Wall-E
Review
by Sean Lynch
Consistency
is a pretty rare commodity in Hollywood, but Pixar is at the forefront.
These guys have yet to slip up since they first hit the silver screen
over a decade ago - and there is simply no comparison.
Wall-E
is Pixar's latest creation, and while it may not be as demographic
friendly in the vein of Toy
Story, Finding Nemo or Cars,
it could quite possible be the best Pixar film ever.
Academy
Award-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton takes the idea of feature
length CGI animation to a new level with Wall-E with 95% of
the film playing out without a single spec of dialogue - and succeeding
on every level.
It's
an art form which has been absent since the days of Chaplin, if only
because it's mighty difficult to try and convey emotion, story and
humour via facial expressions. Yet, not only has Stanton and
the
Pixar team achieved a phenomenal ability to convey a story through body
language - but they've conveyed it without a human body.
Wall-E
follows the story of one of earth's last robots (a Waste Allocation
Load Lifter Earth-Class) left behind on earth by the human race to fix
the lifeless mess they made themselves.
However, Wall-E (who looks like the inter-species spawn of Short Circuit and ET) soon discovers
a new purpose when he encounters a sleek search
robot names Eve (sent to Earth to search for any sign of sustainable
human life).
Eve
comes to realise that Wall-E has inadvertently
stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to the
Axium spaceport (which essentially shows what life will be like once
every aspect of human living is iPod-ised) to report her
findings
to the humans.
However, when Wall-E follows her - things soon get out of control...
There is very
little not to like about Wall-E.
It looks magnificent, it's clever, it's funny and it keeps things
simple. However, is it a children's classic?
The thing is, Wall-E
is perhaps a little too smart for it's own good. It's the sort of film
which will have the pompous film critics salivating over the political,
eco and moral messages conveyed (Fred Willard, as President of the
World, is spot on in his unsubtle satire on the Bush
Administration).
But, at the same time, it's probably not
"in your face" enough for Pixar's usual crowd (although the pre-feature
Pixar short Presto is sure to please audiences of all ages - it's one of their
best), with the style more attuned with kiddies who haven't quite got
to the stage of speaking yet. And in that regard, it's both a brilliant
move and cinematic achievement.
But what will the "Where's the
voice of Ben Stiller?" crowd think of it? Is it a bit "slow"? Is it a
tad "boring"? Does not enough "happen"? It really does depend on what
you are looking to get out of your CGI kids flicks.
For mine,
this is without doubt the most innovative films (both visually and
story-telling wise) to hit the mainstream silver screen in years.
Whether
our current generation appreciate it at this point in time is
irrelevant, because much like the little robot hero in the film itself,
this is a style of film making which will live on forever, transcending
popular trends, language and society itself.
A must see.
4.5 out
of 5
Wall-E
Australian release: 18th
September,
2008
Official
Site: Wall-E
Cast: Fred Willard, Paul Eiding,
Jeff Garlin, Ben Burtt
Director: Andrew Stanton
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