WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class) is the last robot left on earth, and his job is to gather up trash and compact it into cubes; he’s built a whole city out of the centuries of crap that the humans left behind.
WALL-E may have got a little bit human and a tad eccentric over the years - he collects the odd things he finds (Rubik’s cubes, nodding dogs, rubber ducks) - and despite having a chirpy cockroach for company, he’s a little lonely. His guilty pleasure at the end of the day is to watch 60’s musical Hello, Dolly! over and over again.
One day his work is interrupted when a huge spaceship lands and releases a bullet-shaped white robot. WALL-E falls head over heels in love, and whilst EVE is amused by him, she isn’t very interested in his collection of rubbish - until he shows her his very latest find; a tiny plant.
On seeing this, Eve beams it into her storage space and powers down, for she is an Extra-Terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator. Nothing WALL-E can do will spark her back to life and when the spaceship returns for EVE, the lovesick WALL-E grabs on for the ride as they speed towards the space cruiser 'Axiom', the home for humans since they left earth. Now entirely dependent on robots and doing nothing but eating, buying stuff and watching TV, humans have evolved into fatties.
The adventure really begins when WALL-E sneaks on board; what does the Captain (Jeff Garlin) want with the plant? Will WALL-E ever get back to earth, can he make EVE hold his hand (or should that be grab his grabber?) and can this futuristic pair and their malfunctioning friends save the day?
Pixar movies are pretty much the gold standard for animation films today, and WALL-E does not disappoint. Coming from the same writer/director who bought us other gems such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story and Monsters, Inc, WALL-E may actually be at the top of that heap, and maybe second only to (Pixar’s) The Incredibles in recent memory.
It’s the excellent storytelling aspect of WALL-E that helps it hit such heights; the script is tight as a drum, the jokes are well observed and witty, and they come at a regular pace.
Not only that, the premise of a ruined world and lazy humans obsessed by consuming of all kinds is one of the starkest examples of social commentary – without ever feeling shoehorned-in – that I’ve seen in any movie; who would have thought it?
It’s a charming and touching story too; both EVE and WALL-E (who is part 'Number 5' from Short Circuit with a dash of E.T. and even a touch of meerkat) held the audience’s hearts and minds throughout; not bad for characters that only say a few words! Kudos to the voices behind them (Ben Burnit and Elissa Knight, respectively). Also, the choice of Hello, Dolly! (starring the UK’s very own Frank Spencer-turned-musical-star Michael Crawford) was almost genius; its effect on WALL-E (and us) is surprisingly effective.
At around 100 minutes long it’s just about perfect (as opposed to the bloated Potter/Narnia epics) and it’s a real treat for both adults and kids. Hugely enjoyable!
