WALL*E - 10/10

Recently the AFI came out with another list, their top 10 movies from ten different genres. They included: Animation, Romantic Comedy, Western, Sports, Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Gangster, Courtroom Drama, and Epic. The new Pixar film WALL*E could easily be number one in at least six of them.

That last statement may reek a bit of hyperbole, and in time, as well as after repeated viewings, 2001: A Space Odyssey may still be a better science fiction movie and Lawrence of Arabia may still be a better epic. However, WALL*E is good, really good, and is at the very least the best movie of 2008 thus far.

The story follows the last remaining solar powered Waste Allocator Load Lifter – Earth Class robot, or in short, WALL*E, around as he picks up the trash on an uninhabited planet Earth. Where did all of the people go? They all packed up and are living in a resort in space, leaving the planet covered in trash from the Big ‘N Large corporation.

WALL*E goes about his day as most of us do. He’s cranky when he wakes up. He packs his lunch pail. He does his job and then goes home to watch TV. His favorite movie is Hello Dolly! which he watches an old VHS copy of every night. WALL*E collects pieces of garbage which he is curious about, and other pieces of trash which may help him dress a bit more like the characters in Hello Dolly! He also practices the dance routines in dreams of impressing a girl so much that she will hold his hand.

One day, as WALL*E is out doing his daily trash duty, a new sleek spaceship comes by to drop off a robot named EVE. WALL*E immediately falls in love with EVE, but EVE has a mission. Her mission is to find vegetation on Earth. In an effort to woo EVE, WALL*E presents her with several gifts, one of which being a plant. EVE collects the plant and shuts down, waiting for the spaceship to come back and pick her up. WALL*E doesn’t understand, but tries desperately to be with her. When the ship comes back and takes EVE away, WALL*E follows after.

The way WALL*E tells its story is a wonder all in its own right. There is hardly any dialogue in the film, yet everything is communicated efficiently and effectively. Most of the emotion comes straight from WALL*E’s eyes and personality. His interactions with EVE are simple enough that anyone can understand them and universal enough that anyone can relate to them. All he wants is someone to hold his hand, isn’t that all anyone really wants?

The only other “living” thing left on the planet, WALL*E isn’t technically living since he is a robot, is a cockroach which WALL*E keeps as his pet. This simple fact makes the movie all that more dark. Occasionally WALL*E will break, or his treads will wear out. In this situation he turns to the remains of other broken down WALL*Es, scavenging them for parts in an almost cannibalistic way. It really is amazing how disturbing the premise and set-up is for this remarkably sweet and heartwarming love story. Although this is easily the darkest movie Pixar has ever made, the disturbing nature of this vision of a dystopian future will no doubt go over the heads of younger viewers. It may have a lasting impression upon the adults who take their children to see WALL*E.

And therein lies the point of the film, or at least what I got out of it. According to WALL*E, 700 years in the future the world is an uninhabitable place where the only skyscrapers left are giant piles of corporate garbage, pushed together by the last remaining robot left to clean up our mess. How did the world get this way? Are we contributing to Pixar’s vision of the future right now?

Think about any kind of social message that was put into Happy Feet or An Inconvenient Truth, then go see WALL*E and think about how much more effective this film is. The key is how we relate to the main character. We can all relate to how WALL*E is inspired to find love through film, and now Pixar is asking us to also be inspired by film, but for a much different reason. On top of that, the film doesn’t talk down to us like Happy Feet, it simply makes us relate.

Aside from how thought-provoking WALL*E can be, the more surface-oriented aspects outshine most other films. Pixar continues to simply make better looking animated films than any other company, and there are some scenes in this film which are really just fun to look at. Characters are developed more thoroughly than in most other films, and it’s done in large part without any vocal communication.

Even more impressive, this film is funnier than any that has come out in the past decade, more so than anything Judd Apatow or Edgar Wright could hope to make. There is plenty of pre-tense for humor without dialogue, but the innocence attached to it in WALL*E makes it so much more touching, and so much funnier. There is also a short before the film about a magician and his bunny which is easily one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

Again, this review may seem like a giant amount of hyperbole, but at the very least, this will be one of the most memorable theater-going experiences of my life. Movies like this make me can’t wait until I have children, so I can share these wonderful movies with them. This is easily the best movie of the year so far, and also Pixar’s best.