And, In Conclusion -- Wall-E

I got out of seeing Wall-E about two hours ago as I write this. And
as I turn it over in my mind, I think I'm facing an inescapable
conclusion.
I think Wall-E may be the perfect movie.
I can't think of a single complaint, a single thing I would like done
differently, a single thing I thought was overlooked, nothing. And it
stayed with me. I was really quiet leaving the theater, and haven't
spoken much since then.
The movie is directed by Andrew Stanton, the man who made me a Pixar
fan. Before that, I thought Pixar wasn't bad for the most part. At
least, when they weren't annoying me outright, like how the ending of
Toy Story completely disregarded the fates of the imperfect toys that
helped Woody and Buzz escape. But Finding Nemo was a beautiful work
of art, proving that you can take an editorial fiat like "sell toys"
and make something incredible out of it. I haven't been let down by
them since.
Wall-E is a tiny robot on Earth, literally the last of his kind.
He's what we Chicagoans call a Grabowski -- he gets up, goes to work,
gives his all. However, Wall-E has a personality (it seems he's the
last of his kind because he has self-preservation instincts. He can
literally take care of himself, while a sea of other Wall-E units
apparently couldn't). His whole job is to clean up the planet,
compacting garbage and sorting it. However, Wall-E has a sense of
wonder about the world around him, and he collects things he finds
interesting, creating a little world in his storage hut full of beauty
he saves from his job.
One day, another robot, named Eve, comes to Earth. Wall-E is unsure
who she is or what she wants, but he's instantly smitten with her.
Then, the mystery starts to unravel when he shows her a recent
treasure he's discovered, a plant fighting for life among the garbage
that Wall-E has planted in an old boot. From there, it's a journey
through space to the Axiom, a home for humans who left the planet 700
years earlier.
The movie was originally going to be made instead of Monsters, Inc,
but the director was unsure if he could pull of the robot romance.
Good thing, too. The Pixar at the time couldn't have made this
movie. Let's start with the foundation of the whole thing, the
writing. Wall-E doesn't do things for others so much as inspire them
to do things for themselves. In a world where the humans are just as
locked into routines and unalive as the robots who take care of them,
Wall-E creates a revolution purely on accident, like how Mo is so
obsessive about cleaning up, he willingly breaks away from the preset
paths he supposed to follow. The script itself follows a non-
traditional narrative path, like Ratatouille last year. I suspect
this was the one of the immediate benefits to Pixar becoming the ruler
of Disney's animation roost. (The movie is preceded by an animated
short, with titles like the old Disney cartoon shorts, that takes its
central plot mechanic and milks it for all its worth. I was laughing
so hard, I was crying.) The scenes are so packed with meaning, depth,
and emotion, it's astounding.
A cavaet: when I reviewed AI a long time ago, I mixed it up with
other movie reviewers over the film's central concept, that a non-
living thing can evolve emotions, intution, a soul, basically. If you
cannot buy this concept, most of the movie is going to slide right off
you.
The character designs are great. Wall-E reminds me of a design for
an airport -- at the time, he was state of the art, but as time goes
on, he looks less and less amazing, especially when newer specimens
are introduced. Wall-E and Eve have to act with body language and
with their eyes. Sort of like V For Vendetta, they are hobbled by
interference to basic expression and have to compensate in other
ways. And they do. Considering Disney's philosophy was to reduce
human expressions to basic states and transplant them onto the cartoon
characters, this student surpasses his master in many ways. I was
also thankful that Wall-E's solar charge never became a ticking clock
element (when I saw that on the toys in the store, I thought the plot
would go in a certain direction. Never did). Wall-E's wide eyed
innocence and sweetness keeps him from being regarded as a loser when
he makes mistakes or things don't go quite right. It's a tricky
character balancing act, and they pull it off expertly.
From a technical standpoint, this is the best computer animation
ever. The Pixar staff has managed to recreate the look and texture
that film stock from the 1970-80's sci-fi revolution created, with
mugginess hazing over the city landscapes and the colorful yet sterile
look inside the Axiom (take note, Wachowski's, this is how the scenes
inside the evil corporation in Speed Racer should have looked). The
film painstakingly invokes the look and feel it is after, and the
clean, straightforward style of Pixar at the time of Monsters Inc
never would have pulled it off.
Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo) returns to do the score, and he serves
up an A+ job. Wall-E's music is quiet, quirky, and distinct, like
Alan Silvestri's theme for the mouse in MouseHunt. Eve, and scenes
with her, get a much more lush orchestral score with full string
sections to contrast with Wall-E's pluck pluck pluck compositions. It
underscores the action perfectly.
The directing is likewise incredible. One scene, with Wall-E and Eve
outside the Axiom doing a dance in space, is a celebration of wonder
and the liberating camera movements computer animation provides. In
fact, the movie HAS to be computer animated. The movements are so
fast and so precise, even Chuck Jones in his heyday would have had
trouble keeping up.
The most interesting thing is that it isn't just a love story. Like
V For Vendetta and The Prisoner, Wall-E is a warning to humanity about
what it is in danger of becoming. But it has faith in mankind's sense
of wonder and accomplishment, and uses the robots spur this on. The
movie never drags, never gets preachy, and every emotion is earned.
(The movie is preceded by a preview for a new Disney CGI movie called
Bolt that looks like it's not going to come anywhere close to this
mark.)
I'm still in awe of what I saw on the screen. I can't wait to see it
again. I missed it last weekend, but caught it this weekend. And
chances are excellent I'll see it again next weekend....

Can't wait for it to come out on BluRay.

On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:58:28 -0700, The Wanderer wrote:
[color=blue]
> Can't wait for it to come out on BluRay.[/color]

Mark your calendar for November 8th, then. :)

--
Glenn Shaw • Indianapolis, IN USA
To reply by e-mail, swap the net and cast

On Jul 6, 11:07 am, Glenn Shaw <tog...@comnet.cast> wrote:[color=blue]
> On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:58:28 -0700, The Wanderer wrote:[color=green]
> > Can't wait for it to come out on BluRay.[/color]
>
> Mark your calendar for November 8th, then. :)
>
> --
> Glenn Shaw • Indianapolis, IN USA
> To reply by e-mail, swap the net and cast[/color]

They've already announced it?!? Wow! That didn't take long.