Lessons in love and life learned from robots

Cert: G. Showing nationwide from July 18th 2008

Wall•E is an expertly blended confection of subtle and overt sci-fi iconography, affable early twentieth century romantic comedies and a keenly-observed environmental warning. But don’t mistake this for a didactic, blaming warning about the state of the planet. This film is far more sophisticated than that.

It would not be an uncontroversial claim to say that Wall•E is perhaps the best animated film in the Pixar cannon. But Wall•E is going to garner the type of devoted fanbase which have affirmed Toy Story and Monsters Inc. as cinematic classics (and not merely animated cinematic classics). Pixar has long been held to be the gold standard of both children’s storytelling and jaw-droppingly astounding animation. Another aspect of the company’s success in translating its storyboards into celluloid gold can be accredited to an oft-enviable blend of comedic and acting talent, replete with perfect chemistry. That particular ingredient worked a treat in the mid-nineties hit Toy Story and remained tried and true throughout the Pixar catalogue up until relatively recently-the last Pixar outing, Cars, received lukewarm reviews. So what did the folks in Pixar do? They re-imagined their storytelling. And in Wall•E , the witty A-list banter is gone. As is the cutesy array of characters. In fact, for about three-quarters of the film and the first half exclusively, there are only two characters in this film. And those characters cannot speak. Make no mistake though, an opportunity to deliver the narrative through physical humour was not missed and the characters remain fun, dynamic and expressive throughout. And that’s no mean feet considering our eponymous protagonist is a rusting outmoded trash-compacting robot. And his companion, EVE, is some kind of iPod-esque, err, pod.

As we have come to expect from Pixar, there are plenty of moments of dazzling animation where motion faultlessly flows or textures appear with all of the tactile attributes one would expect to find in reality itself. The fine craftsmanship of the cartoon will surely delight both adult and child. And for the techo-nerds among us, the repeated references to Sci-Fi genre and Macintosh technology won’t go unmissed (the already cited EVE robot and listen out for Wall•E’s start-up sound). There are also subtler nuances here. For instance, the irony of naming the vessel containing the last of the human race—all of whom are now  debilitatingly overweight and sedated day-and-night by a continual supply of advertising and liquefied food—Axiom, shall not be lost of the shrewd viewer.

In Wall•E Pixar has managed to do something astonishing. This film has been delivered with all of the telltale attributes of a Pixar film (For instance, the theme of the main character aspiring to belong to a family-type unit as seen in any Pixar release to date is here) and given us something completely unexpected. Go. See. Enjoy!