Movie Review: Wall-E

I worked late several nights this week and I think I got used to it because it's after midnight and I can't sleep. So, it's time for a movie review (the original purpose of FrontRunner Review).

Wall-E is the latest offering from Disney and Pixar, a futuristic sci-fi adventure with a clear environmental message. The movie is set at a time when humans have been forced to leave Earth because excessive pollution caused by unbridled consumerism has made the planet uninhabitable. Wall-E has been left behind to clean up the mess, along with an army of identical robots that have long since broken down. Wall-E and his pet cockroach are finally interrupted in their monotonous lives by a visitor (Eve) who comes to Earth with a special mission. Now it's up to Wall-E and Eve to see her mission through to completion for the good of mankind.

The creators of Wall-E did a great job creating loveable characters for this movie. It's no simple task to make inatomate objects like robots expressive and even cuddly, but they pulled it off with flying colors. In my mind, Wall-E bears a resemblance to E.T., while Eve looks like an iPod crossed with an egg:




Also, the producers were able to create a very involved dialog and convey a great deal of emotion and meaning between the robots using only about five words repeated over and over, by only varying the inflection and tone (think about the way that R2D2 spoke in Star Wars).

For those of you that are movie buffs, you'll notice plot similarities with 1972 sci-fi film Silent Running (I haven't seen this movie, and this fact was pointed out to me by someone else--thanks Chris). Also, several explicit references are made to 2001: A Space Odyssey, including the use of Also Sprach Zarathustra (the theme song from that movie). Interestingly, Wall-E treats the subject of the Also Sprach Zarathustra, that of the human race overcoming itself to become superior. However, in this case humans are taking a step forward after several steps backward.

A solid story line is matched by great animation in this film and topped off with a very capable cast, including Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver (yes, she's back in space , this time as the ship's computer), and the hilarious Fred Willard. This movie is definitely intended for younger audiences, so you're tweens and teens may not be very excited about it, and it's not Pixar's best effort. However, it's enjoyable and worth watching if you have small children, at least on DVD. As a bonus, the movie was squeaky clean and not too intense for my 3 1/2 year old daughter.

In all, I give this move a solid two and a half cars: