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Wall*E – Spoiler Free Review

Mark my words, fair readers, Wall*E will win an Academy Award; probably for animation…however this is a serious Best Picture contender. I try to avoid any Oscar talk in film reviews, but I must get it out of the way. Wall*E is not only my favorite film of this year so far, but it is hands down my favorite Pixar film; bold statement I know, but trust me on this.

Writer/Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) brings us an amazing film about the future of our planet, humanity and the most endearing little robot we have ever met...

The Buy n’ Large corporation has created a class of robots: Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth class (WALL*E) to clean up the Earth after humanity, with a little help from the conglomerate, has pretty much left the place a dumpster. 7 centuries after humanity has left Earth, WALL*E is doing his thing and cleaning the planet of debris, like a mini-trash compacter. All along collecting little knick-knacks like the Rubik’s Cube and light bulbs all while keeping himself company with a little cockroach friend.

Then out of the sky comes a large ship and a little egg shaped robot called EVE, coming to Earth scanning everything she comes across. WALL*E is smitten and begins following EVE everywhere she goes and they form a unique relationship. One thing leads to another and WALL*E finds himself following EVE back onto her ship and into the nether regions of space. And that is where my plot summary ends my fair readers. I implore you to go see WALL*E because I am saying no more about the details of the film.

What makes WALL*E so amazing? A number of things, first and foremost is the company known a Pixar. Stanton has been said many times that he and the staff at Pixar are movie geeks through and through and their sole purpose it to make solid entertaining films for everyone. There is no formula, there is no need to make a trillion dollars. They do want job security, by making films so good that they can continue making more films. The rate they are going they will be making movies for the rest of our existence.

Another amazing aspect of WALL*E is that there is not a lick of dialogue in the first 30-40 minutes of the film. The sound design of both WALL*E and EVE are amazing and the brain-child of the great sound designer Ben Burtt (Star Wars and E.T.). Burtt seals the deal perfect at the audience bonds over the characters. The first act is all about WALL*E happily going about his business and meeting EVE. To have such a solid and believable narrative with no dialogue between machines is no easy feat. Once we do meet people they are not the focus, it’s all about the machines, the robots, and their relationships.

Speaking of relationships, there has been no sweeter romance on screen then that of the relationship between WALL*E and EVE. The fact that an animated romantic story between two robots shows more heart and emotion then many live action films shows how amazing this film truly is. The movement of WALL*E’s eyes, his hand movements and the little cooler he carries around just makes him so appealing. Just thinking about it as I write just fills my heart with all kinds of goodness. I can’t help but smile when I think of this amazing film. I have to mention how amazing the animation in this film is. Pixar’s technology just gets better and better with each film and WALL*E is no exception. Many times, I forgot I was watching a CGI film. The animation is flawless.

Don’t let the fact that WALL*E is rated G throw you off, remember folks this is Pixar. I saw this film with a theatre full off kids, including my 3 and 6 year olds. My 3 year old daughter was glued to the screen and silence befell the theatre the second WALL*E appeared on screen. Not a peep was heard throughout, good luck on that happening in any other "family" film.

I’ll be hard pressed to find another film this year in which I have such an emotional attachment to like that of WALL*E. I must go see this again and again. You will too, this is darn near perfection my friends.