Movie Review: Wall-E

Wall-E is Pixar’s newest animated movie.  Pixar is the company behind such ground-breaking films as the Toy Story franchise, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille.  These family films are known for their endearing characters and sincere stories.  Wall-E stands out as the best of these.

I have been a fan of every previous movie Pixar has made, and I went into the theater to see Wall-E expecting to love the movie.  I was not disappointed.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  This movie is spectacular on multiple levels.  The movie speaks to the entire audience, regardless of age bracket.  The movie speaks of the purity of companionship as well as giving an open and honest evaluation of the human condition.  Wall-E holds a mirror up to society, while at the same time bringing childish grins to our faces with his antics.

Criticism has been brought to the movie for its unusual mixture of animation and live-action.  While the live-action is constrained to video footage that Wall-E encounters, it is somewhat jarring.  The eventual arrival of humans into Wall-E’s adventure further strengthens the contrast between the comical, exaggerated humans of Wall-E’s time and the real humans found in video footage.

***WARNING!  POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW!!***

It seems Pixar is trying to make an observation about the direction humanity is taking.  The humans of the future are wanton consumers, living in a paradise of zero responsibility.  They float about in hover chairs and never set foot on the ground or stand upright.  All meals are consumed in liquid form, and all communication is done electronically.  No one dances, no one talks face-to-face, and no one pays any attention to the world outside their own little bubble.  And everyone is content.

The only live-action character to appear in the movie is the CEO of Buy n Large, an all-encompassing company from Earth that has created everything the humans encounter.  Videos of the CEO depict him displaying the wonders of the cruise ships that the humans will spend their time on while robots like Wall-E clean Earth of the mess the humans have created.

It seems to me that the analogy is so clear, it might as well be directly stated.  Wanton consumerism and irresponsibility could eventually destroy our planet, rendering it unlivable.  The CEO of the company is depicted as a real person, because he is a real person.  Some day a company will have become so large and so profitable and so entrenched in society that it has the power to take over every aspect of our lives.  Even if the company means no harm, putting that much trust in any one entity is never safe.

Wall-E is a brilliant movie, because it tells multiple brilliant stories.  Parents will see this movie with their children and realize that they have a responsibility to their children to not become one of the unmoving, unfeeling slugs that humans have become in the movie.  Children will see this movie and fall in love with the endearing characters.

All in all, Wall-E is a smash hit, and is a shoo-in for Best Picture.

~ by bobwise on July 6, 2008.