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WALL-E

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WALL-E
File:WALL-Eposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrew Stanton
Written byAndrew Stanton
Peter Docter
Jim Reardon
Produced byJim Morris
John Lasseter
StarringBen Burtt
Elissa Knight
Sigourney Weaver
Jeff Garlin
Fred Willard
John Ratzenberger
Kathy Najimy
Edited byStephen Schaffer
Music byThomas Newman
Peter Gabriel (song)
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Release dates
June 27, 2008 (USA)
July 18 2008 (UK)
September 18, 2008 (AUS)
Running time
98 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$120,000,000[1]
Box office$23,300,000

WALL-E (promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E) is a 2008 computer animated-adventure-comedy-science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 27, 2008.[2] The film follows the romance between two robots in the future. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton, whose previous film, Finding Nemo, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Most of the characters do not have human voices, but communicate with sounds (designed by Ben Burtt) which resemble voices.

Plot

The movie begins in the year 2815 on Earth, which is now completely devoid of life, except for WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) (Ben Burtt), a trash-compacting robot, and his cockroach companion, Hal. WALL-E's directive is to convert the billions of tons of garbage that cover the Earth's surface into a disposable form (trash compacted into cubes and stacked into tower-like constructs), and thus allow life to prosper once more. The Buy 'n Large corporation, a massive conglomerate controlling the entirety of Earth's former consumerist lifestyle, sponsored a massive exodus from the Earth onto a fleet of space station resorts, one of them the Axiom, while thousands of WALL-E units would make the planet habitable once more. The program has failed, though, and all WALL-E units save the main character (who was apparently missed) have been deactivated.[3] WALL-E uses parts from the other units to repair himself. He is something of a packrat, and his "home" station houses, in addition to stored spare parts, knick-knacks such as a Rubik's Cube, an iPod, and a light bulb. He uses a lunchbox-sized picnic cooler hung off a retracting hook on his back as a backpack, tossing in whatever interesting tidbits he finds while at work. In addition, he has a treasured VHS video cassette copy of Hello Dolly, which gives him special notions of emotional contact.

While charging his solar cells, the robot sees a strange light and pursues it only to learn that it's part of a tracking light pattern of a spaceship that almost lands on top of him. WALL-E discovers a newer model of robot, named EVE, which is an acronym for Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, (Elissa Knight), being deployed and inexplicably scanning the Earth for something while firing at anything moving with an arm-mounted laser cannon. EVE eventually warms up to WALL-E with the help of Hal. He takes her to his home where he shows her his prized possession: A small plant he had recently found and planted in an old boot he'd collected. Following her programming to the letter, EVE immediately scans it, grabs the plant from WALL-E, inserts it inside her, and auto-deactivates herself. WALL-E goes to great lengths to protect her deactivated body, including electrocuting himself several times to protect EVE in a storm. When EVE is eventually picked up by the spaceship that dropped her off, WALL-E stows away and eventually finds himself on the Axiom. WALL-E narrowly escapes notice by some cleaner robots, and goes into the Axiom's interior. One of the cleaners, named M-O, however, follows WALL-E's dirty tracks, as he is programmed to clean foreign contaminants.

Humanity has, thanks to 700 years of liquid food, hi-tech wheelchairs (lounger-like hoverchairs), low gravity levels, and all labor done by robots, become incredibly lazy and morbidly obese. Even the Axiom's captain has delegated all duties to the autopilot, AUTO (MacInTalk), save morning announcements. WALL-E follows EVE's body, carried by a hovering stretcher, befriending two passengers, John and Mary, along the way. EVE's body is presented to the captain (Jeff Garlin) and AUTO, while WALL-E watches from a mostly-hidden location. The captain finds that, if life were to be retrieved from Earth, that there are orders from Buy 'n Large to recolonize the planet. EVE is reactivated, but the plant cannot be found. The captain is disappointed by the apparent false alarm, and orders EVE be put through a system diagnostic. WALL-E is discovered, blamed by EVE for the plant's loss, and ordered to be cleaned. The two are taken to a robot repair facility, which WALL-E breaks them out of on the assumption that EVE is being tortured and disassembled. The genuinely malfunctioning robots (including a painter named VN-GO, a vacuum named VAQ-M, a beautician named PR-T, an umbrella named BRL-A, a massager named HAN-S, a defibrillator named D-FIB and a light named L-T) are also released. They immediately celebrate WALL-E as their liberator.

EVE takes WALL-E to an escape pod with the intention of sending him back to Earth. There they discover AUTO's assistant, GO-4, about to destroy the "lost" plant by launching it into space in a pod programmed to self destruct. WALL-E attempts to get the plant back, and in the process is trapped inside the pod as it is launched. EVE goes after WALL-E, who escapes from the pod just in time with a fire extinguisher. When WALL-E reveals the plant, unharmed, EVE is overjoyed and hugs and "kisses" WALL-E, and the two dance through space (thanks to EVE's built-in propulsion system and WALL-E's fire extinguisher), while the curious captain learns about Earth from the ship's computers. Upon AUTO's realization that the plant has been recovered, WALL-E and EVE are labeled "dangerous rogue robots", to the dismay of John and Mary, whom WALL-E had actually assisted in discovering they were, in fact, capable of leaving their chairs. EVE splits ways with WALL-E and presents the plant to the captain, accessing the cockpit through a garbage chute. WALL-E attempts to follow her up it. When the captain wants to see what Earth looks like today, he taps into EVE's security camera and is appalled to see what has happened, and knows that it needs to be looked after to survive. As this is happening, EVE watches the recording from her time deactivated on Earth, and realizes that WALL-E truly loves her, and would go to any length to protect her. EVE is overwhelmed by new feelings. AUTO wants once more to dispose of the plant, despite the captain's protests, and is eventually forced to reveal the reason for his mutiny.

Buy 'n Large's recolonization plan has failed miserably, as revealed by a video shown to the captain by AUTO. Shortly after leaving the Earth, Earth was declared too toxic to ever support life, and the autopilots of all human craft were ordered to take control of their ships and prevent them from returning to Earth. The plant EVE brought back proves that Buy 'n Large was wrong, but AUTO refuses to hear it and disposes of it in the garbage chute, which WALL-E was conveniently climbing at the time. WALL-E lifts the plant up out of the chute and arrives in the middle of a chaotic scene. AUTO promptly locks the captain in his bedroom and ruthlessly electrocutes WALL-E, draining his batteries. WALL-E pushes on, still trying to deliver the plant, whatever the cost, desperate to finish EVE's directive for her, but cannot hold out for long. EVE is forced to look on, suspended in an anti-grav field by the unfeeling GO-4, while WALL-E plummets back down the garbage chute. GO-4 has EVE deactivated by AUTO, dooming both the plant and the meddling robots to be disposed of with the rest of the trash. Meanwhile, WALL-E is close to full system shutdown.

EVE awakens to find herself in the Axiom's trash disposal facility, run by industrial-sized versions of the WALL-E units (called WALL-A units, an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Axiom-Class). Being compacted on the outside of one cube, she spots WALL-E in the cube next to her. EVE blasts herself free and retrieves the heavily-damaged WALL-E just before their cubes are jettisoned out the trash airlock. However, the obsessive-compulsive cleaner, M-O, who had been trailing after WALL-E all this time, tries to get into the airlock to clean WALL-E once and for all. M-O effectively blocks the airlock doors with his body. EVE, finally gifted with a personality by WALL-E's actions, decides that saving WALL-E is her foremost priority. WALL-E, though, still wants to push ever-onward to deliver the plant, leading EVE to realize that delivering the plant would get them all back to Earth, where WALL-E's damaged mainframe could be fixed. WALL-E, EVE and M-O exit the garbage section, and find VN-GO, one of the malfunctioning robots they saved. VN-GO reminds WALL-E of a song from Hello Dolly that WALL-E had been playing, prompting WALL-E to call the other rescued robots by playing the song again. The robots aid WALL-E, EVE and M-O in getting through a blockade of robots loyal to AUTO. A picture of WALL-E, EVE and the plant is sent to the rest of the Axiom as a warning, but the captain uses it to trick AUTO into thinking he has the plant. AUTO inspects the captain's bedroom, inadvertently letting the captain into the cockpit.

Having re-entered the habitual section of the ship, the captain sends an emergency message to WALL-E and EVE, telling them where the plant needs to be sent to begin the Axiom's return to Earth. The location is a holodetector that will verify the plant's origin, found in the Axiom's main plaza. AUTO attempts to kill the captain. The captain is able to put the Axiom on standby for vegetation verification, but is violently attacked by AUTO and GO-4. GO-4, despite his efforts, is thrown by a surprise kick out of the cockpit window and sent crashing to the ground, where he shuts down. The holodetecter has been deployed, and WALL-E, EVE and M-O have made it to the plaza. AUTO is outraged, and sends the Axiom hurtling onto its side, letting all of the passengers fall to one end of the ship. John and Mary, spurred on by WALL-E's persistence, save a number of infants that had been being taught in the plaza. With the plaza in a panic, EVE is forced to save the passengers from a detached section of the plaza wall that would have crushed them, leaving WALL-E to save the day. WALL-E, despite his grievous injuries, makes it to the holodetector, but the plant is gone. M-O, detecting a foreign contaminant, finds the plant, and overcomes his programming by saving it. The plant is delivered`to WALL-E by the passengers and some of the rescued malfunctioning robots.

AUTO grows desperate, and momentarily ceases his onslaught against the captain to focus on destroying WALL-E for the last time, annoyed at the little robot's optimism and constant attempts to fulfill his mission no matter what. AUTO sends the holodetector down onto WALL-E, who, against all odds, is still able to lift it up. AUTO is aghast, unwilling to believe that a measly robot built hundreds of years before, who is falling apart, no less, is still able to conquer such an obstacle. In a fit of illogical rage, AUTO electrocutes the button controlling the holodetector. WALL-E, ultimately spurred on to do what he has done by EVE, uses up every ounce of his strength to continue to hold up the holodetector, buying EVE enough time to finally complete her directive. Relieved, WALL-E is caught by surprise when the entire holodetector, driven to malfunction by AUTO, falls on top of him, crushing him completely. AUTO, though, is unable to see what he has done, for he has been thwarted once and for all. The captain has somehow found the willpower to stand up and turn off AUTO's manual switch. As AUTO deactivates, he still does not see how WALL-E has managed to defeat him. As the captain sends the ship into hyperspace towards Earth, EVE salvages WALL-E's body from under the holodetector, trying to get him to respond to her pleas.

The Axiom lands back on Earth, and the humans, who have learned to walk again, emerge out onto the planet's surface. The captain knows that work must be done to renew the Earth. Meanwhile, EVE takes WALL-E's body to his truck, hoping to find the parts needed to fix him. She frantically searches through his collection, and quickly finds everything she needs to repair the damaged parts of his frame, and replace the irreversibly dismantled parts of his inner workings. At the end of it all, WALL-E recharges and reactivates, to the extreme delight of EVE, but his memory has been erased, as his old motherboard is absent. WALL-E starts turning what were once his prized possessions into trash cubes, to EVE's horror. EVE cannot grasp WALL-E's attention as he heads outside to clean up, and attempts to convert him back to his old self. Nothing works, and WALL-E seems to have less of a personality than EVE did when she first met him. In a final, last-ditch effort, EVE starts playing songs from Hello Dolly. It doesn't work, and EVE finds herself kissing WALL-E to the tune of "It Only Takes a Moment", which restores WALL-E's emotions, proving his personality to be something that is not corporeal. M-O shoos the robots that had come to congratulate WALL-E away, as WALL-E and EVE embrace, having rediscovered love, which had been lost to the mists of time. The humans and now-cooperative robots work together to find their roots, ingrained into the planet which they had abandoned. The environment, along with the Earth itself, starts to grow anew.

During the credits, a journey through art history (from cave paintings, through scenes in the style of Monet, Seurat, and van Gogh, to more modern 8-bit graphics) reveals how humanity has re-evolved relatively quickly with the help of the robots. The ending shot has WALL-E and EVE holding hands as they look high up at a tree, which reveals to be the plant in the boot that Wall-E took care of at the beginning of the movie.

Cast

Production

Andrew Stanton conceived WALL-E before Toy Story was made:[4] the idea was, "What if mankind evacuated Earth and forgot to turn off the last remaining robot?"[3] Pete Docter developed the film for two months in 1995, after Stanton explained the story to him, but he decided to make Monsters, Inc. (2001) instead, as he was unsure of telling a love story.[5] The idea continued to preoccupy Stanton, because of his love of space opera and personifying inanimate objects. In his vision of the future, "WALL-E is the only one still truly living. And what is the ultimate purpose of living? To love. And WALL-E falls head over heels with a robot named EVE. Now, WALL-E’s feelings aren’t reciprocated because, well, she has no feelings. She’s a robot, cold and clinical. WALL-E is the one who has evolved over time and garnered feelings. So in the end, it’s gonna be WALL-E’s pursuit to win EVE’s heart, and his unique appreciation of life to become mankind’s last hope to rediscover its roots. In short, it’s going to take a robot's love to help make the world go round."[6]

After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt they "had really achieved the physics of believing you were really under water, so I said 'Hey, let’s do that with air.' Let’s fix our lenses, let’s get the depth of field looking exactly how anamorphic lenses work and do all these tricks that make us have the same kind of dimensionality that we got on Nemo with an object out in the air and on the ground.'"[4] Producer Jim Morris added that the film was animated so that it would feel "as if there really was a cameraman".[7] Dennis Muren was hired to advise Pixar on replicating science fiction films from the 1960s and 1970s, including elements such as 70 mm frames, barrel distortion and lens flare.[8][9] Scale models were made for Muren, which he used to teach Pixar.[10]

The design of the robots came about by Stanton telling his designers, "See it as an appliance first, and then read character into it."[4] In creating the title character, the animators were inspired by a pair of binoculars and Luxo Jr., the lamp featured in the Pixar logo.[6] Stanton was playing with a pair of binoculars, which looked happy or sad depending on whether they were upside down or not.[8] Stanton felt "you don't need a mouth, you don't need a nose, you get a whole personality just from [the eyes]", which meant the audience would feel he is "not just a human in a robot shell". WALL-E's body came from the logic of having his body curl up like a turtle and tank treads that would allow him to overcome any terrain. The director also acknowledged he may have been subconsciously influenced by Johnny 5 from the film Short Circuit (which he claims to have only seen once).[9]

Stanton pitched the story to Ben Burtt who signed on to do the sound design.[6] There is little traditional dialogue in the film; Stanton joked, "I’m basically making R2-D2: The Movie", in reference to Burtt's work on Star Wars. To create dialogue, Burtt took various mechanical sounds, and combined them to resemble dialogue.[3] For AUTO, Burtt used old Maritime military sounds to express the character's emotions.[6] When WALL-E wakes up, he makes the same startup chime as a 1990s era Macintosh. Jeff Garlin voiced a Captain, who is the only main animated character who speaks.[11] Fred Willard has a live action role as the CEO of Buy n Large.[12] John Ratzenberger, who has voiced characters in every Pixar film, cameos as a character called John,[8] while Sigourney Weaver and Kathy Najimy have roles.[13] Weaver voices an onboard computer: her casting was a nod to the Alien films.[14] Executive producer John Lasseter said of the film's lack of dialogue that "the art of animation is about what the character does, not what it says. It all depends on how you tell the story, whether it has a lot of dialogue or not."[15]

Music

Main article: WALL-E (soundtrack)

The WALL-E soundtrack was released on June 24, 2008. It is composed by Thomas Newman, who collaborated with Stanton on Finding Nemo. It also features songs from Peter Gabriel and Michael Crawford.

File:WallEElCapitan.jpg
WALL-E marquee at the El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, June 2008.

Release

The film premiered at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California on June 23 2008.[16] The film was released to the public on June 27, 2008.

Reception

WALL-E has received near universal acclaim from film critics.[17] Rotten Tomatoes reported that 97% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 133 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10.[18] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 92, based on 34 reviews.[17] Movie Tab reported an average score of 89.1% from 58 film critics.[19]

Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "Pixar's ninth consecutive wonder" and said it was a "simple yet deeply imagined piece of speculative fiction". He said that while the film could be interpreted as tackling a topical, ecologically minded agenda, it did so "in a light, insouciant manner that allows you to take the message or leave it on the table" and that the Pixar team had ensured that entertainment value had come first. Citing WALL-E's "adroit" borrowing from "innumerable" artistic sources, McCarthy said it "walks a fine line between the rarefied and the immediately accessible as it explores new ground for animation", and that the main difference between the film and other science fiction projects rooted in an apocalypse was its optimism. McCarthy also had praise for Thomas Newman's musical score and the "great" visuals, for which he cited cinematographer Roger Deakins' input as a visual consultant as a possible factor.[20]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter declared that with WALL-E Pixar had surpassed the achievements of its previous eight films, saying that the film had "all the heart, soul, spirit and romance of the very best silent movies" and that the filmmakers "punch across their terrific (and ecologically sound!) story by inventing a visual and aural language with which these robotic creatures can express a rainbow of emotions." He said the visual design was "arguably Pixar's best" and he praised Stanton's creation of "two fantastically imaginative, breathtakingly lit worlds" (a ruined Earth city and a human spaceship). Honeycutt said the film's "real stroke of brilliance" was in using a mix of archive film footage and computer graphics to trigger WALL-E's romantic leanings. He praised Burtt's "expressive" sound design, saying "If there is such a thing as an aural sleight of hand, this is it." Honeycutt concluded by saying that despite the film's acknowledged nods to other works (2001: A Space Odyssey, and moments where robots "run riot" bringing to mind Monsters, Inc.), WALL-E was "just possibly the studio's most original work yet."[21]

References

  1. ^ "The 25 Most Exciting Movies of 2008". Empire. February 2008. p. 86.
  2. ^ Information from Variety regarding producer Jim Morris and the release date
  3. ^ a b c Eric Vespe (2007-08-01). "Quint catches up on Disney's Prince Caspian and WALL·E panel at Comic-Con!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2007-08-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c Eric Vespe (2007-08-11). "Quint sits down with WALL·E director Andrew Stanton!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2007-08-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ James White (April 2008). "How We Made WALL-E". Total Film. pp. 113–116.
  6. ^ a b c d Peter Scieretta (2007-07-28). "Comic-Con: Indepth Wall-E Details Revealed". Slash Film. Retrieved 2007-10-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Tom Ambrose (2007-07-26). "Heroes of 2008". Empire. p. 72. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b c Eric Vespe (2008-02-24). "WonderCon: Quint sees some WALL-E and Prince Caspian footage at Disney's panel! Plus Q&A with Andrew Stanton!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2008-02-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b Alex Billington (2008-02-24). "WonderCon: Pixar's Wall-E Presentation - Incredible!". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved 2008-02-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Anthony Baratta (2008-04-07). "First Look: Disney/Pixar's WALL-E". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2008-04-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Peter Scieretta (2007-09-25). "Jeff Garlin to Voice the Only Animated Speaking Character in WALL·E". Slash Film. Retrieved 2007-10-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Fred Topel (2007-10-27). "Fred Willard Appearing Live Action in WALL·E". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-10-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Walt Disney Studios (2008-04-09). "Disney Announces Slate of 10 Animated Pics Through 2012". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2008-04-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Eric Vespe (2008-04-09). "Quint discusses the Pixar half of the Disney Animation Presentation! UP! WALL-E! TOY STORY 3! NEWT! THE BEAR & THE BOW!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2008-04-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Steve Fritz (2007). "A talk with John Lasseter: What the man in Disney's chair has to say". Newsarama. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
  16. ^ "Wall-E rolls out for world premiere". The Press Association. 2008-06-23. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  17. ^ a b "WALL-E: Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  18. ^ "WALL-E Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  19. ^ "WALL-E Reviews - Movie Tab". Movietab.com. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  20. ^ Todd McCarthy (2008-06-26). "WALL-E Review". Variety. Retrieved 2008-06-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ Kirk Honeycutt (2006-06-25). "Film Review: WALL-E". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-06-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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