Day 78: WALL-E (2008)

Movie #47 – WALL-E (2008) - 98 min, cert U.

At some point in the future, the Earth has become so polluted that life is no longer viable. So the population has all left to go and live on vast spaceships, somewhere out in space. They left behind robots to clear up the mess, but that was a long, long time ago, and now only a single robot remains functional. WALL-E works tirelessly, gathering up the rubbish, compacting it into little cubes and carefully stacking them into huge skyscrapers. One day a spaceship comes, and leaves another robot behind, and WALL-E is delighted to have company again. He shows her a little plant he found before she arrived and suddenly she takes it and drops into some sort of hibernation state from which WALL-E cannot rouse her. When the spaceship returns to collect her, WALL-E tags along. It takes them to the vast mothership where all the people live. But because these people spend all day riding around in their hover-chairs, they are all obscenely fat and have lost the ability to move around on their own. The captain understands that, because plants are growing again on Earth, they can all return home, but the fully-automated ship doesn’t want to let them leave. It tries to destroy the two robots and their plant, but of course WALL-E has other ideas and the chase is on.

Pixar have been making these sort of movies now for quite a long time, and they have it down to a fine art. They are, for the most part, very good, and this is certainly one of the best. I would certainly rank it up with the Toy Story trilogy, and The Incredibles, maybe even better. What sets this film apart from those others, is the fact that this film plays out for the most part without dialogue. WALL-E doesn’t really speak and nor does EVE, the other robot that arrives. They make a few noises, but it’s not what you would call dialogue in the usual sense. All their communication is done via their facial expressions, which is pretty impressive considering their faces comprise of flashing lights, video cameras and other robotic gadgetry. But, despite this, you are never left in any doubt as to what is being communicated, and it’s that more than anything else that endear the characters to the audience.

Score – 10/10. I can’t fault it. It does exactly what it was intended to do, and does it very well indeed.

Next up is more animation, the Japanese Spirited Away. I’ve never been a huge fan of the whole Japanese Anime thing, but maybe I’ve not seen the best it has to offer.