Posted: Wednesday 23rd July 2008

Reviewed by Lucy Dobson

Wall-E. The last robot left on earth. Brought to you by writer-director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) and the team responsible for The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. If you liked even one of those films, this one will certainly not disappoint.

Wall-E’s job, along with thousands of other Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load-Lifter, Earth-class) units was to tidy up after the humans, who have all jetted off into space for a vacation while Earth is returned to a nice, clean, waste-free zone. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan, and with the majority of the work left to do, Wall-E is the only remaining functional unit, yet he dutifully carries on, day in, day out, tidying our little blue-green planet.

He collects little knick-knacks along the way, amusing himself with old, romantic films (Hello Dolly), which lead him to dream of falling in love and holding the hand of that special person.

That is, until another craft lands and deposits “EVE” (which Wall-E mispronounces “Eva”). And thus Wall-E begins a short and curious observation of this new robot, with whom he falls in love…

But does she return his affection? Well she certainly seems amused by this quaint little character. And so an adventure begins, in which we follow Wall-E halfway across the galaxy in pursuit of his new-found love, running into many new adorable and creatively-named robots (some of which have gone a little mad), including the hilarious “M.O” (Microbe Obliterator), and giving us a glimpse at the fate of the humans. There is a subtle message throughout, a warning almost, about polluting the Earth and what may become of us if we continue to neglect it.

At first the idea of the ‘live-action’ parts included sound ridiculous, but Pixar have actually pulled it off rather well, although the film did not need it. It does still feel a little as if they are solely including them as they feature Fred Willard and perhaps felt this would draw more adults to see the feature, as the voice-cast does not feature many names due to most of the voices being synthetic robot noises. This seems a little sad, as the film alone is good enough to draw in the crowds, without the need for cameos.

As with all Pixar films, there is an animated short, Presto just before the main feature begins, and this one had the entire theatre crying with laughter. Following a magician who forgot to feed his rabbit, who then wreaks havoc during his magic act. It was tough to follow Lifted (which accompanied Ratatouille), but they really pulled this one out of the hat (no pun intended)!

Who wouldn’t be endeared by this funny little rickety robot? Just as EVE is amused by Wall-E, throughout the film, he is impossible not to fall in love with, and it is quite astounding how attached you become to him and how involved you become with his emotions. This film has everything you could ask for, a main character you want to take home with you, romance, tragedy, moments so funny you can’t stop laughing, edge-of-the-seat moments, an intricate and unpredictable plot, a real message about how we treat our planet, and even moments so sad and beautiful, you’ll cry. With a score by Ben Burtt (responsible for the scores of Indiana Jones, ET – the Extra Terrestrial and Star Wars), guest voices and live action sequences featuring the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin and Fred Willard) and as always, mind-blowingly realistic and beautiful Pixar animation, fans of the previous films will be far from disappointed, and in my own case, may even have discovered their favourite-ever Pixar film.