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WALL·E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
Since there have been so many WALL·E reviews around the site, I'm not sure that there are reasons for me to recount the plot, so I'll be brief. I'm pretty sure that most people realize that it takes place in the year 2815 and begins on Earth where the only things which seem to be "alive" are a small robot who tries to clean up the trash and an especially-resilient cockroach-type creature. All the humans left the planet 700 years earlier on a huge spaceship which was designed by the mega corporation/world government called Buy and Large, with the intention of only being away for about five years. There were apparently millions of WALL·Es left behind, but now there seems to be one, and shortly after the film begins, he finds green plant life growing in the soil.
Soon a spaceship appears and leaves a probe behind to search for signs of life. This probe is called EVE, and it is like nothing WALL·E has ever seen before. In fact, although WALL·E (ostensibly playing a male) is frightened by EVE's seemingly violent nature and firepower, he finds himself attracted to her as a companion along the lines of the ones he sees in the film version of Hello, Dolly! which he watches repeatedly. Eventually, both machines find themselves on the huge spaceship where the descendents of the humans who left 700 years earlier live blissfully unaware of their history or potential. OK, that wasn't as brief as I intended.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It creates a barren, grimy Earth, a beautifully inviting Solar System and a unique vision of human life on a spaceship far in the future. It succeeds on all levels of storytelling for me. I especially loved the homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Thomas Newman's magical musical score is one of the two best I've heard this year, along with Carter Burwell's terrific In Bruges score. I'm also happy about who they used as the voice of the ship's computer. I can believe that some people may find it to be a kiddie movie, but I think it's far too romantic and thought-provoking to relegate it to that realm. I also didn't find myself being swamped by the film's message of conservation vs. consumerism as many others have. I thought the film's overriding message was one of humanity, and if it takes some non-human "creatures" to help us rediscover our lost humanity, that's OK with me. I don't find WALL·E to be a political film along the lines of Persepolis; that's for sure.
Since there have been so many WALL·E reviews around the site, I'm not sure that there are reasons for me to recount the plot, so I'll be brief. I'm pretty sure that most people realize that it takes place in the year 2815 and begins on Earth where the only things which seem to be "alive" are a small robot who tries to clean up the trash and an especially-resilient cockroach-type creature. All the humans left the planet 700 years earlier on a huge spaceship which was designed by the mega corporation/world government called Buy and Large, with the intention of only being away for about five years. There were apparently millions of WALL·Es left behind, but now there seems to be one, and shortly after the film begins, he finds green plant life growing in the soil.
Soon a spaceship appears and leaves a probe behind to search for signs of life. This probe is called EVE, and it is like nothing WALL·E has ever seen before. In fact, although WALL·E (ostensibly playing a male) is frightened by EVE's seemingly violent nature and firepower, he finds himself attracted to her as a companion along the lines of the ones he sees in the film version of Hello, Dolly! which he watches repeatedly. Eventually, both machines find themselves on the huge spaceship where the descendents of the humans who left 700 years earlier live blissfully unaware of their history or potential. OK, that wasn't as brief as I intended.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It creates a barren, grimy Earth, a beautifully inviting Solar System and a unique vision of human life on a spaceship far in the future. It succeeds on all levels of storytelling for me. I especially loved the homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Thomas Newman's magical musical score is one of the two best I've heard this year, along with Carter Burwell's terrific In Bruges score. I'm also happy about who they used as the voice of the ship's computer. I can believe that some people may find it to be a kiddie movie, but I think it's far too romantic and thought-provoking to relegate it to that realm. I also didn't find myself being swamped by the film's message of conservation vs. consumerism as many others have. I thought the film's overriding message was one of humanity, and if it takes some non-human "creatures" to help us rediscover our lost humanity, that's OK with me. I don't find WALL·E to be a political film along the lines of Persepolis; that's for sure.