- Location: Ma & Pa Fisher's
- WALL-E is a surprisingly smart and well-crafted depiction of nothing less than the future of humanity. I realize that sounds a bit ponderous, but fortunately the message is delivered mostly in the margins of an independently enjoyable and often funny robot love story. I never thought I'd use the phrase "robot love story" in a positive sense, but there it is. The robot in question is of course WALL-E, a boxy little autonomous trash compactor who passes the time by stacking garbage, collecting trinkets, and re-watching scenes from Hello Dolly!. Aside from his unnamed cockroach companion, WALL-E appears to be the sole occupant of a remarkably desolate and trash-saturated Earth that was obviously abandoned by humanity long ago. All that remains of civilization are towering piles of junk that bear the stamp of the ubiquitous mega-corporation "Buy n Large." It's a lonely place, and WALL-E seems sadly aware of this fact.
- Then, one day, a rocket ship lands, ejecting a rather sleek-looking robot named EVE. WALL-E quickly becomes enamored of the new arrival, although EVE initially makes herself humorously unapproachable. She gradually warms up to his rather clumsy advances, though, and before long the two have become friends. Unfortunately, a hidden directive of EVE's kicks in when WALL-E gives her a plant, and she is rendered completely unresponsive. In a cute sequence of scenes, the undeterred WALL-E continues to court the comatose EVE, who is hardly in a position to reciprocate. Eventually, however, the rocket ship returns for pickup, and WALL-E stows away, accompanying EVE to wherever the rocket ship will take them.
- Where it takes them, of course, is back to humanity, or at least what space-faring humanity has become. It turns out that some of the humans have been cruising around for 700 years in a vessel called the Axiom. The years have not been particularly kind, as evidenced by the general pudginess and lack of awareness displayed by most of the ship's constantly reclining inhabitants. The closest thing to cognizance is demonstrated by the ship's Captain (voiced by Jeff Garlin), who occasionally wakes up from napping for routine inspections and the daily greeting. All other ship business is conducted by the ship's computer (voiced by Sigourney Weaver), the automatic pilot, or a whole host of cleaning and maintenance robots. The autopilot, in particular, seems to be running the show and takes an unusual interest in the discovery of plant life on Earth. Could it be that giving the robots so much authority wasn't such a good idea?
- The rest of the film is slightly more formulaic, as the heroes all struggle to wrest control of the ship from the autopilot, who has been reprogrammed not to return to Earth by Buy n Large CEO/world leader Shelby Forthright (a non-animated Fred Willard). Still, the film is brimming with so much originality and depth compared to other mainstream animated features (including Pixar's other films) that it can be forgiven for having a somewhat stereotypical resolution. I can't imagine any other film so slyly and successfully addressing such serious issues as consumerism and pollution while simultaneously entertaining the kiddies. Neither is it easy to conceive of a children's film going so long without being frenetic, although it does lapse in this regard at times. Some of the film's details, such as the staggering magnitude of trash and the incredible degree of human laziness, strike me as intentional cartoonish overextrapolation not unlike that seen in the Captain's portrait gallery, but the general themes presented certainly merit consideration by both young and old. Hopefully, humanity will be able to solve such problems without having to pin their hopes on a sentimental robot, no matter how charming he may be.
- John Ratzenberger plays one of the humans on the ship.
- Several Mac noises are used in the film, including the start-up sound and the Mac-In-Talk speech program.
- A crabby astronomer pointed out to me that the ship's crew should not have experienced bone loss with artificial gravity, nor should they have fallen over when the ship turned. He also noted that it was incredibly inefficient for EVE's rocket to land.
