Alli and I went and saw WALL·E last night and I gotta say Pixar has once again put together a masterpiece. The way that they’ve taken the small concept for robot tasked with cleaning up Earth and yet turning it into an unlikely love story of epic proportions is nothing short of magnificent. John Lasseter and Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton and Steve Jobs and everyone at Pixar can once again be proud of their little animation studio.
Every year, I look forward to Pixar’s latest release with great anticipation. With the exception of Cars, I’ve yet to be disappointed. (Even Cars is still better than a lot of the dreck that gets thrown up on screen.) When putting WALL·E into the pantheon of Pixar’s pictures, it falls somewhere above Cars and somewhere behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story.
What sets WALL·E apart is that it is largely a statement film, critical of mindless consumerism and environmental carelessness. (Sound familiar?)
Similarities to Short Circuit and Idiocracy aside, WALL·E is a brilliant and beautiful movie, full of stunning imagery on Earth’s landscape of desolation and isolation as well as the vast expanse of space.
Pixar explores some very adult themes with the movie, but presents them in a way that’s approachable, albeit a little bit obvious. They’re certainly not subtle in their criticism, but I found it interesting to be sitting in front of some kids who immediately were able to recognize, “Look at all that TRASH!”
At its most basic, WALL·E is a love story between two robots. As far-fetched as that may seem, it works on every single level and you walk away with an elated feeling, maybe holding your spouse’s hand a little tighter, but definitely smiling.
Go and check it out.
We are really looking forward to seeing it, and with this recommendation, even more so.
Ok- What is up with these GUYS saying this is a love story? I see that as a “side” story. I saw it as a story about what happens to this earth if we continue to “buy in bulk” and have robots doing everything for us, and we lose connection with each other, real connection, not through computers. Darren tells everyone it is a love story and it cracks me up that – he picked that storyline.
I thought it was absolutely precious. Maybe because I was sitting next to Elle as she cried because Wall – E was going to miss his roach. =) But I thought it definitely surpassed Cars – and was a much bigger story than Iron Giant or Short Circuit or Idiocracy. And who can NOT like seeing a bunch of lumpy lazy people ping ponging on a cruise ship to outer space!?