The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 7 Days to go: 9
Movie #433: WALL-E
My toddler likes to play robots. She marches up and down the hall saying “beep-boop, beep-boop” and articulating her wrists forward and back. It’s adorable, and not just because she’s my baby and I’m biased. When WALL-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) does his eye-goggle adjustments, it reminds me of her (or she reminds me of him, whichever), with its sort of basic robotics aesthetic. It’s very old school, and that’s a theme that repeats pretty often in WALL-E, in the most wonderful ways.
The first third of the movie is reminiscent of an old silent film, with this lonely little trash robot wheeling through the barren wasteland that is the abandoned Earth finding curiosities among the trash and delighting himself with simple items like Zippos and sporks and light bulbs. And he has a very special place in his heart for Hello, Dolly! Then an incredibly modern robot — EVE, voiced by Elissa Knight — shows up and turns his world upside down. She’s sleek, powerful, pristine and she flies — completely different from anything WALL-E has ever known or seen before. And his developing crush on her plays out in delightful dialogue-free scenes with physical comedy and sweetness in the style of Buster Keaton that positively warms the heart.
When they reach the Axiom, however, it becomes an action comedy. WALL-E has to navigate the scary and rigidly automated structure of the space community in order to stay with EVE, wreaking all kinds of havoc along the way, including inciting all sorts of little rebellions by knocking John (John Ratzenberger) and Mary (Kathy Najimy) off their automated traveling lounge chairs, forcing M-O (Ben Burtt) to leave the pre-determined travel lanes in order to clean up WALL-E’s mess, and teaching any number of robots how to wave. And once the captain (Jeff Garlin) discovers the plant missing from EVE’s storage unit, EVE and WALL-E are launched into a slew of obstacles they have to overcome in order to find and retrieve the plant and get the Axiom back to Earth. They’re labeled as rogue robots and are hunted by practically the ship’s entire robotic fleet. It’s funny and thrilling and really romantic in places. There are dozens of romantic comedies I could list that aren’t anywhere as lovely and effective as WALL-E is.
The film is also a scathing indictment of waste, of not taking care of our planet, of brash commercialism, of mindless consumerism, of laziness and of needless automation, but it’s not harsh or preachy. It focuses instead on the positive moments and messages of taking control, of moving, of doing and building things from your own hands. Technological advancements are great, it posits, but nothing can replace our planet, and nothing is more efficient or better for you than physical activity. It doesn’t scold, but it does encourage taking a better path than the one these people have been on.
Pixar also does something in WALL-E that it’s never done before by using live video footage of Fred Willard as the Global CEO of Buy ‘n Large, providing messages from Earth in the Axiom’s archives. It’s striking and unexpected, but perhaps more stunning is how seamlessly it fits into the landscape of the film. With all the video messages flashing everywhere inside the ship, his is just another in the series — despite the others all being animated. As I prepared to watch the movie again, in fact, I thought maybe I was misremembering Willard’s character being live action, because it seemed so out-of-place in concept. But he is, and it’s not out-of-place at all. It fits, and it’s surprisingly great.
WALL-E is a beautiful film, and it might be my sentimental favorite of all the Pixar catalogue. I should watch it more. It really exemplifies enjoying the simple things, and I think everyone needs to remember to do that more.
Viable Option 