Wall-E

In yet another dystopian future the human race has evacuated the earth, a planet now blighted by mountains of waste and reeling from the effects of some sort of environmental catastrophe. The only soul remaining is Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth class since you asked) burdened with the sisphyian task of compacting the endemic refuse into teetering skyscrapers that pollute the landscape. After 700 years Wall-E is understandably feeling a little lonely with only his coachroach friend for company, things change with the arrival of the mysterious robot EVA who has come to earth on a secret mission…

Now, you may have guessed from previous posts that Disney movies are not exactly my thing but I always make an exception for Pixar as they are quite simply at the vanguard of the very best animation being made in the 21st century. To cut to the chase this is their best film yet and I thought it was absolutely outstanding on every level. Yup, its better than ‘Toy Story‘, ‘Toy Story 2‘ and even better than ‘The Incredibles‘. I don’t know how they do it but they manage to invest such an astonishing level of characterisation and pathos into the little fella you can’t help but succumb to his charms.

 

Characterisations aside it’s just so damn funny, so beautifully and breathakingly rendered with all the usual references and, well it’s just so completely entertaining. All the critics who claim that it is the darkest animated kids film ever made have clearly never seen this but I concur that he does present a quite alarming future for kids to get their heads around. If one kid out of every hundred who sees this movie needles his parents into recycling more then I guess the film has achieved its purpose.

The first half an hour is dialogue free which is not only very brave it would also make the likes of Chuck Jones really proud. This approach also adds to the silent movie, slapstick feel of the film with critics citing Wall-E having a distinctive Chaplin vibe to him (Or should I say ‘it) as well as other more recent pictures such as ‘E.T‘ of course, ‘Short Circuit‘ and ‘Silent Running‘. Honourable mention also goes to the short ‘Presto‘ which accompanies the film, it is absolutely hilarious. Although some of the headcases in the States have issues with the film, (after all how dare you criticise rampant consumerism?) I’ll close with an absolutely heart-warming tale connected to the film from Metafilter which I think Illustrates exactly the company ethos at Pixar and what kind of people they are. Outstanding.

 

Robots!! Like ’em or loathe them, I for one welcome our new cybernetic overlords. Here’s a bunch of clips with what I think are the best robots to have graced the screen over the years, enjoy.