Out of This World

WALL-E

(G)

originally published July 2, 2008

For 700 years, WALL-E, or Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class, has been cleaning an earth left filthy by its population of massive over-consumers. Once part of a fleet of robotic garbage men programmed by the Buy N Large Corporation, WALL-E now labors alone, his only friend a resilient cockroach.

Amid architectural marvels of trash, the boxy little bot with the head of Short Circuit’s Johnny 5 and the body of a trash compactor has become a collector of humanity’s knickknacks (cigarette lighters, rubber duckies, etc.), and after a sesquicentennium of solitary confinement, has developed a soulful curiosity with romantic aspirations that are heavily informed by Hello Dolly. WALL-E is the most human, inhuman character Disney has animated since Pinocchio. WALL-E, with his Woody Allen-ish binocular orbs and nebbishy hand-wringing, is a next gen romantic hero educated in the old school. He says little, and that minimal vocalization - provided by Ben Burtt - singularly strengthens the film’s Jacques Tati-an, silent-era playfulness. Then one day, a ship lands and launches EVE, a temperamental robotic beauty that captures WALL-E’s heart. After a begrudging, one-sided courtship, EVE returns to her spaceship, doggedly followed by WALL-E, thus beginning the most exciting, romantic adventure in the universe.

Pixar worship is far too easy to succumb to, though the studio’s godlike storytellers and animators (John Lasseter and Brad Bird) had begun to seem merely mortal after the retread Cars and the sufficient Ratatouille. Leave it to writer/director Andrew Stanton, whose Finding Nemo is held by many to be Pixar’s peak, to rocket the studio back to the animated heavens.

With WALL-E, a deeply human story with only minimal human interaction and maximum entertainment value, Pixar again pulls off their most stunning feat, making the rare creation of an animated masterpiece look so easy. The sci-fi-romcom still must outlast Toy Story, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo before claiming the title of Pixar’s best film, but the slightly subversive, abstract wonder is certainly Disney’s greatest film since Beauty and the Beast, an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. Yet, WALL-E is no mere cartoon; it is easily the class of 2008’s cinematic output to date. By year’s end, WALL-E, a virtual shoo-in to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, may well deserve American moviedom’s top prize.

Drew Wheeler