Wall.e review

What I noticed about this movie, compared to other of its Pixar predecessors, was that it had less action. No chase scenes like in Ratatouille, no fight scenes like in The Incredibles, no adrenaline pumping race scenes like in Cars. the only reason why I wanted to state this at the first part of my review was that i heard that people were sleeping in the cinema during the course of this movie. I mean like, WHAT? That’s stupid. Even my dad said that he preferred Presto (the short about a magician and his bunny. Really witty.) compared to the actual show. I think, to people who love those hollywood epic feel with lots of (mindless) action and stuff, you will probably find Wall.e a bore.

I absolutely loved Wall.e. In a lot of movies, there were scenes where I found the character interaction very cute, or humorous. Wall.e provides a lot of these moments, and a lot of time to savour them, instead of the usual, “OKAY, NEXT ACTION SEQUENCE! KABOOM!” which may make Wall.e seem a little draggy to some, but I think it’s nice.

I think that one of the themes of Wall.e is the exploration of the human spirit (or rather, the definition of the human spirit from the point of view of the people who live in our time.). Well, Wall.e is a robot, but then he seems more like a human (character-wise) as compared to the humans who live on AXIOM. Okay, him and the robots from the maintenance place (which looks like a Mad People Hospital to me, by the way.) They can have fun, are not afraid to be a bit chaotic at times, and they are so different in their own ways. It’s very fun to watch. I bet that since they are really chaotic compared to the other robots and wired up humans, the animators have to put in a lot more hours just to animate the lot of them compared to the other AXIOM humans. Anyway, wall.e has a lot of heart. Very inquisitive, caring, sometimes careless, and really sweet. Of course, he gets into a lot of danger, and it’s a good thing that he can withstand these dangers. i.e. High temperature, lighting, going out in space, and so on. Eve on the other hand, is more task oriented, and it’s interesting to note how they influence each other’s decisions and priorities as the movie progresses.

I found that the ship’s captain (forgot what his name was.) seemed a lot like the guy that works in the bar in Pleasantville. In Pleasantville, that guy did the same thing in the same order every single day, and he looks forward to painting the Christmas murals every year because it was the one thing which he can do differently each time. He likes variety, just like Captain whatshisname, who has to go through the same routine every single day, checking the weather, temperature, population and other stuff (which doesn’t change at all.) and when he realizes that he is late for the morning announcements, he exclaims that morning announcements was the only thing that he gets to do on his ship, and quickly sets back the time so that he can do it. In both their societies, they have to keep doing the same thing over and over again, and they seem to be the only ones that actually like change, compared to the rest of their kind. That character immediately jumped to my mind when I saw that scene. And like in Pleasantville, the main

characters was the agent of change in the new environment, which both happen to be a very boring, seemingly idealistic place that seems to have it all, but in reality holding nothing of true happiness, and these characters wake the people up, show them something new, and make the new place more interesting. (Like Wall.e accidentally making this guy fall off his chair, and “detaching” the woman from her screen.)

Wow, I really don’t like Buy N large. It’s so freaky. Their commercials rhyme. It reminds me of the days before the great depression in the 1930s. (No, I’m not that old.) And life on Axiom is WAY creepy. The part which really disturbed me was the part when the babies were taught the alphabet (A is for AXIOM, you home. B is for BUY AND LARGE, your very best friend.) *shudders* It’s very creepy, the way they control the lives of everyone on the ship. And it also kind of reminds me of the consumerist culture of long ago because the people readily followed the advertisements without much thought. (then again, they don’t have to actually work or do anything anyway. ) Which is one reason why I really like the captain. He stood up to the robot and is determined to get the human population back to earth.

Did anyone notice that the credits have a few different art styles?

I could pick out the egyptian style (who wouldn’t?), but then it was some style which I didn’t recognize, then it was the impressionist style. I think it might represent the progress of civilization all over again. (Oh yeah, and the people gradually slimmed down. LOL.)

And finally, what ties the wonderful scripting, storyline and brilliant ideas all together to form a wonderful masterpiece is the art. It’s wonderful, rich, and very varied. It amazes me, that each and every environment looks and feels different. From the lighting used to how the objects in the environment reflect light. And i think that one of the most amazing parts is how they showed the vastness of space, and the dust that clouds the earth. Although I was skeptical of their success in using live action for the first time in their movies, it actually turned out pretty good and it blended in so well with the computer graphics. (I just hope that they would not overuse this effect.) Pixar movies never fail to make me happy.