SMT Weekly Flick by Paul Krismanits
Robot with Heart
Wall-E (Rated G) 97 mins.
Wall-E with his newfound companion E.V.E.
First things first, In Bruges came out on DVD last week and after re-watching it, I realized I mistakenly gave it 4/5 stars originally, when it fully deserves a perfect score of 5. It is the best movie of the year so far, and I hope everyone takes the time to check it out. Oh, and I originally mentioned that it was not playing at Sonora Stadium 10, but it did end up showing at the theater in Angels Camp. My apologies to Angels Camp and their fine Indy Film program for missing that. Be sure to pay them a visit!
Since debuting with Toy Story in 1995, Disney’s Pixar has proceeded to continually wow audiences and break box-office records with their films. This week they released their 9th feature film Wall-E, and if it is any indication of things to come, the limits for Pixar appear to be stellar.
Wall-E begins on planet Earth some 800 years in the future, and the future is rather bleak. Earth has been overcome by the debris left over from mass consumerism, leaving the planet looking like a large garbage dump. It appears that before destroying everything with excess waste, mankind had found peace under a one-world government controlled by a major corporation, and then proceeded to spend…and spend… and spend… Then, upon discovering they had damaged the planet to the point where it was no longer habitable, everyone jumped upon giant galactic “cruise” ships, leaving robots behind to clean up the mess. That’s where Wall-E (or Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) comes in as the lone ‘bot left gallivanting about the planet, still dedicated to his job (he builds skyscrapers out of the trash he compacts), but so old that he has also developed a bit of a personality on his own. After 700 years solo Wall-E has found that even a robot can feel the pang of loneliness, and so he works to collect little “treasures” left behind by humans as a way to fill the void. As far as we can tell, Wall-E’s lone companion is a single cockroach whom he tenderly cares for, and after centuries living that way, it’s safe to assume there will be no surprise appearances by anyone else. That is, until a shuttle comes from out of the sky, leaving behind yet another, but very different, mechanical being. From here on, Wall-E does what he can to acquaint himself with this strange companion, and in doing so finds himself stumbling into an adventure that can only be described as “out of this world.”
After the past couple Pixar films, the decent Cars and the disappointing Ratatouille, it had seemed as if the company was starting to lose a step in that bold creativity which had brought us so many other animated classics, reaching its peak with the 2004 tour-de-force The Incredibles and slipping afterward. Thankfully for all those who have been fans of the company’s productions since Toy Story, Wall-E has proven that Pixar is back, and in a major way.
Of all Pixar’s previous films, Wall-E may very well be the most impressive in its scope. A great deal of the film is speechless, a bold move for any film, especially one for children. Yet, it is so beautifully filmed and the characters so strong (especially the very loveable Wall-E himself) that it is impossible to keep one’s eyes off the screen. For a robot (who will remind many of yet another famous robot, one Johnny Five), Wall-E is an extremely complex and equally endearing character no one will be soon to forget. He is full of personality, and has a quality that even most actors can never find, the ability to be spellbinding while onscreen alone. The first twenty minutes are all about Wall-E by himself on a vast, empty planet, and the film holds the viewer as much then as it does when the screen is full of characters. For this feat alone director Andrew Stanton deserves great praise, but he pitches a perfect game the rest of the way as well.
Personally, not since The Incredibles have I been so entranced by an animated film, and in some ways Wall-E is even more impressive. This has been a good year for children’s movies to date, but only one has risen a head above the rest as the one true “can’t miss” film. Pixar’s Wall-E is far and away the best family movie to have come out this year, it is one of the rare films, which has the ability to captivate both the young and the old, and it may be Pixar’s shining moment as well.
SCORE 5/5
