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Wall-E Movie Review

Posted: July 8th, 2008 | Author: jlwgreg | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Pixar movies are a genre all on their own and I find that the only way to review them is to compare them to other Pixar movies. Here’s where I stand; best Pixar film: The Incredibles, Toy Story is a painfully close second, third would have to be Finding Nemo. So where does WALL*E Rank? Number four, right below Ratatouille. Like Ratatouille, WALL*E is enjoyable but not as consistently enjoyable as some of its predecessors like Toy Story in which nearly every scene is unique and captivating to some degree. WALL*E moves at a slower pace, often taking long periods of time to show off its exquisite environments. This didn’t necessarily make the film boring but instead lessened the appeal for multiple viewings and in my mind DVD sales. Though I still seem to really want to see it again - pretty sure the majority doesn’t feel the same.

With its recent films, Pixar appears to be heading in a very different direction. First off, the shambled, rusty, broken down look of WALL*E, the protagonist robot, insisted that Disney was not trying to create a marketable icon for toys, T-shirts, etc which is a refreshing departure from their reputation of merchandise overdrive. The rats in Ratatouille were similar in their unmarketability, seeing as how they’re rats and rats are, well, kinda gross.

Another change in Pixar is the complexity of its recent films. The stories are more elaborate and feature all sorts of subplots and numerous morals. Is this to do with the advancements in animation technology or the partenership with Disney? I think it has to be a bit of both. Like Ratatouille, WALL*E seems to focus more on plot instead of humor. Though WALL*E has a few giggly moments, it largely is not funny; not that its jokes fail but instead it just doesn’t try to as funny as previous films which focused largely on humor. WALL*E was quite a departure for Pixar as it featured some pretty serious elements; a future Earth so polluted that it is uninhabitable, an entirely obese population of humans, and some mean, scary robots that make Hal from 2001 look like Johnny 5 (who actually bore a striking resemblance to WALL*E). The seriousness of WALL*E implies that Pixar is taking its original notion of dual adult/child appeal to a much higher level.

In the end, WALL*E is full of pertinent eco friendly, anti-corporation morals while still working as an elaborate love story between two robots. (WALL*E’s screen sweetheart is EVE; a sleek and sexy hovering robot that looks like something made by Apple) Sparks fly, literally, between the two who share a captivating and convincing romance that only Pixar could create between two robots, but it can’t possibly be the financial success of the previous Pixar films. If you ask me Disney has to be pissed!