WALL*E is, hands down, the best Pixar Movie Ever!

I don’t recall if I’ve ever mentioned it on this blog, but I hate going to the movies. I’ve nearly given it up. The only exceptions are Pixar movies and the very few movies that I can’t wait until they come out on DVD to watch. So today I went to see WALL*E with my wife and slightly younger brother. It is, literally, the BEST Pixar movie ever created. The only reason I’m okay with the fact that they waited this long to come out with the movie is because it allowed them to get so awesome at creating movies that it looks beautiful!!!

First of all, like most Pixar movies, there’s a short film at the beginning. Right from the intro screens, you’re clued in on the fact that this is done in the slapstick, physical comedy style of the 1940s Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons. Let’s just say that my brother and I were laughing so loud and cracking up so bad, I’ll have to watch it at least another two times to catch everything I missed from my eyes watering up. It’s that funny - if you’re a fan of physical comedy. And, of course, Pixar has character emotional expression down to an art form.

Then the feature film came on and it was great. In a way, WALL*E is “An Inconvenient Truth” for kids. But to say that is to do a HUGE disservice to the guys at Pixar. Really, the whole point about how rampant consumerism caused the Earth the be so polluted that we had to leave is so that we could have this extremely cute robot cleaning up the Earth. So, it’s no spoiler that he’s the only robot left cleaning. Everyone was talking about this: from Pixar to some of the trailers for the movie. Basically, we caused such a mess that all human life is sent away and we leave an army of WALL*E robots to clean up the Earth. Eventually, the task is SO daunting that we’re left with our one WALL*E. He’s diligently cleaning up when the humans send a probe to see how the cleaning is coming along. This causes his love interest to enter the picture. Again, no spoilers yet. Now, when she first appears on the scene, oh man, it was exactly the type of humor that my brother and I love. We were shattering that theatre with our laughter.

I loved so much about the movie, the story, the visuals, the characters. But what really blew me away was how two robots who can only convey emotions by moving their eyes, heads, and hands (the robots can’t talk except for a very small amount of words, but I don’t want to ruin it!). My wife really got sad about something that happens to one of the robots - and it’s just a robot! And the way the “female” robot acted towards WALL*E’s advances, conveyed pure feminine energy. It was just great to watch. Now for a few spoilers.

<spoiler!!!>

Things I loved in the movie:

• the iPod and the role it plays with the movie
• the references to Space Odyssey 2001 such as the Auto Pilot looking like HAL 9000, the music when the captain first wakes up is the same as the music when the pen is floating in 2001 and the use of Thus Sprak Zerathustra
• My brother caught that WALL*E’s powered up sound is the sound of turning on a MAC
• the giant WALL*As at the space ship were great
• I loved the little OCD cleaner robot. He was, without a doubt, my favorite secondary character in the movie
• The robot sanitarium was a hilarious scene
• The part where the silhouette of EVA made WALL*E panic was pure animation history - I’ve seen that in so many of the old cartoons from the 1940s
• The part about how the corporation wanted to keep people fat and lazy so they were easy to control was a great social commentary - in fact the whole thing was great - it was much more sci-fi than I thought it was going to be
• Also, I loved how the story was revealed bit-by-bit like when he rolled by the area where the space ship took off and the videos went off. It had a very tragic feel to it because the videos seem to feel like the humans will be back really soon
• With the video only for the Auto Pilot to see where it says that the work was too much and the world became too toxic, I was left wondering:
  • did the CEO and his workers die on Earth? IOW, did they remain on Earth to supervise the cleanup and were so sure of their machines that they didn’t take a ship to leave?
  • did they see all the WALL*Es breakdown? Or did that happen after the humans were dead. I mean, WALL*E was around for 700 years!
• I loved the cameo by the actor who played the CEO of BnL.

</spoiler!!!>

Ok, I think I saw a Pizza Planet truck, but I blinked. Can anyone confirm that? Also, I kept my eyes open, but didn’t see any Pixar toys amongst the trash. On the one hand that could have been a conscious decision on their part to say that their toys would never end up in the trash. But I was really hoping for a cameo! If anyone spotted a cameo, let me know.

Go see it right now. I don’t know if it’s going to have an awesome opening weekend, but go see it if you enjoy animation at all you MUST go see it!

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Or you may know it as WALLE or WALL-E, but the commercials and wikipedia have it looking more like WALL*E.

• An-Inconvenient-Truth
• Wall*e