Pixar Animation Studios and Disney's WALL-E is a simple family movie with a harmless message: Environmentalism. Don't destroy the planet by filling it up with trash and it won't become uninhabitable. Most children and adults will like this movie because of its charming romantic nature and uniqueness not found in other family movies today. But, like all films, it's not for everyone, especially very small children (under 4 years old) who would probably prefer to be kept entertained during the slower parts of the film.
About WALL-E
Imagine a flick where the main characters speak few if any words, but are able to tell a story through their motions and emotions. That's what you get here. WALL-E, which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth Class, is a robot who is left behind on Earth to clean up the trash and mess left by humans. For roughly 700 years, he's been pretty much alone (except for a friendly cockroach), going about his programmed mission of compacting and stacking mountains and skyscrapers of trash while the humans who abandoned the planet are living it up on a space-faring cruise ship, the Axiom, too lazy and fat to walk or think. Humans left Earth after the mega-corporation, Buy N Large, overtook everything, including the government, and filled the planet with un-recycled waste. In time (around the year 2000), there just wasn't any more room on the planet for living creatures. So they left.
Fast-forward to the year 2700, when WALL-E receives his first visitor, a feminine probe named EVE, who was sent to Earth from the Axiom to find plant life. For WALL-E, it was love at first sight. Again, without words, he invites her back to his "pad" to show off his collectibles, one of which was a plant he found. However, once she stores it inside her shell, she deactivates. Because of his great fondness for her, in part due to the constant reruns of Hello, Dolly he has playing on an old VHS player, he does everything he can to protect her from harm. His goal, because of the movie, is to hold EVE's hand.
When EVE's ship comes back for her, WALL-E stows aboard as a means of staying close to her. Through a series of events that surround this plant, which inevitably means Earth can inhabited by humans again since life can be sustainable, WALL-E learns the ins and outs of running the ship. In the end, the humans learn to walk again and the ship's captain decides it's time to go back home. And WALL-E and EVE find true love and yes, even get to hold hands.
Bringing WALL-E to Life
WALL-E, the ninth collaborative Disney-Pixar movie since 1995, was released on Friday, June 27, 2008 and grossed $113 million its first three days. It was written and directed by Andrew Stanton, who also directed Finding Nemo and was a writer on several Pixar hits. This computer-animated family movie stars:
- Ben Burtt (WALL-E)
- Elissa Knight (EVE)
- Jeff Garlin (Captain)
- Fred Willard (Shelby Forthright, CEO of Buy N Large)
- MacInTalk (AUTO)
- John Ratzeberger (John)
- Kathy Najimy (Mary)
- Sigourney Weaver (Ship's computer)
Message Behind Disney's WALL-E
The message in this movie is clear: If humans continue living their lives by polluting the planet with un-recycled waste, in time Earth will become uninhabitable. Humans themselves will grow into obese individuals who can't think for themselves. Yes, this message is quite extreme. Thankfully, it is not overbearing throughout the movie, nor does it take any political standpoint. It simply points out this fact that everyone knows. Yes, Americans are becoming more overweight, and yes, there is more trash in the landfills.
