Dan's Papers - July 11, 2008

"Masterpiece:" this word has been thrown around in the papers and online when discussing Pixar's latest uber-toon, Wall-E. Big words for a big picture, which is really a little smaller than advertised.

If you're unfamiliar with the work done by Disney's Pixar studios, it's certainly worth getting to know. Each film employs cutting edge computer animation, stars big-name celebrities to voice the characters, and happen to feature excellent stories with shockingly powerful emotional range. So far, we've seen toy cowboys, cars, fish, and bugs take the starring roles. But this time, the hero is a boxy little robot, whose model type initials (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) provide his name. He's been treading around what's left of Earth - you read that correctly - 700 years after the human race has polluted, bought and sold the planet into an uninhabitable rock, performing his programmed task, attempting to clean up mountains of garbage that dwarf the skyscrapers long-since abandoned. Along the way he passes other WALL-E units that broke down, as well as an endless landscape of billboards, posters and adverts from the BNL ("Buy 'N Large) corporation, apparently the company that corporatized the planet to death. But the last operating WALL-E - our hero Wall-E - soldiers on, cleaning and cleaning, all the while sifting through the music and video left behind. Besides his pet cockroach, all the company he has is the culture we left, which has ended up turning him into an especially endearing and romantic droid.

However, his centuries-old routine is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a massive spaceship that departs just as quickly, but leaves a little something behind. Wall-E comes in closer to find that the object left by the rocket is actually another robot, but much more sleek and updated than he. It immediately takes off, searching through the rubble with endless energy, stopping only to occasionally fire off whopping laser blasts at the curious - and apparently swooning - Wall-E. But before long, he makes contact with the exploring, egg-shaped machine designated E.V.E., showing her (the machines all have gender in this film) items he's uncovered in his many years of trash-collecting. A Rubik's Cube. A lighter. A videotape of My Fair Lady. None of these things interest her until he pulls out an odd green tchotchke - a living weed. The sight of the plant suddenly sets Eve into uncontrollable action, as she secures it within her shell then shuts down, save a blinking leaf-shaped beacon indicating her contents. The confused Wall-E tries to take care of her, stays at her side as she sits unresponsive for days, until the hulking craft that dropped Eve off comes back to take her away - driving the smitten garbage clean-up robot to stow away and save the love of his artificial life.

What's really surprising here is that this G-rated movie, produced by Disney no less, is a complete slam on unbridled consumerism. Suggesting that big business will kill the earth - a far cry from the usual "think for yourself and change things for the better" moral Pixar films generally hang their hat on - left many kids in the audience asking their parents questions... incessantly. But then again, who can blame them? The use of a post-apocalyptic Earth is not a concept easily grasped by 4-year-olds. However, if you agree with the point of view that we are destroying our planet while obsessing on luxury and making money, then don't even bother waiting for the little ones, just go and see it. Adults will find it to be a serious piece of good old-fashioned science fiction, plus it's quite an ocular spectacle, as the breathtaking Pixar technology so flawlessly fleshes out what our devastated world could look like. Furthermore, it paints a gross picture of where the stereotypical lazy and bloated consumer will be 3/4 of a millennium from now, not to mention who will be in control of humanity in the future, basically by suggesting and slamming who's in control now.

But while its pointed view serves as the Titanic of this epic disaster film, Wall-E and Eve are passengers DiCaprio and Winslet - two lovers from different worlds trying to make love happen while everything is spinning out of control. As always, the animators imbue their characters with real feelings, so you'll be laughing - and maybe a little choked up at times too - as you see Wall-E cope with loneliness, sadness and head-over-treads love. And seeing feelings is exactly what you'll be doing, as neither main lead can vocalize past stating their names or making electronic gurgles that indicate feelings. The last Pixar pic, Ratatouille, closed in on this, backing off using instantly recognizable actors for the voice-overs (not that Patton Oswalt didn't nail the rat chef Remy). This time, much of the movie relies entirely on visual delivery and appropriate-sounding blips and bleeps - which happens to work very nicely. However, with no famous names making conversation, Wall-E ends up with a smaller-film feel, even though this movie is one of the most striking and perfectly sculpted-looking films ever.

So, is it a masterpiece? Well... it is excellent, beautiful, extremely well done, poignant, and occasionally wonderful, but not a masterpiece. Ratatouille still reigns as the Pixar masterpiece. This is just really, really, really good.