THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"Wall·E"
No Phoning Home This
Wondrous,
Amazing, Lively, Lovable Entertainment
By
Omar P.L. Moore/June
29, 2008
"Wall·E" is a special film, succeeding for about 90% of its duration. The
animated and visual effects sci-fi comedy/drama brings something extra to the
table: a thought provoking exercise of fun that is probably beyond the grasp of
small children even though the film is G-rated (general audiences) by the Motion
Picture Association of America.
"Wall·E", from Pixar Entertainment in conjunction with Walt Disney Pictures,
resembles "2001: A Space Odyssey" both in its lengthy stretches without dialogue
and ominous Auto computer, essentially a reincarnation of HAL 9000. "Wall·E",
which opened on Friday across the U.S. and Canada, centers on a robot of the
same name who is the only artifact left on planet Earth -- specifically a city
whose skyline resembles San Francisco -- in the aftermath of global climate
change begetting environmental disaster and ruin. The time is seven
hundred years into the future -- into the late 2700's to be exact -- and no
human life can be found. Wall·E is a robot trash compactor recycler.
Dutifully he neatly stacks all cans and other recyclable materials and deposits
them in a dumping area. In idle time he wires up an outmoded iPod and a
beyond-outmoded VCR to watch his favorite scene in the film "Hello Dolly!", over
and over again.
Soon Wall·E discovers that he's not alone, and a solitary green plant in a boot
has survived the onslaught of global warming. Moreover, in a number of
scenes forming the film's most disturbing episodes, the only corporation that
exists on the entire planet is BNL,
which not surprisingly owns and controls everything including government -- the
company's fascist overtones further heightened by the appearance of its Global
CEO Shelby Forthright, who pledges (presumably from an undisclosed location) to
"stay the course" as all around him is dire. Fred Willard, the only actual
human actor that we see as a character in "Wall·E", plays Mr. Forthright and
here the comedian is very good at being creepy and smarmy at the same time in
the role.
Meanwhile, the adorable Wall·E has been beamed up to space by Eve, an R2-D2-like
robot assigned to collect plant life for outer spaceship Axiom, steered by its
Captain (voiced by Jeff Garlin). In BNL-land
as it exists in space, all of the animation characters are empty, bloated,
balloon-like and overweight, slavishly gorging on mind-numbing and trivial
entertainments, blindly gliding around Jetson-like through, and accompanied by,
an electronic virtual wasteland of consumerism gone into horrific overdrive
while talking into portable monitors to each other though they travel side by
side. Each glued to a screen image of the other they barely look at the
unfiltered real editions of their opposite correspondent as they talk.
As for the film's production, buoyed by the infectious musical score of composer
Thomas Newman and astoundingly great visuals, including excellent animation,
photography (Jeremy Lasky) and lighting (Danielle Feinberg), "Wall·E", directed
by Andrew Stanton, is a treat, the best entertainment of the summer proper, a
summer which officially began on June 21. This charming, touching film
reaches its apex when maintaining the "I Am Legend"-type interaction between
Wall·E and almost nothingness. Mr. Stanton's film also excels when
Wall·E's interactions with Eve are in full bloom. (Yes, the biblical name
is no accident here, with the budding plant Eve seeks as a symbolic Adam's Rib
to re-kick start God's green earth.) The animated humans bog down the film
somewhat, though much of the dialogue from the Captain is pertinent.
Examples of corporate tyranny and the Captain's insistence on overthrowing rogue
elements on his ship are unnecessarily repetitious, but the need to preserve and
regenerate the health of the environment on planet Earth is never far from the "Wall·E"
creators' minds, serving as an effective cautionary tale.
For sure, Mr. Stanton's film possesses slight technical difficulties, but there
are many more occasions where the wonder and amazement of "Wall·E" is just too
good for words.
Notes: Ben Burtt, who voices the characters Wall·E and M-O, is the sound and
voice character designer on "Wall·E", which also features the voices of Elissa
Knight (as Eve), Kathy Najimy (as Mary), Sigourney Weaver (as the Axiom's
computer) and John Ratzenberger -- who has voiced at least one character in each
and every Pixar Animation film ever made -- as John. "Wall·E" was written
by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, with Mr. Stanton and Pete Docter responsible
for the original story.
"Wall·E" is rated G by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Though it is intended for general audiences, there is a disturbing ubiquity of BNL's
imprint on everything and fascistic uniformity that makes George Orwell's "1984"
very real. The film's duration is one hour and 42 minutes.
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PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights Reserved.