wall·e |

******NOMINATED FOR 6 OSCARS, WON 1******

If it wasn’t for the Toy Story trilogy, Wall•E would be my favorite Pixar film. Now with the release of Inside Out, I feel that Wall•E has some competition! If Wall•E was relevant back in 2008, it is ever more meaningful and essential today, and it’s a film that everyone should watch and take seriously, because Wall•E is probably Pixar’s boldest, gutsiest and most ambitious film yet.

To prepare, Andrew Stanton and the Pixar team working on this film, watched all of the feature length and short films made by Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton, everyday, during lunch for over a year and a half. All this, to inspired the possibilities of pure visual storytelling. This is interesting since, Wall•E for the most part plays like a silent film. The first conversation between Wall•E and Eve takes place about 22minutes into the film, and the first human dialogue is a whole 40minutes in. I think this is wonderful. Cinema was born as a silent art form. Pure visual. For Pixar to go back to the very basics and make a film that echoes the birth of cinema is truly grand, and that is why Wall•E stands out as one of the best films ever made!

One of the things that really stands out is how realistic this film looks and feels. Although it’s technically post-apocalyptic and sci-fi, the design and animation team have really come up with a look that almost feels tangible. To assist the ‘film-look’, things that seem normal in a live action film, like lens flare, focus displacement and focus pulling, are used here, in animation, I mean, who does that!? Pixar does. The attention to detail is phenomenal. The close ups on Wall•E are my favorite of any robot inspired film, the modular design to him is also great. Wall•E is one slick robot, and his mannerism and binocular looking eyes are what give him character. It makes me so excited to see how Pixar has managed to give a robot, so much life and personality! And then there’s Eve…

If Wall•E is slick, then Eve is just, ‘wow’, just ask Wall•E! As some of you may know, Steve Jobs had a close relationship with Pixar up until his sad passing. Almost in homage style, Wall•E has numerous Apple references. The most interesting one is Eve. I didn’t know this until recently, but Eve was designed by non other than Johnathan Ive himself! Eve sure does look like an Apple product! Also the sound that Wall•E makes when he is completely solar-recharged, is the boot up sound to most Macs, which would be very familiar to most of you. Wall•E watches Hello, Dolly on an iPod Classic and Autopilot’s voice is powered by Apple’s text to speech program, MacinTalk. It really is great to find out these intriguing details, which also reveal how, everything that Pixar does has so much meaning behind it!

While we’re on the subject of homages, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odessey features prominently in Wall•E too. The red dot appearance of Autopilot is similar to Hal 9000, and so is his ‘personality’. Apparently Wall•E’s pet cockroach was nicknamed Hal, by the Pixar team.

What makes Wall•E so meaningful is the profound and yet simple message that it delivers. In some of the promotional spots, Wall•E replaces the traditional bulb on the hopping Pixar Lamp with a more environmentally friendly bulb. Wall•E is telling us to love our Earth, it’s our home. We’re all responsible, and we can all do our bit, to make sure we still have, a home. The events of Wall•E take place in 2805, which is a long ways away, but how shameful would it be, if our home was a garbage wasteland!? Wall•E is an appropriate hyperbole of what we are in danger of becoming, if we don’t make change happen. Never has a film been more blunt and direct about this, and that’s why I say that Wall•E is a gutsy film. When was the last time a film had such a strong message, and proved to be simultaneously entertaining?

Another wonderful message found in this film, is that love always finds a way. The editing and subtle score, really make you feel a lot for Wall•E and Eve, and somehow you believe the romance, you feel the romance. I honestly can’t not give this film more praise, it’s a gem, it’s a masterpiece. Please let Wall·E bring out the romantic in you!

TRIVIA COOKIES: Andrew Stanton has been garnished with 2 Oscars, first for Finding Nemo and secondly for Wall·E. We can expect him to return to the director’s chair in the upcoming sequel to Finding Nemo, Finding Dory.

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