When I got the Facebook invitation to see the latest Pixar film with a large group of my friends, it sounded like something intended for.. a younger age group. A quirky robot that resembled ROB traveling across the universe to save the planet? I was hesitant to say the least, but it was Pixar - 'nuf said. I went on opening night and chilled with my friends at the mall for a few hours before it started. This was also the night that I got my Nintendo DS so I was in a pretty good mood already, and the film only made things better.
The first thing I noticed was, as expected from Pixar, the animation is incredible. There's plenty of detail while keeping in line with cartoon goofiness, but the thing that stood out to me was all the little kinks about the characters and environment that brought the world to life and can be appreciated at any age. Many of the way the creators do this are genuinely amusing as well, like when WALL-E explores familiar objects while shifting through trash that litters the Earth of 700 years in the future.
WALL-E is the story of a robot who stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth-Class, designed to clean up the deserted Earth, which was left in a polluted state of ruin with no visible signs of nature. He seems to be the only robot still functioning, but has managed to find his way by continuing to clean and explore, and replace his defective parts when need be. One day, a strange light brings his attention to a new robot that has traveled across the universe to assess the status of life of Earth. WALL-E's adventure takes him back through the universe to the spaceship where human beings currently reside, to help show them what Earth has to offer.
The main characters are all interesting, and personality is given even (or should I say especially) to robots like WALL-E. One thing that will get people to see this movie is just how darn cute he is. lol His rusty design is quite modest in comparison to other characters he meets later on, as is the innocence he displays in his eager curiosity to learn from and help other beings. Of course, the major thing about WALL-E's character, and coincidentally the most curious, is his feelings of loneliness and love.
My favorite part about the movie is the message behind the story. It can be taken as an environmental commentary on where the Earth is headed if we continue on our path of technology, and what that means for us as human beings. Are we reaching a point of efficiency to get what we want, or to get what we need? Should we create a future that is artificial or natural? I think the point is made acutely clear once we see where people are at this point in history, and perhaps this hypothetical scenario is intended to wake us up to dangerous consequences.
The only fault that I can find in WALL-E is that the story can be overly optimistic at times, and things change for the better rather suddenly without much reason. As a message, though, I feel like it works well to inspire that change. I enjoyed WALL-E immensely, and if you've been holding off spending your money on this one I highly encourage you to see it. Add it to the growing list of Pixar masterpieces.
