Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter (story)
Release Date: June 23, 2008
IMDB Synopsis: In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
First Time
It took me a while to see this, and the same can be said of other Pixar greats like The Incredibles and Monster's Inc. From 1999-2010, I passively avoided a lot of Pixar (and other animated films) because I mostly felt that I didn't need them in my life. Brave helped to turn that around a bit; I saw that in the theater and since then, I have been much more receptive to Pixar and animated features. I believe Jeff recommended WALL-E to me in 2010 or 2011, and we probably watched it together.
Why it's on the List
I'll get the obvious out of the way first--the film is visually-stunning, especially on blu-ray. There have been a handful beautiful films set in space over the years, and WALL-E is no exception. Andrew Stanton and his team also manage to turn a dusty, garbage dump of a city into art. This wasteland is all we get for the first twenty minutes of the film, as there are very few spoken words until that mark. I admire the risk that Pixar took with those twenty minutes--the opening five minutes of Up is another example of this kind of risk paying off. Instead taking a dialogue-heavy approach, Stanton and Jim Reardon rely on some great physical comedy and exceptional use of exposition.
The film is great at slowly feeding information to the audience through the use of Buy-N-Large promotional videos featuring Fred Willard. Willard is the perfect casting choice for BnL's satirically-named CEO, Shelby Forthright, because he's so adept at playing charming yet incompetent characters.
With only antiquated video recordings of Shelby Forthright and his favorite musical to keep him company, WALL-E's solitude is easily felt (it's weird to assign gender to a robot, but whatever); we pity WALL-E until EVE arrives on Earth. I love the relationship between the two and the juxtaposition of their personalities; WALL-E is sweet and a bit of coward, while EVE is trigger-happy and a badass. Stanton and Reardon did a great job in general of applying different personalities to the robots in the film, and the different robot designs are great, too. The closest thing we get to villains in this movie are a couple of robots that stick to their programming. I like the slight twist that AUTO (a nice nod to HAL from 2001) is purposefully sabotaging the Axiom's return to Earth, thanks to BnL's failure to clean up the planet.
The social commentary in WALL-E is obvious but effective, nevertheless. I especially love the moment when two dudes are talking to each other over face chat, even though they're a foot apart. The film effectively calls out our society's increasing sloth and consumerism. The Buy-N-Large slogan is perfect: "Everything you need to be happy."
The social commentary has hints of something you might see or hear on The Simpsons. This makes sense, given Jim Reardon's involvement. Reardon has directed over thirty Simpsons episodes, including many of my all-time favorites: Homer the Heretic, Mr. Plow, Duffless, King Size Homer...okay, really 95% of the episodes he's directed are among the show's best. Brad Bird wasn't the only Simpsons director to go on to produce some great work for Pixar.
Additional Notes/Stats
- Fred Willard will make one more appearance on my list.
- I only have one more animated film to discuss and it's not Pixar. I have several other Pixar movies on my 200-101 list, but WALL-E is my favorite.
- I still have not seen Finding Nemo. I refuse to watch Cars.
No comments:
Post a Comment