Rating: 4.5 Pulses
Featuring voices by Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Sigourney Weaver
Written and directed by
Andrew Stanton
Rated G
In the year 2815, the most human character in the universe is a robot. Meet WALL-E, a waste allocation robot with a lot of heart.
Leave it to Pixar to create a hero audiences will fall in love with, even though he literally never says a word.
Their spectacular summer release is a masterpiece of animation. Pixar’s mastery of three-dimensional animation gets better with every project. This time, they even used scenes of real, unanimated people as part of the film (a Pixar first). But with the incredible realism of the animation and captivating story, the fact that an actual person is used for one character doesn’t disrupt the film.
Writer and director Andrew Stanton has been developing WALL-E for the past 15 years. His meticulous attention to detail and ingenious knack for storytelling have come together with some serious aplomb in WALL-E. The majority of his cast of characters communicates through beeps and blips. And while the talent of Star Wars alum Ben Burtt infuses these sound effects with a lot of range, Stanton’s gift for storytelling takes each robot to the next level, creating characters to laugh and cry with.
I can’t say enough about WALL-E. It’s an emotional and technical masterpiece, with enough charm to please even the harshest critics and bring smiles to the faces of children. It is simultaneously a science fiction epic, love story, and adventure, and appeals to viewers of all ages.
The soundtrack is reminiscent of simpler times. In addition to vibrant orchestral tracks by Thomas Newman, WALL-E’s fixation on tracks from Hello Dolly! (“It Only Takes a Moment” and “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” as performed by Michael Crawford in the 1970 film version) brighten scenes set on a dusty, dirty apocalyptic earth, and provide a romantic backdrop. Louis Armstrong’s version of “La Vie En Rose” and Peter Gabriel’s original track “Down to Earth” complete the soundtrack.
Despite some claims that the filmmakers had hidden eco-friendly or antiobesity agendas, Stanton and the rest of the film’s crew maintain that they were just trying to tell the story of the last robot on earth and his journey to find love and adventure.
After a heart-rending conclusion, Pixar pays homage to the history of animation in a spectacular end credit sequence that is well worth staying in your seat for. In other words, don’t miss WALL-E. It is quite possibly Pixar’s most amazing achievement to date.
