Review of WALL·E (2008) by Joshua H — 07 May 2013

Wall-E is perhaps the most unique animated film to come out in past decade. Now I know what you're thinking, what about other pieces from the house that is holding the mouse together, Pixar, and it's other films? Monster's Inc? Finding Nemo? Unique, yes, but they all still conform to standard narrative devices. Wall-E has the bravery to tell it's story in a unique way - with a main character who doesn't speak. This is very strange for western audiences, and even in the silent era people talked in films, it's just, the audience had to read what they were saying instead of listening to it.

Wall-E's dystopic future is haunting, and the only source of happiness we see is in Wall-E himself, along with his cute roach friend. Earth is caked in a brown ash, and trash piles have risen higher than the once majestic skyscrapers of the city Wall-E resides in. Wall-E as we learn, is a cleaning droid, part of the mop-up crew for the Earth. In this universe, the Earth has become unlivable thanks to pollution and garbage, and the population has taken to the stars in a large, cruise-ship of a space station, complete with all the luxuries any human could ever ask for.

Wall-E himself is the quentissential innocent hero. All he does day in and day out is collect garbage, as he was originally programmed too. Wall-E is charming, and very quickly you grow to like him, thanks to his innocence and love for the musical, Hello Dolly. Unlike other androids in most science fiction, Wall-E has a personality, and displays a wide range of emotions, including fear, sadness, happiness, confusion, and most importantly, love.

The moment everything changes for Wall-E and his mundane life is when he encounters a new robot, Eve, who is sent from the humans to see if any plant life has grown on Earth. The theory behind Eve is that if plant life is found, the planet must be livable, and thus the humans can return to go back to their old way of life. Eve is defensive, and begins her story similar to what we would call your typical artificial intelligence. As the story progresses, she quickly has a change of heart - and heart is at the core of this film.

Wall-E teaches that old familiar phrase "love conquers all" but also that this strange, big emotion called love transcends all things - even artificial forms of life like Wall-E. The film shows Wall-E grow as a character, without him hardly uttering a word. Actions do speak louder than words, and in Wall-E, it's what you do that matters, not what you say.

Here, the humans have become lazy, slaves to their own gluttony; they remind me of harvested humans seen in The Matrix or Minority Report. What's sad here, is that most audiences didn't catch the message at the time of this film's release - most thought this was an eco-friendly movie, preaching about pollution and how we should treat nature. To some extent, their right, but I think there is more to Wall-E than just hugging trees. Has the human race become a slave to their technology? From Blade Runner all the way to 1927's Metropolis, humanity has wrestled with the question of humanity and it's dependence on technology. And if we have become slaves to what we produce, has that made us weaker? Wall-E shows that anyone can be a hero, and that the uniqueness of who we are is important - all the humans in Wall-E sit on their fat behinds slurping food from straws and never really doing anything. It's sad, and in a lot of ways makes this Pixar's most haunting film, because it speaks most directly to it's audience. Being lazy, and living life through a screen is something that is possible today. Granted, we don't have spaceships and our planet isn't in the crapper, but still, you can lose yourself to something that isn't truly who you are.

Spiritually, a Christian can easily assimilate that Wall-E warns of idolatry, and the consequences of falling victim to sin. God will let you become a slave to your sin, just as the humans in space have become slaves to their own gluttony.

The film is fantastic, and has some very charming nods to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien. Easily the most underrated gem in the Pixar crown.