Citizen WALL-E

Put on your Sunday clothes there's lots of world out there...

Review of Disney-Pixar's WALL-E

I've just come back from seeing WALL-E for the second time in as many weeks. Pixar has grown up. This is not a great animated film, its a great film that happens to be animated.

I wanted to wait to see it again-- because my initial impression of the film was so uncharacteristically glowing that I thought it must have been a fluke of perception.

But no, on the second go round, this film stands up. So many elements just work so well. The sound design is absolute perfection and some imagery is hauntingly beautiful. The sequence when WALL-E leaves earth and glimpses the beauty of space is one that comes to mind. A robot built to be earth-bound and achieving so much more works on both a visual and emotional level, and its capped by one of this film's signature visuals, the rings of Saturn moment.

I own up to being a bit of a sap and I'll admit to having a bit of a tear form during the WALL-E, EVE "dancing" moment in the third act. The sound design that I mentioned earlier starts the film off brilliantly, and never ceases to be communicative, efficient, and beautiful.

But the ultimate stand out is the story. There's so much of the story that's perfectly told that it's impossible to recall all of it without blogging as I watched. But a robot who learns about life threw the trash of humanity is one of the smartest conceits I've ever encountered.

As someone who considers himself a bit of an engineer-artist (insofar as I'm very structural and deliberate in how I create) I have an appreciation and admiration for so much that was done during this film. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment when you see the progression of captains of the Axiom. And though what's immediately obvious is that they're getting fatter, what's also happening is that they're morphing from fully photorealistic to fully CG. This is brilliant.

Though it never feels incongruent while watching the film, there is a bit of a disconnect when you first think about how the president of BNL is photorealistic, played by the perfectly cast Fred Willard, and all the other humans are CG. But really this is a solution to a problem... how else do you explain the photorealistic humans seen in the Hello, Dolly! footage? By having this quick camera pan and the morph into CGness, the solve a problem and added to the story at the same time.

This is indicative of the smartness of the entire film. I can't remember the last time I felt so trusted as an audience member.

Every art form has its golden age, and right now computer animation is enjoying its time. Its an artform that includes so much, and I can honestly say that some of the absolute best lighting happening right now exists inside a computer.

So, if you can't tell yet, go see this film. You owe it to yourself to see it on the big screen while the print is still fresh. You'll enjoy it immensely while you're watching it, and the message and imagery will stay with you all week.

Somebody call the AFI, and tell them that Orsen needs to get pushed down a spot.

Bravo.

Side note, Sigourney Weaver as the voice of the ships computer is a bit of a trip, all I could think of is the countdown from Alien, kind of a reversal of fortune.

pixar_nerd_moment

For those watching closely, WALL-E's trash sculpture of EVE includes a Luxo Jr. Did anyone spot the Pizza Planet truck?

/pixar_nerd_moment