WALL·E (2008) voices Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, MacInTalk, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver directed by Andrew Stanton Movie Review

WALL·E (2008)   4/54/54/54/54/5


WALL·E (2008) voices Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard

E-Robot

Not since I was a child has an animation mesmerised me in the way which "WALL.E" did, in fact even as a grown up there have been very few movies which mesmerised like this tale of two robots in the future. From the astounding look, to the storyline and the genius of everyone involved to create a family movie which will appeal to all ages I have to say "WALL.E" is seriously special. And what made it more special for me is the simple fact that long before I watched "WALL.E" I had grown exhausted by the regular output of computer generated animations and so avoided it completely, even to the point of avoiding reading what the synopsis was so when I finally did watch it I did so with no expectations.

As to the story to "WALL.E", well hundreds of years in the future Earth has been abandoned by humans who have gone on to inhabit other regions of space because they have ruined the planet which has become inhabitable under an ocean of waste. But remaining on Earth is WALL.E a small robot whose job it is to clean up the planet, going out each day to collect and compact rubbish. But WALL.E is special because not only does he become fascinated by some of the treasures he finds he adores show tunes and romantic musicals. So when one day a robot called EVE is sent to Earth to look for signs of life WALL.E becomes enamoured with the sleek robot who he saves from a dust storm and shows her his collection of artefacts. When EVE sees a plant he recently collected she shuts down leaving the loved up WALL.E to take her everywhere with him whist trying to get her active again. That is until a spaceship comes and ends up scooping EVE up and leading to WALL.E hitching a lift following her into space.

WALL·E (2008) voices MacInTalk, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver

As a reviewer I don't like divulging too much storyline I feel it spoils the element of surprise for those looking to gain an idea of whether to watch a movie or not. Ironically whilst that synopsis is a lot more than I tend to write it only covers about the first third of the movie and there is a whole lot more which follows with WALL.E reaching a space station where humans now life and have grown fat and reliant on technology. Yes "WALL.E" is a movie which makes a comment about the way society is heading and yes that makes it entertaining for grown ups who generally would not watch an animation because of the lack of depth.

But that for me isn't what makes "WALL.E" special, nope for me is that it is a sweet love story. Right from the word go we fall for WALL.E thanks to the smart humanisation of him with human traits but also because despite being a robot he is obviously lonely. Watching him listen to show tunes and then try to hold his own hand when a romantic moment comes up on a musical video he is watching just touches you as does his cute attempts to woo EVE when this sleek robot arrives. And when EVE shuts down the loyalty which WALL.E shows to her is simply beautiful. Basically "WALL.E" along with a social commentary is also this sweet love story.

And there is more because the computer generated animations during those first 30 minutes are out of this world, in fact the whole movie is brilliantly animated but those first 30 minutes are something else. The rendering of this apocalyptic future where we meet WALL.E amongst a city covered in waste is mind blowing in its authenticity. In fact the animation quality in "WALL.E" is of such a high standard that it puts most other animations to shame including many which have come after.

What this all boils down to is that "WALL.E" is a seriously special movie and it is one of a new breed of animations which whilst delivering a fun story for children also delivers a charming story for grown ups as well.


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