WALL-E

Director Andrew Stanton (Cars, etc.) does it again! Cars (Widescreen Edition) What a great film and a great DVD that's been put out by Disney-Pixar. Yes, of course there are messages about the environment, but critics to the contrary (the one star wonders) this is a message that needed to be said. And said in a very entertaining way. It's a love story -- the little trash compactor Wall-E who is the last of his kind, achieved sentience and collects all kinds of stuff. Talks to my inner pack rat. And EVE, the female robot with the electronic giggle who shoots straighter than Annie Oakley and though at first run by her "directive" can bypass her programming and make things happen. Gee, I might be set up in my "programming" too -- Internet, TV, commercials, etc., etc. It's a sci fi nostalgia: Otto the Wheel auto pilot of course is an echo of HAL in the great film 2001: A Space Odyssey -- they even play the theme from it! 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition) It's a film of discovery: I don't just want to survive, I want to live. It's a wake-up call that there's more to life than shopping malls and insincere mega-corporations (B&L).... And are we blocking out so much human contact through the internet and sucked so into our iPods we forget there are people out there to meet and greet. It's a seamless animation piece. The sound effects, live action and animation are so seamless, so perfect -- Pixar has really raised the standard. The DVD: Interesting box, funny reticular cover. Little cardboard holder for the DVD itself with a list of scene selections. Burn-E, another little robot droid who gets sucked into the adventure of Wall-E and EVE. Presto, a fun animation that harkens back to the good old cartoon days of Hanna Barbera and Chuck Jones films of the fifties and sixties. Deleted scenes add a bit more to the story but nothing spectacular. Wall-E's tour of the universe takes us out there, gives a bit more animation. The legends of Disney sound effects and animation go into fascinating detail. If you're a history buff of Disneyania, then this is for you. Sneak Peeks gives us the low-down on the newest DVDs coming out: Prince Caspian, the 70th anniversary of Pinocchio and more. Actual NASA space shots in a lot of sequences. And of course the advertising and the yada yada we're Disney blah blah. But that's OK too. This set is a great product and Pixar's animation magic makes it worth the price of the box!

good movie

I am floored. I didn't think it was possible for Pixar to surpass Toy Story , but it has. A sophisticated treat for adults and teens, a cuddly romance for the juice-box set, this comedic science fiction thriller romance (really!) takes the company to a new, more mature level. Filled with artistry, depth, meaning and a lot of humor, WALL-E is a masterpiece. Where Cars was a kid's movie with added adult themes, this is an adult movie with added value for children. DIALOGUE SCHMIALOGUE Before I saw WALL-E I had read about the lack of dialogue, and how it might be a risky move for Pixar to make a film with characters that don't talk in a traditional sense. Well, trash that. The most emotionally powerful scenes in this movie are those with the LEAST dialogue. Fully developed and indeed almost human, the two main characters are Wall-E himself (the letters stand for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class; there's also a WALL-A) and EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), two machines in love. After about a half hour I was wondering if Pixar could continue to pull off this less-is-more concept for the rest of the film -- then the two robots started playing Pong! Such imaginative screenplay carries the film to what should be a Best Picture nomination. Seriously. A TOUCHING STORY WALL-E is a lonely little robotic trash compactor who was left behind after Earth was abandoned some 700 years earlier. He has been methodically cleaning up the trash-ridden planet ever since, and harboring a tiny plant he has found among the garbage. Eve, meanwhile, lives on the immense spaceship Axiom, which is also home to the fat, blob-like remains of the human race. She is a probe robot that flies to Earth to determine if the planet is ready for habitation. WALL-E takes one look at the streamlined, angelic Eve and falls in love. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with the little robot. As soon as he giggled (after his pet cockroach tickled him) I was hooked. This hardworking rusty guy with his small home full of collected treasures is so poignant. His lonely life is so human. Eve is just as likable, but much more sleek. Near the end comes a heartbreaking moment when a key character seems to lose all personality, all self. So well done, it made me think of how families must feel when a loved one disappears inside him- or herself with Alzheimer's disease. All ends well, of course. As the credits roll, the artwork illustrates how everyone and everything lives happily after ever. AN ADULT MEANING For adults, WALL-E is not so much about a cute little robot as it is about the future of man. What happens when humans become such creatures of the consumer culture, so fat they can't even stand up without assistance, living literally on auto-pilot, that they do nothing but buy cheap merchandise, stuff their faces at the Regurgitated Food Buffet and lie around watching video screens? Can they ever get back to the land and set their souls free? Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young asked that question decades ago; Pixar asks it today. There is even a sly political reference. Broadcasting a message to the passengers of the spaceship, the CEO of monster corporation Buy 'n' Large -- played in live-action by the inimitable Fred Willard, and named Shelby Forthright -- says they will be continuing on their never-ending, hopeless cruise to nowhere because they must "Stay the course!" Hmmm, haven't I heard a president use that line? EXTRA TOUCHES WALL-E has so many wonderful touches! After the little robot is charged using his solar panels, he "turns on" with a sound any Macintosh owner will recognize. The robot's collected objects, much like the thingamabobs of The Little Mermaid 's Ariel, are things that are uniquely human: bubble wrap, an iPod, a Rubics cube, a singing plastic trophy fish and -- blink and you'll miss it -- a carrousel horse from Walt Disney World. Especially inspired are the two things on this future Earth that are totally indestructible: a cockroach and Twinkies. Stay for the credits. Recalling cave drawings, hieroglyphics, Monet and Van Gogh paintings and early computer graphics, the progressive sequence of art within them sneaks in the history of dialogue-free storytelling. ANIMATED? REALLY? The look of the movie is hard to describe. In one scene, when WALL-E and EVE are investigating a piece of bubble wrap, you can't tell it is an animated film. It actually appears to be live-action. Likewise, the outer space scenes have the same level of realism as any of the Star Wars movies. The trailing tower of squiggly smoke that's left behind by a launching spacecraft re-creates the Florida sky of a Space Shuttle launch to a T. For the most part, it is only when humans are portrayed that you are consciously aware that what you're watching was generated on circuit boards, not in cameras. I've seen the movie three times, first in digital projection and then from a film projector. The digital showing was much sharper, which made all the realistic touches far easier to appreciate. MOVIE REFERENCES It's obvious the Pixar folks are movie lovers; there are so many cinematic inspirations in WALL-E that I lost count. The "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" sequence from Hello, Dolly! shows up -- literally -- maybe half a dozen times. (Disney World fans may also remember the song as one of the background melodies along Main Street U.S.A.) The Axiom spaceship's computer is clearly an homage to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey ; that film's signature overture "Also Sprach Zarathustra" plays at a key moment. WALL-E himself combines the purrs of E.T. , the attitude of R2-D2 and the moves of Charlie Chaplin. There's a brief reference to Titanic . OPENING CARTOON The movie is preceded by a Pixar short, "Presto," that had the entire audience I was sitting with in stitches. Its plot: When a magician neglects to feed his bunny a carrot, an escalating disaster results. It's so nice to start a feature with a cartoon. I wish other studios still did it. (Disney fans will note the magician's hat is similar to the one used by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. ) Will it ever run out? This continuous font of imagination from Pixar? With WALL-E, it sure doesn't look like it. -- By Julie Neal, author of The Complete Walt Disney World 2010 .

A true childhood relic!

This movie is a classic. If you've never watched it, then I don't know what you're doing. This is one of the best movies ever made in my opinion, especially for children. All people will love this movie, children and adults alike

best animation work after final fantasy

Ótimo filme infantil e para adultos também!

Un très grand film d'animation, plein de tendresse, d'humour...et de philosophie !

Quel film extraordinaire, en plus de la qualité 4K, génial.

What a little treasure of a movie! This is arguably not just the best animated movie of the year, but possibly simply the best movie of the year. There is an unabashed love of the essence of cinema, of visual stimulus and sound to tell a story which is rarely seen. Certainly, rarely imbued with such originality and warmth. Our little hero is a waste disposal unit, left on an earth which is polluted and trashed, slowly making his way through huge mountains of garbage. He has evolved a personality since mankind left 700 years ago.. a personality that lets him learn how to hold affection for EVE, a modern sleek robot who arrives one day on a secret mission. When she returns to space, Wall*E follows and he finds out what has happened to mankind and may even hold the key to changing their path, as he forms a deeper bond with EVE. The opening scenes are breathtakingly beautiful and detailed - the squeaks and whistles that form Wall*E's voice truly define his personality to the audience, and his antics never fail to draw the viewer in, as he collects artifacts (in a way reminiscent of Ariel in Little Mermaid). In truth, the most cartoon and unbelievable characters in the movie are the humans, once Wall*E finds them. That quibble aside, we are left with a movie put together with huge care and attention which delights from beginning to end. For the cinema buff, there are enough references to classics such as 2001, Silent Running and others to appreciate along the way. It certainly cannot be overlooked that this is probably the finest animation Pixar has ever achieved. At times during the first 20 minutes especially, you could almost be watching live action. But it is not just the quality of craftsmanship of the manufacture of the movie. Once again, Pixar have created genuine characters - even if they ARE `just' robots, and, crucially, storytelling that really works. Joyously, the eco-message is never slapped in your face in a moment of sentimentality. The tightrope between gooey sentimentality and genuine warmth is duly walked, with stunning effect. All in all, an unmissable movie - if you think you don't like animation, get off your high horse and prepare to be gobsmacked. If you like Pixar's output already, prepare to see them at their most imaginative. Simply perfect.