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July 28, 2008

We went to see Wall-E tonight, and what a wonderful film it was

I won’t spoil the plot for you, but the story basically revolves around the relationship between the two main characters Wall-E and his companion, Eve (but you’ll have worked that out already if you’ve seen any of the trailers or promotional posters) and I think the reason that people have been so awestruck by the film is for one simple reason. Throughout its 98 minutes these two little robots only use three words including their names (Eve occasionally also says “Directive!”, but if I told you why I’d be giving away the plot) to communicate an amazing depth and breadth of emotions. For this alone, the writers and animators deserve an Oscar in my opinion, because the wonderful, effortless way that they’ve achieved this puts the performances up there with the great Charlie Chaplin, to name but one silent movie star.

It is a children’s film, like every other Pixar movie, and there were certainly lots of children in the audience when we went who seemed to be enjoying it, but it also worked on a very, very different level. For the adults in the audience it was also a damning commentary on corporate greed, rampant consumerism and even adult obesity. If I have any criticism of the movie at all it was extremely ‘busy’ in some scenes, with things going on all over the screen, so I’m sure that I missed some important pointers, but I guess that makes it a sure-fire winner on DVD. I’ll certainly be watching it a few more times…

Finally, two little things to look out for if you’re going to see it for the first time. Check out the ‘pilot’s’ eye and think about who it reminds you of (in fact you’ll see a recreated scene that references the same cultural icon later in the film) and also stick around at the end for some nicely animated end titles with a brand new track from Peter Gabriel playing over them