Wall-E is an outstanding film, with outstanding characters and really funny moments, so it shows Disney still got it. I expected the best movie ever, and even though I was a little disappointed with the result, it's still an excellent film in general, and well worthy of 5 Stars. The plot is simple. The year, although very briefly explained, is 2805. The world is basically destroying itself, and trash compacting machines called "Wall-E's" are left to clean up the mess. Why is the world ruined, you may ask? Well, in 2105, the litter in the world became to much to handle, so a company called Buy-n-Large (BnL) evacuated the earths population on fully automated Starships. They left the trash compacting robots their to clean up, and in 5 years, they would return. However, in 2110, when expected to go back, the toxins became extremely poisonous, so they wouldn't return to Earth until a piece of biological life was found, and with the ships futuristic technology, the would get a hold of the life, and reproduce it on the Earth so it would be habitable again. Lot's of back story, huh? Well, you ain't heard nothing yet. The movie focuses on one of the Wall-E's as he compacts litter and waste into cubes the size of him. He becomes friends with a cricket and finds a piece of plant life that he keeps in a boot. Soon, he finds another robot by the name of Eve, who's mission is to find plant life for the Starship. Wall-E has a rough time, but soon becomes friends with Eve, but as he does, he shows Eve the plant life, and Eve collects the plant life and locks it up in herself until the Starship comes down and collects her, which Wall-E then follows. It's a very long, yet simple story, perfect for kids, unlike Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or any other kids movie that's animated and is just made to make money, with little thought process involved. So, as you can see, the story and characters, my favorite parts about movies, are done really well, so what didn't I like? Well, I only disliked one thing, yet I disliked it so much, even though it's only one small thing, I almost lowered this movie's rating to 4 1/2 stars! The only flaw about this movie was the slapstick. God I hate slapstick. It's rarely done right. What people don't get about slapstick is that it doesn't make a character likable or interesting in any way possible. For example, Charlie Chaplin. He's a character that's main focus is slapstick. But it's not just the slapstick that makes him funny. It's his charm, his hilarious lines of dialogue, his kindness, and overall, he's just such a developed character, it actually makes the slapstick work. Wall-E is also a great character, but the thing is, the makers of the film believe that the character isn't likable enough for kids, so they throw slapstick in just so kids will enjoy him. Slapstick doesn't make a character, the intentional actions do, which even though Wall-E is a great character, they ignore any other chances to develop the character, and just show slapstick. Solution: Develop the character more before having slapstick involved, like Buster Keaton in "The General". Either that, or make it seem like he enjoys the slapstick, like Chaplin in "City Lights". Also, so I don't just ramble on about what I like in the movie, I'll mention one more flaw, a small one, but it's still a flaw, which is the physics. When Wall-E latched on the Starship and keeps holding on, I can live with that. I mean, he IS a machine, I think he can latch on to another machine without having to let go. But what really bugs me about that part of the film is when the Starship reaches space. It's obvious that Wall-E is just an old rusted robot, so how does he stay together while flying in space? Here are reasons why that scenes, as well as several others featuring him flying in space, don't work:
1. He's small and hollow, so he'll probably be crushed by space's little gravity.
2. He's old, so he'll probably fall apart.
3. There are obviously more than one Wall-E on Earth, so are they all strong enough to survive the vacuum of space even though they seem easy to build? Probably not.
4. The chains on his wheels are obviously loose, and his eyes can move, so they'd probably have a rough time in space.
5. Are you telling me that satellites in space can blow up any second, yet a trash compacter that moves can stay in shape with ease?
6. He clearly let's go at one point, so shouldn't he have flew a million feet in a few seconds?
7. Wouldn't he be frozen solid if he was in space?
OK, that's enough, as I don't really hate those scenes at all, I just thought they were unrealistic. But really though, those were the only to flaws I could find, as both the human and robot characters are really good, the story is complex, yet it's so well explained that even a 6 year old could understand it, the voice acting was outstanding (Even though, I'm dead serious, the best voice actor was Macintalk, as it's a computer voicing a computer, which sounds very natural), the villain is great, the animation is some of the best I've seen in a while, and the direction was great too. So overall, if you can handle those flaws above, this will be one of your favorites, of both Dinsey, and Pixar. I recommend it to kids, and people who are still kids at heart. Oh yes, I almost forgot: R.I.P Justin Wright 1981-2008.
5/5
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