Little bots have big hearts
Release date: 27 June 2008
By Jerilyn Covert
Leave it to Pixar to make robots that look so gosh darn cute. The animation film studio’s latest, Wall-E, is an entertainingly adorable film that tells the story of an artificial intelligence with a genuine heart. Imagine a science-fiction movie with all the zaniness of a cartoon and all the tenderness of a chick flick. Throw in some lovable characters and an enchanting voyage through space and you’ve got yourself 103 minutes of feel-good fun and a surefire candidate for an academy award. Writer/director Andrew Stanton, who’s also written screenplays for many of the Pixar classics, creates an eye-popping, extraordinar-E adventure that’s as much about the journey as it is the destination. At some point in the distant future, Earth has been rendered incapable of sustaining life, prompting mankind to get out of Dodge and make a break for the unconquered parts of the galaxy, and the planet they once called “home” is left to its toxically viscous seas and its endless piles of trash. Enter the lovable little robot, Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifer–Earth class), a mechanical device programmed and assigned for cleanup. But after hundreds of years of performing his task–and, in his down time, re-watching old musicals–it seems Wall-E has developed some kind of glitch–namely, the ability to feel.
When a mechanical probe called Eve (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is deposited onto the earth’s surface in search of (plant) life, Wall-E finds in her a new friend and a robot crush. When the rocket ship returns to retrieve her, Wall-E hitches a ride and ends up on an incredible journey through space that sparks a romance and a revolution. While there are human characters in the movie (they live aboard an enormous spaceship in outer space where life has become so technologically advanced that they no longer have to do anything for themselves–because machines do it all for them), it’s the robots who steal the show. They are machines of few words, but so much is communicated through the magic of animation that one hardly misses the presence of prattle. Wall-E and Eve are by far the most relatable characters. And as for the film, what it lacks in dialogue, it more than makes up for in heart.
In a move toward satire, the story pulls from a technology-obsessed culture and pokes fun at our growing dependence on machines. In space, people zip around on automated chairs, sipping their “meals” from Big Gulp-sized cups and chatting with each other via virtual computer screens. They’ve become so overweight that they can no longer so much as stand up. After Wall-E disrupts one such woman to introduce himself, it’s as if she’s noticed her surroundings for the first time. In one poignant scene, she gazes in awe out a window, gaping at all the stars, while others file obliviously past her in single file. Ultimately, this image adequately portrays the film’s message that it’s the simplest pleasures in life that hold the greatest meaning.
A hilarious 5-minute short entitled Presto, which screens right before the full-length film, is not only well worth seeing in its own right, it also sets the perfect tone for a feature that’ll have you laughing and, depending on how big a softie you are, maybe crying, too. Ironic that it takes a robot to remind people of what it means to live. Of course, Wall-E isn’t trying to impact the fate of mankind. The only thing he wants is made abundantly clear–every time he reaches out to hold Eve’s “hand.”