Review: ‘Wall-E’

Wall-E is pure fun and entertainment for the whole family, and the movie geeks were out in full force to see it. Scott brought his 4 year old daughter, and probably enjoyed it even more than she did! We gave this movie a collective rating of [rating: 4.5/5]. Read all of our reviews by clicking below:

Scott:

I wasn’t too excited about the latest offering from Pixar, but I wanted to take my daughter (age 4) to see this because I thought she would be the only one to enjoy it. What I realized very quickly after this movie began is that it isn’t strictly a movie for kids, it has a lot of adult appeal to it as well. There is a short film attached to the front of Wall-E that is hysterical and it gets you set in the mood for some great animated fun. Jumping into ‘Wall-E’, there is no dialog for the first half hour of the movie, and even after that its nothing more than just a couple of words translated through an electronic device or robot until close to the end of the movie. Normally I would say that doing that would kill your movie, but in this case the visual effects, and watching Wall-E travel through his daily business is enough to keep you entertained through the lack of dialog. Feel free to take your young children, and even your old children to this movie… its entertainment for the entire family at its best. I am going to have my daughter do a video review of the movie so watch for that tonight…

3 1/2 out of 5

Travis:

I imagine WALL-E is bound to turn a lot of heads and surprise a lot of people who see the film with past Pixar projects in mind. Mind you, this is a very good turn for the uber-successful production company. I am not at all ashamed to say that I am a huge fan of Pixar’s animated features, and their shorts as well. WALL-E, as is Pixar’s standing operating procedure, is preceded with an original short. This time, Presto is the opening act, featuring the mishaps of an arrogant stage magician who is too rushed to remember to feed his poor little bunny who’s tummy is turning itself in knots. In retaliation, the bunny strikes against the magician causing chaos to ensue live on stage. All he wants is the stinkin’ carrot! In the end, the magician and the bunny manage to pull off an unintentional face-saving finale to benefit them both.

Yes, I am just about to talk about WALL-E … but, you can’t review a Pixar film without giving due credit to its opening short. WALL-E stars, well no one in particular … except for John “Cliff” Ratzenberger (Cheers) as Captain John, who doesn’t make his entrance until about halfway through the film. Fred Willard (For Your Consideration) does make a couple of brief cameo appearances as BnL CEO Shelby Forthright. Oh yeah, I almost forgot Sigourney Weaver lends her voice as well. The story is all about WALL-E, a small and insignificant worker robot left on Earth to clean up the litter and waste the humans created before they fled the planet to live on a massive Mall of America like space station.

Its been 700 years and WALL-E is the last remaining robot of his kind on Earth still functioning. He’s also developed a rather insatiable curiosity. As a fellow collector, I can appreciate WALL-E’s fascination with the simple things that he collects, including plastic-ware and Zippo lighters. Its this curiosity that leads him on a feline-inspired chase of what appears to be a laser pointer. At the end of his hunt, WALL-E finds himself face-to-face with a highly advanced and heavily armed scout robot named EVE. WALL-E is instantly smitten with this superior robot that is way out of his league. If nothing else, WALL-E is persistent as he continually makes his best efforts to win EVE’s affection. As a result of his persistence, WALL-E is mistakenly transported back to the space station with EVE and her precious cargo.

For a movie who’s two main characters have a combined total of 2-3 words of dialogue repeated throughout the film, I was amazed out how endearing and genuine the emotions and ideas were conveyed by CGI-created robots in a cartoon. While there are a few points at which the film runs just a tad on the slow side, the overall appeal of WALL-E is its charm and its heart. The movie is primarily a tale of well-earned romance, but still manages to deliver some truly memorable and humorous scenes. The comedy is still present, but on a more subdued level than previous Pixar features. WALL-E also contains a number of subtle homages and references to other classic sci-fi films. I am still calling The Incredibles my favorite Pixar film, but WALL-E is making a very strong bid for number two on my list.

4 1/2 out of 5

Ram Man:

Pixar Animation Studios keeps their string of classic tales going with the latest release of WALL-E. WALL-E is set in the year 2700, mankind has used up every resource that planet had to give. They were forced to board a space “cruise” ship and go on a 5 year cruise so that Earth may rejuvenate itself and be able to sustain life that ended up turning into hundreds of years. In their haste to get off this rock, humanity forgot to turn off all the appliances, so to speak. They left on one of the robots who were clearing the exorbitant amount of trash left on the planet… WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter -Earth class)

WALL-E is the star of our story. A robot with a personality. He spends his day cleaning and compacting trash and using it to build sculptures around the city. He has a routine and sticks with it. He also collects interesting nick-knacks along the way. WALL-E spends his evenings watching 1960’s musicals longing for some companionship… a little robot love! That’s when WALL-E encounters a probe sent back to earth to establish whether or not it is safe to return, EVE (Environmental Verification & Evaluation unit). WALL-E is smitten by EVE immediately and the courtship is hilarious. WALL-E has his woman and will cross planets and space to keep her!

WALL-E is unique in that it is a “green” movie with a message for the adults to appreciate the planet… it’s the only one you have! But it also is entertaining for the entire family. You will recognize a few familiar voices… John Ratzenberger (Cheers), Kathy Najimy (Sister Act), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) as some of the characters WALL-E encounters along his journey. This is just another example of Pixar Studios knocking one out of the park. We will see WALL-E walking away with yet another Golden statue in March for Pixar. Parents take your kids to see WALL-E or we might be forced to call you out as mean parents!

Don’t arrive late or you will miss a fabulous short called “Presto” This funny animated short (I can’t refer to anything from Pixar as a cartoon) is a great warm up to the feature presentation. It is a vaudevillian scene with a magician and is wise cracking rabbit assistant… you will LOVE IT!

4 1/2 out of 5

Zac:

Andrew Stanton and Pixar’s latest is right up there with the best of theirs, which is certainly saying something, as Wall-E is one of the best characters in cinema history.
The humans have abandoned Earth and left behind an army of robots to clean up the mess. Wall-E is the last of these robots left to clean up all the trash and mess that earth has become as the proposed plan of returning in a few years has stretched to a few hundred for the human race. Wall-E has continues to do his job while also becoming self aware and forming emotions and a curiosity that helps him bide his time on the planet. Unfortunately, he has also become lonely and longs for someone to simply spend time with; maybe even hold his hand.
Enter Eve, a sleek and highly engineered robot that gets dropped off on earth by an unmanned space craft sent to scourer what’s left of earth in search of some form of natural life. Eve can be sweet and care free and turn hostile in an instant, with artillery strong enough to destroy a beached tanker ship. Eve’s arrival interrupts Wall-E’s usual routine of collecting knick knacks and junk as his longing for a companion possibly finally over. After an awkward and near violent, courting period the two begin to bond as the robots fall for each other. Unfortunately, Wall-E’s discovery of a small sprout of a plant is revealed to Eve, who after securing the plant inside her, goes into a dormant/lock down mode. Wall-E continues to keep her silent company until her ship comes to take her away and Wall-E is forced to follow his heart and latch on to the ship as it heads on its return trip to the humans with news of life.
I will spoil no more, as most of this is conveyed in the trailer, and let you discover the rest of this wonderful story on your own. Yes there are human characters in this film and they share the story taking up about 30% of the overall film, but Wall-E and Eve are still interlaced into most of their plot elements. The film also serves as a cautionary tale on multiple levels while also being a sweet romantic tale between our two robot leads. The messages aren’t beaten over your head, while remaining extremely clear and sadly true, and they hold true for almost every human being of any age, race, and gender.
The animation in this film is Pixar’s best to date. Topping Cars photorealism at times, Wall-E is an absolutely beautiful animated film that is rivaled by none to date. The artists at Pixar also deserves special props for designing and creating such a memorable and wonderful character in Wall-E simply through his actions and emotions with little to know use of audible sounds or words; it is truly an astonishing feat. The comedy in this film is also top-notch with plenty of laugh out loud moments while also being able to pull at our emotional strings with little to know effort at all.
In the end, there is no real complaint to be had for Wall-E, I was caught off guard on how much of a human element there was, but that isn’t really a complaint, but I think I will enjoy the film even more the second time around now that I know fully what to expect. Wall-E might be the best hero of the year and definitely sits as my favorite film of the year right now; without even a repeat viewing. Do not miss Wall-E as it is amazing piece of animation and will end up as one of the best films of the year. Pixar has done it again, and while not reaching the perfection of The Incredibles, it sits right with the Toy Story’s, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille as the just about perfect films from the Pixar catalog.

(5 out of 5)

p.s. Presto, the short film in front of Wall-E, is Pixar’s funniest and possibly best overall yet; competing with One Man Band as probably my favorite of the company’s short film catalog. So you are getting a double dose of greatness with this film.

[rating: 4.5/5]