Sunday 10 August 2008

No. 11 : WALL-E (2008)



Wall-E at the IMDb



Wall-e has been hard to miss this summer with a marketing blitz and merchandise frenzy that would make George Lucas blush. Items such as that pictured here somewhat undo the message of reducing waste as landfills the world over will be full of WALL-E crap in no time at all. Still it’ll keep him busy I suppose.



This animated film is set 700 years after mankind has left a rubbish filled planet Earth. The plan was to return after 5 years at which time an army of Wall-E robots will have cleaned things up. For reasons revealed later that doesn’t happen and only one wall-E is left, surviving by cannibalising parts from his expired colleagues.



As you’d expect in such a film Wall-E is eccentric and quirky. Rather than do his job he takes home a load of old crap and watches a VHS copy of ‘Hello Dolly’. His lonesome existence is interrupted when a spaceship deposits a robot ’EVE’ which tears up the joint in the search for something that turns out to be a weed. After some initial hostility the pair soon become friend through an annoying sequence of whirrs, chirps and screen displays.



The finding of the weed brings back the space ship and having taken on WALL-E as a stowaway our pals head off to the mother ship which is now populated by a crew of fat ass humans who get about in motorized chairs. Most are happy with their existence but the Captain dreams of a return home and the weed is the signal that the planet may be habitable again. But wait, that nasty ship’s computer has a vested interest in the status quo!



Given its ‘U’ certificate it’s be churlish to pick many nits with WALL-E. It looks good and it certainly deliver what it promises. I was a bit disappointed at the lack of laughs all of which seemed to be of the falling over variety. The two main robots never speak apart from the odd word and given that it’s hard to engage with the characters - no R2-D2 this pair. The messages about wastefulness and exercise were pounded home endlessly and at times I thought it was more of a lecture than an entertainment.



It is, I’m sure, great stuff for the under 5’s but for me it was a disappointment and a pale cousin of ‘The Incredibles’ and ‘Ratatouille’.



Best Bit : The montage of WALL-E looking after Eve trough rain and shine was well done



‘W’ score 13 /23

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