WALL·E

We went to the San Francisco Film Institute's first public screening at their campus in Emeryville. Everyone's sworn to secrecy, but for a film with little dialog, it carries more of an emotional punch and has a richer story than any live-action movie this year. The tone and style of the film is completely different for Pixar, and Disney haven't tried to override the darker thematic elements at all, making the story surprisingly three-dimensional.

This will end up being the animated film of the year and I had the same 'wow' feeling as after seeing Ratatouille. Considering that animated films have always played second-fiddle to live-action, and have been aimed at kids, it's ironic that once again Pixar produces a film that rivals any live action on every level. Bravo!

Who says popular films are not and cannot be art? If anything is proof that popular films can be of a stunningly high quality, the beauty of the animation, writing, music, and sound design in "WALL·E" is it. "WALL·E" eclipses even Andrew Stanton's "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" in the Pixar pantheon, is perhaps Pixar's best film to date and, call me crazy as I've just seen it, a contender for the title of best animated film, period.

"WALL·E" is everything we've come to expect from Pixar and more- colorful, vibrant, imaginative, exciting, involving, beautiful, and most importantly a film with interesting, involving characters. Sure, WALL·E is adorable, and as much credit as the animators get for that, this film would be nothing without Stanton's screenplay, which features very little dialogue but is still notably intelligent and surprisingly subtle, making a refreshing change from the 'go green' campaigns we're all so used to. Does "WALL·E" have a message? Sure, but it's an important message and it is delivered subtly and beautifully.

"WALL·E" operates on two levels (and works spectacularly well on both). It is a majestic science fiction epic like we haven't seen in a couple of decades and it is a genuinely touching and never cheap romance. "WALL·E" will never get points for originality but it doesn't exactly need them because the homages to great films and figures of the past- Chaplin, Keaton, Tati, the Marx Brothers, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (this one is particularly spectacular), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" are actually homages and not ripoffs. "WALL·E" is a wonderful tribute to a bygone cinematic tradition (well, two or three of them actually).

The social commentary in "WALL·E" is sobering because it's never overbearing and most importantly because we see the world through machines, machines who feel more about Earth and life than the humans do. The depiction of humans on the ship could have been incredibly offensive, cheap, and tasteless in concept but the execution here is absolutely perfect.

What is most surprising about "WALL·E" is how sad it is. Not even in the 'how will they get out of this, oh I feel so sorry for them' way "Finding Nemo", a previous Stanton effort, is, but in a truly melancholy sense. The early portion of the film maintains all the playfulness of a Jacques Tati film but also evokes a striking and powerful feeling of loneliness. It's a brilliant introduction to WALL·E, given that the rest of the film is too wacky to bother with long scenes focused entirely on character, and works beautifully with the ugly yet beautifully-rendered future Earth, a barren wasteland filled with nothing but garbage, a seriously resilient cockroach being WALL·E's only companion before EVE shows up, but I won't go into the story- it's best you see it unfold for yourself.

From the entertaining shorts shown before the film to the memorable characters, locations, and animation we have come to expect, Pixar films are now event cinema, and they have outdone themselves with "WALL·E". This film is spectacular, majestic, touching, involving, and achingly beautiful. Most importantly, however, it is perfect entertainment. I may be saying this too soon, but I don't think I have ever seen an animated film that has satisfied me more than "WALL·E", and 2008 is going to have to work hard to keep this from being the top film of the year, which it most certainly is at the moment.

9.5/10

Wall-E is the movie experience I've been looking for. I haven't seen a new film this richly entertaining, thrilling, touching and satisfying since Spider-Man 2. It is truly the finest Pixar or animated CGI film to date. I can discuss it without spoilers easily because it's one of those films, like 2001: A Space Odyssey, that exists more as a pure experience of the heart and the senses than as a collection of events that we're supposed to keep track of intellectually. Wall-E rises above that kind of unnecessary complication into the same kind of space occupied by dreams and the imagination.

This film is beautifully animated, of course, to that magical Pixar point where even piles of what should be disgusting trash somehow look breathtakingly gorgeous and even fairly realistic-looking roaches look cute. But much more importantly, the heart, the emotion in this movie is unlike anything I've experienced at the cinema since Forrest Gump. Certainly my tear ducts have not welled up while watching a movie this much since then. I fell in like with the character of Wall-E when I saw the trailer. Watching the movie, I fell in love with him within about 2 minutes. Shortly after that, I fell in love with the idea of Wall-E falling in love.

My previous favorite movie romance is Superman and Lois Lane in the original Superman films. The love story, or the love experience of Wall-E and Eve is perhaps the first I've seen since then that operates at and succeeds on that same level. These couples create an uncomplicated, innocent, simple, yet deep and powerful bond. They capture the experience of love at first sight, writ large. They possess an instant chemistry that tells you they belong together from the first time they see one another and makes you root for their relationship throughout the film. Wall-E and Eve share moments together of real cinematic beauty, true hilarity, frightening sadness, frustrating difficulty and delightful satisfaction. It's a testament to the level of genius at which the Pixar storytellers are operating that we feel every beat of this relationship resonate every step of the way despite the fact that the characters are robots that are not modeled off of humans and speak no more than a handful of words throughout the movie (this animated movie is refreshingly free of obvious "guest star" voices or any over-the-top stand-up comedians trying to upstage the movie).

Just like in the first Superman films, once you care about the characters as individuals and care about their relationship, it's almost impossible for the rest of the movie not to work. You're hooked at hello. Wall-E adds all the expected complications to keep the would-be lovers from getting together most of the time. There is a truly great "McGuffin" that keeps the heroes and villains busy for quite a while (the item in question is something outwardly simple that ends up holding the key to something more important than anything in the world). The pacing during most of these adventures is as breakneck as anything out of the Star Wars films and the action is always staged with crystal clarity. There are several scenes of peril for Wall-E that are reminiscent of that oddly powerful sequence in Short Circuit 2 when Johnny 5 is almost killed. The filmmakers pull absolutely no punches when it comes to running your heart through the ringer over characters you care about. It probably helps that you can do a lot more physical damage to a robot character than you can to a human character while keeping a G rating and still getting the audience dramatically worried about their survival.

Even on top of the action, the emotion, the visuals and the humor, Wall-E goes the extra mile into thought-provoking thematic territory. The film never hits you over the head with anything preachy and doesn't really even outright tell you what its opinions on the subjects it raises are. It also doesn't explicitly lay out explanations for everything that exists in Wall-E's world (there are no "talking killer" scenes and very little verbal exposition). I think the bits of ambiguity work here because they add to the sense of mystery, helplessness and alienation that most of the characters in the movie feel to some degree.

There are human characters in this movie too, quite a few. I think that's necessary because if humans aren't shown in a robot world, you have to wonder what purpose were the robots designed to serve? That was a curiosity of the earlier CGI movie, Robots. Most of the humans in Wall-E aren't as developed as the robots, but I think that's because they exist more to represent the whole of humanity rather than particular individuals. We're asked to ponder the consequences of the choices they make as though the whole society was moving in that direction, not just one person. Wall-E and Eve are the heart of this movie but the humans are used to add some intellectual gravity for the audience to chew on.

Other choices made in the movie might also leave room for debate, such as the integration of some live-action footage into the film. But because the movie as a whole is so audaciously stimulating and brilliantly satisfying, it's a plus that they left us with a few unresolved or unusual things to think about and question after getting off of the great emotional and visual roller-coaster experience. Wall-E truly serves up everything that I think an audience could want in a movie experience. It will be very easy for me to watch this one over and over again. It is a modern-day classic that I believe should earn a place in cinema history as the "2001" of CGI animated films, both of them movies of indisputable brilliance, unyielding imagination and unending entertainment.

Footnote: The pre-movie short is an awesome, violent Looney Tunes/Roger Rabbit-esquire toon. It wants only to entertain and does.

Personal Rating: 10/10 (Outstanding)

I still remember just how impactful this movie was on me when I saw it as a child. The visuals, storytelling, how it made you think. And 12 years later it still stands as one of the best movies Pixar has ever made, and truly a hallmark of animated films.

The start of this movie. I could watch on an indefinite loop. The emotions you feel, the bond that grows between you and a robot in the introductory minutes, is storytelling at it's finest. No words have to be spoken and yet this movie world builds better than most 2-hour-long fantasy movies where the characters don't shut up.

The visuals. The visuals in this movie are stunning, the way they direct the eye, immerse you in the world, make you laugh and make you cry, a huge credit to the artists who worked on this film. And also interestingly enough, to Roger Deakins, who contributed to the first 20 minutes of the film and to the animating team, as he consulted on how to light scenes, he's quoted saying "the natural world that we live in just isn't as well-lit as your typical animated world." So by darkening scenes, adding shadow and cutting the number of lights used, they added a huge layer of realism to WALL-E.

The story, how you learn and feel about the characters (who the majority of are robots), the music, it's all superbly done. I can't think of anything I would change. But all this alone isn't what earns it the 10/10 rating, it's the themes, the tones, the way this "for children" movie makes you think, that earns my full respect.

For the most part, humans choose what's convenient, sacrificing privacy, health, well being, relationships and the like for that. WALL-E showed that exact point like never before. It takes effort to overcome the norm, to work towards a goal, even when it's not rainbows and peaches when one is determined they can do amazing things. Which is why the ending of this movie isn't bleak, it's inspiring. (spoilers) Humans come back to earth because of one lonesome plant. But it's enough to give them hope, and determination, to work on transforming the planet. And that was just one of the themes explored beautifully. I already know I'll be watching this movie again, and again.

Thanks for reading my review.

"I didn't know we had a pool!"

Just got back from a special sneak peek/advance screening of this movie, and I must say, Pixar continues to amaze. They just can't seem to make a bad move. Heck, they can't even make a mediocre movie. Now, I will admit, there have been a couple that I would classify as my "least favorite" of theirs, but even they were actually very, very good. This one, though...it just may take the cake. Ranks up there with the absolute best they have produced. Hysterical, emotional, meaningful -- this movie succeeds on every front! I am not going to get into spoilers or specific plot aspects, but I will say that I am almost definitely going to see this one again in the theater..and it will be worth every dime. Come Friday, be in line to see Wall-E. You don't want to miss it!