Wall-E, I wonder if I can say much about this movie without gushing. For one, it’s one of the few movies (perhaps the only movie, if memory serves me correctly) that has completely won me over, charmed me. Ever since I saw this movie for the first time, the images have left a permanent imprint in my mind. I cannot stop myself from watching it over and over again. If I don’t watch it over and over again, I tend to see it in my mind’s eye. The limited dialogue plays over and over again in my head like a broken record. All this, despite the fact that it is an animation and despite the fact that it is a romantic movie; what is it that makes Wall-E so endearing and charming?
Firstly, the animation is superb (which isn’t a surprise as it was made by Pixar, and everyone knows that their skill in animation is superlative). Secondly, it is a love story set against the backdrop of an Earth so polluted that all humans are forced to evacuate. There is a male character who falls in love with the female character and he does everything he can for her, even putting himself in harm’s way for her. Finally, the two lead characters of the movie are robots!
Wall-E, pronounced “Wally” (an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth class) is one of a number of robots left on Earth by the humans who have evacuated the planet to clean up the trash. Over the centuries, he has developed a sense of sentience and he collects things he finds among the trash that capture his interest (e.g. a light bulb, a Rubik’s cube, cigarette lighter, a plant, etc). He also finds a video cassette of an old movie called “Hello Dolly” which he watches over and over again, this enables him to learn emotion and the importance of holding hands, a gesture which he understands as an expression of love. But having no company other than his pet cockroach, he is forlorn.
Enter Eve, an ergonomically designed probe which has the task of finding evidence of ongoing photosynthesis on planet Earth so that the humans can return. Wall-E falls in love with her at first sight, but she does not reciprocate this; although she shows interest in him and finds him cute. He takes her to his bachelor pad and shows her the interesting things he collected from among the trash. When he shows her the small plant he found, she stores it within her and deactivates. Wall-E is sad; he goes to great lengths to try and revive her and to protect her seemingly lifeless body. One day when he is at work, the ship that delivers Eve to Earth comes to retrieve her. As the ship is blasting off earth, a distraught Wall-E clings to its outer hull for a ride through space after which he ends up on the Axiom. The Axiom is one of many ships in which humans have evacuated Earth. On the Axiom, he meets many robots and humans. Their encounter with him changes their lives drastically for the better. Because of Wall-E, Eve is able to fulfill her mission to deliver the plant into a part of the ship that enables the ship’s return to Earth. After they return to earth, humans and robots start working together to revive the Earth’s biosphere and make it habitable again. During their ordeals to get the plant to its destination despite the ships autopilot (who is the “bad guy” of the movie), Eve comes to know of the things Wall-E did for her while she was deactivated and she too falls in love with him.
Wall-E has a box like body, a pair of caterpillar tracks for locomotion and two arms for doing his work. Atop his box of a body he has a pair of eyes. The designers at Pixar have designed this simple construct in such a way that every minute emotion is clearly, intelligibly and precisely portrayed. The absolute selflessness with which he helps Eve (whom he calls Eva) is endearing beyond all limits. She never tells him what her directive is or why the plant is important to her, but because it is important to her, it’s important to him. He goes to great lengths, even risking his life to help her complete her mission. Thanks to the intonation in his voice, his body language and most importantly his eyes, the audience has little or no difficulty understanding what’s going on in his “mind”. Every single aspect of this character, right from the way he explores his surroundings, to the way he interacts with other characters is endearing. I feel compelled once again to get back to his expressive eyes that convey every emotion, from awestruck bewilderment, innocent wonder, to being love struck and a plethora of other emotions; the most charming of which is the innocent wide eyed wonder with which he takes in the world around him. His attitude is similar to that of a child but has elements of adulthood in it. Kudos to Pixar for the design of this character.
Eve on the other hand can be described as beautiful and girlie. Her design was inspired by the seamless design of the Apple IPod and Apple Computer Inc’s Jonathan Ive had a hand in her design. She has expressive eyes and the ability to fly. Her vocabulary in the movie is restricted to a few select words such as “Wally”, “Directive”, “Come”, “Plant” and “Earth”, each recorded with different vocal intonations to indicate various feelings and emotions. Initially she is interested in nothing but her directive but towards the end of the movie falls in love with Wall-E.
Well, I have said quite a lot about this movie (hopefully without giving any spoilers) without gushing, but I fear I haven’t been able to express the reason why I find this movie incredibly charming. I guess the charm lies in the perfection and attention to detail that is evident in each and every frame of this movie and Wall-E's child-like characteristics.
As a closing statement, all I can say is that if you haven’t seen this movie, you most definitely are missing something wonderful.
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