After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. Joining WALL-E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.
For maybe the first or second time since the creation of Down In Front, I am finding it challenging…nay, I’m finding it impossible to say anything bad about a movie. Wall-E is, for lack of a better word, “Perfect.”
Forget for a moment you are watching an animated feature. Forget the technical achievements, the visual quality and the insurmountable challenges that must be overcome to create a film like Wall-E. After stripping away all these things you have an amazing film that is directed beautifully. Shot with brilliant camera moves and stunning compositions. You have wonderful characters that you feel compassion for and root for. Characters that you believe in and can see the sincerity in their performance. You find yourself laughing out loud in your seat. You cheer for the hero! Yourself, along with the entire crown continually saying things like, “Awwweeeee”. You see the character. You believe in him and the world the film has created. And above all this there is a heartwarming story being told about true love. What would you say about a film like that? Well I would say that is a remarkable film. I would say that is a film worthy of an Oscar for Best Feature and yes, the main character is a mobile trash compactor named WALL-E.
There is no studio in the world like Pixar. In fact no one is even close. If Paramount pictures could say that 50% of their films were smash hits in terms of sales and or reviews that would be an almost unbelievable achievement. If they could do that 30% of the time it would be equally impressive. Think about this for a moment. Pixar Animation Studios has done this 100% of the time. 100%. No one has ever done this before. There is no one and nothing to compare them to. They are on an island all to themselves with a quality and skill set that is so high that they could actually get an Oscar for animating a trash compactor. Take that Jack Nicholson. Take that Meryl Streep.
