot who is obviously out of his class. Did I mention that most of the movie has no dialogue other than the two robots mechanically pronouncing each other’s name?
The second half of the film turns into an anti-consumer comedy full of idiot humans who are now too fat to walk and they only do whatever their computer screen says. Isn’t that Disney’s core audience?
I like movies that are different and original and this falls into that category. I’m curious to see how much small children will like it. The crowd in my theater seemed restless - lots of “Mommy! Where’s Wall- E???” The middle of the film does have lots of robots being chased which made the kids happy - to me it was the most boring part.
I liked it a lot, 4 out of 5 stars. It didn’t quite meet my 5 star expectations, but I think almost anyone will like it and it’s worth seeing in the theater.
4 stars
Phil
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I wonder if PIXAR ever gets tired of hitting home runs? I was skeptical that they’d be able to pull this one off; a story about a robot cleaning up Earth’s trash hundreds of years in the future after mankind has abandoned the planet? But I should have remembered that this is the same studio that made a large fortune off a rat who cooks in Paris, talking toys, bedroom closet monsters who are scared of children and a small clown fish with a “lucky” fin. Director Stanton clearly borrowed from his own Finding Nemo; there is no antagonist and many of the flying scenes are extremely reminiscent of the underwater reef scenes in Nemo. The plot lays on the environmental anti-corporate shtick a bit thick at times, and a lot of kids were getting antsy near the end, but it didn’t make much difference. The end result? PIXAR touches all the bags again.
4.5 stars
HAWK
