WALL-E Walt Disney Pictures
Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey Karten
Grade: B-
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Written By: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon
Cast: Voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Macintalk, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
Screened at: Regal E-Walk, NYC, 6/24/08
Opens: June 27, 2008 One of the errors of omission that critics make when they write about what they see is that we emphasize story over film-making art. In other words we review movies from a literary standpoint instead of a cinematic one. Are the characters believable? Does the narrative move forward at an appropriate pace? Are the actors sleepwalking through their roles, or are they well cast and emoting as expected? When we review an animated work, however, style IS substance. We want to delight in the magical ways the animators show off their skill in designing the action, making inanimate objects lifelike and enchanting. The story is secondary. “Wall-E” is one such victory of style over substance. Though the story mixes genres in a creative way—comedy, sci-fi, satire, romance—the robotic antics become tiresome with an overdose of “character development” until the automatons reconnect with human beings on a nearby galaxy. The title figure’s name is an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Litter Earth-Class. Wall-E’s job has always been to pick up litter, compact it, and place it into neat piles. But the planet Earth became so encrusted with dirt that it was no longer inhabitable. Seven hundred years from now, people have deserted their home, taking off on luxury space cruises, but accidentally forgetting to turn off one desperately lonely robot, whose only hobby while doing his job is to collect widgets—a Rubik Cube, a bulb, a spork—the last being a plastic utensil that can be used as both a fork and a spoon. His favorite item is a VHS tape of the movie “Hello Dolly,” where he learns that human beings dance, hold hands, and sing. From out of nowhere comes a potential mate named Eve, acronym for Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluated. She has been sent to Earth by the captain of the luxury ship to scan the Earth and report back on its ability to sustain life. Whether there is real chemistry between Wall-E and Eve can be left to the judgments of audience members. One wonders throughout about what kind of female robot could fall for a gent covered by seven hundred years of dirt, though maybe the undesirability of filth is strictly a cultural matter invented by humans. Plants seem not to mind at all. The “human” dimensions are more interesting, which is where the mildly left-wing aspects become prominent. Men and women floating about on the captain’s ship are one hundred percent obese, since they have nothing to do but lie around drinking and eating and listening to commercials from a corporation that seems to have bought out every other store in space. Eve and Wall-E have shot themselves up into space to join the human beings, their poking about leading to an array of situations that some might find humorous, others inane. As stated before, the animation is what this is all about, with Pixar Studios determined to show off the same pleasures found in “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Cars” and others. The two lead robots could almost have come out of the silent movie tradition, since all they say are “Eva” and “Wall-E,” “Wall-E” and “Eva,” ad nauseum. Ben Burtt takes on the voice of Wall-E, the obvious choice since Burtt had designed the robots’ sound in the “Star Wars” series. Fred Willard appears as the only recognizable human being, a talking head representing the BnL corporation, while Jeff Garlin assumes the role of the captain, eager to return home to Earth as soon as he sees evidence in a lonely little plant that our planet may sustain life. Parents, escorted by their eight-year-olds, will be disappointed by the simplicity of the story, which lacks wit and a courageous satiric bite. The real pleasure of the day, however, is a five-minute short that precedes the main attraction. “Presto” is a comic gem about a magician whose bunny goes on strike, since the furry friend is unable to convince his human partner to hand over a carrot. “Presto” evokes the ideal combination of style and substance, a laugh-a-second piece of Pixar fantasy. Rated G. 90 minutes. © 2008 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online
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