Movie Info:
Writer: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon
Director: Andrew Stanton
Cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, MacInTalk, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
Rating: G
Studio: Disney/Pixar
Release Info:
DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $24.49
I have been a fan of Pixar movies from the beginning. Occasionally, there is one in the bunch that doesn’t do it for me, but the majority of films have been well worth watching and owning. I haven’t felt the same about the animated films carrying just the Disney name lately. I had a feeling I was going to like WALL-E, but there was one thing that really had me worried. I had been seeing promos, trailers, and marketing buzz on this for so long that it got to the point where I thought it could never ever live up to the hype that had been created. I experienced the same problem with a number of other movies and I was hoping that this would not happen with WALL-E.
Surprisingly enough, WALL-E managed to top all possible expectations. In fact, it is easily one of my favorite movies of the year. It’s not common that I pick an animated movie as one of my favorites of the year, but WALL-E has a way of making you love him. I am not sure what it is about him that I love so much. He’s cute. He’s funny. He’s perhaps one of the most adorable characters in a full length animated feature that I have ever encountered.
I think the most appealing thing (moms will love this) is the humanity in WALL-E. He’s just a little trash cleaning robot that wants to be loved. It’s completely amusing that he is obsessed with the musical Hello Dolly!. In fact, the opening scene begins with some music from the musical. If you’re not familiar with Dolly it might take you a while to figure out which musical is getting so much attention. Luckily, I have Dominick with me, who knows plenty about musicals thanks to time well spent in college. Without him, I would have had to Google it or would have lived without knowing what that special musical was.
In a world that has gone to trash, the WALL-E model trash compactor is supposed to be there to clean up the Earth. The humans all have to live in outer space until the mess has been fixed and their planet is habitable again. I cannot help but feel the social conscious of this message creeping in. Maybe it’s just me, but hopefully the kids will take a little of that to heart and make a strong effort to recycle more than they do. Hopefully the same can be said about mom and dad who watch it with the kids. Seeing what happens to the adults in space is enough to make any responsible adult rush to put that milk jug in the recycling bin!
At the heart of things, WALL-E is a story that we all can relate to. Everyone wants to be loved and to have someone love them, in return. That’s the only thing WALL-E seems to want, too. This is a definite must purchase for the holiday or anytime, especially on Blu-Ray. Of course, this release made my Christmas shopping for the kids in my family a whole lot easier because now I know just what they will be getting!
The WALL-E Plot
Picture a world filled with trash. There is so much trash that people can no longer live on Earth. It’s everywhere! This is the world that you see in WALL-E. It is never discussed (or perhaps I missed it) why the Earth ended up this way. It could have been general urban destruction or perhaps some sort of nuclear attack. Whatever the reason, it is never broached on and it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that the humans are all shipped off to live on some space capsule and the WALL-E brand trash compactor is the only thing left on Earth to save the planet. Unfortunately, after hundreds of years (or more) of cleaning up the planet, there is only one WALL-E left. All the others stopped working long ago.
This fact doesn’t bother WALL-E though. He goes to work every day with his best friend, a little cockroach, and does his job turning trash into cubes. He’s so good at it that there are entire skyscrapers built from trash. It’s an amazing sight to see. When work is over, he heads back home, to an abandoned truck bed where he can watch Hello Dolly!, repair himself with various parts if needed, and protect himself from the dangerous sandstorms. Like some people in outer space, WALL-E is just waiting for the day when humans can come back to Earth again.
Things are all set to change for the lovable little robot when he finds the first signs of sustainable life on Earth. It’s just a little plant, but if it can grow and live that means that the humans might be able to come home. Ever watchful of things back home, the captain of the spaceship where all humans live sends down a slim and aerodynamic robot named Eve to collect the plant so they can determine if it’s time to go home.
Eve seems fierce, but WALL-E takes quite a liking to her. He forgives her when she unwinds his precious Hello Dolly! VHS and he sneaks on the spaceship when it’s time for her to go back to space. Eve is worried about WALL-E when she realizes that he’s snuck aboard, but she cannot stay mad at him for long. As smitten as WALL-E is, Eve is a little smitten for him, too.
Having the plant on the spaceship could mean bad news for Eve and WALL-E though. The humans on the spaceship have never lived on Earth. In fact, they are quite different than the people that used to live there. They have robots that do everything for them. Each person rides around on a flying lounger, has access to a nearby Big Gulp, and has a robot friend that does nearly everything for them. If someone has a question, they don’t even need to read (none of them seem to know how) they just ask a robot, or use the Internet, which is controlled through voice activation. The humans on the ship don’t even know how to walk because there has been no need for it on the ship.
However, WALL-E’s discovery of life on Earth could change all of that. The trouble is that the ship’s creators do not want the humans to go back to Earth. This means it’s up to the humans, WALL-E, and Eve to fight the ship for control. The question is, will one plant be enough to begin rebuilding the world?
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
There is no other way to put it. WALL-E is absolutely gorgeous on Blu-Ray! The aspect ratio of 2.40:1 includes AVC/Mpeg-4, so you can expect the highest quality of Blu-ray technology available. I cannot think of a Pixar movie that has been presented in bad quality, but this blows them all away. Prior to WALL-E my favorite Pixar film was Toy Story, which I have been anxious to see on Blu-ray.
If it comes out half as good as this quality, I will be more than satisfied. It is rare to see a movie with virtually no errors. However, that’s just what you get with WALL-E. The color palette offers moments of beauty and moments of grungy, grittiness that would be necessary for the trash scenes. Of course, even the trash looks nice. The detail here will leave you in awe. It’s a big world and WALL-E is a little robot, and everything in this movie looks perfect. This is highly recommended. It’s also one of the best (if not the best) Blu-rays of the year!
With a great video transfer, the only thing that could have made this movie better was a standout audio performance. Pixar made sure that audio performance was in place and sounding incredible! Presented in 5.1 DTS HD-Master audio, WALL-E offers a strong and occasionally subtle audio presentation. WALL-E is not a nonstop movie in an action sense. There are plenty of calm moments from an auditory standpoint. However, when it comes time to present strong audio, WALL-E is there. The audio is dynamic, strong, and never wavers. All channels are used well and everything remains on an even level so there is no need to adjust volume as things change from sound effects to dialogue. There is not a lot of speaking going on in this film (the main characters are robots), but even the smallest gust of wind offers an expert sound that cannot be matched by anything less than Blu-ray.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
WALL-E has more special features than any other recent DVD I can remember. In my opinion, this means little. What does mean a lot though is that these are some of the best special features that I have ever seen in a bonus section. Spread across two discs, WALL-E offers a selection of special features that should answer every question that you have about this movie, and then some.
The first disc includes the feature film and a smaller (of the two discs) selection of special features. The director’s commentary includes Cine-Explore. While the commentary is playing pop-ups appear showing concept art, Pixar employees, and a whole lot more. This is a fun way to start things off. The commentary wouldn’t have been bad on its own, but this certainly spiced things up and made them more entertaining.
The Geek Track is amusing just because of the fact that it’s a group of Pixar geeks doing a movie commentary. Sure, at times they can be over-geeky, but the majority of this is good, clean fun. It’s interesting to listen to and if you happen to like comic books (they discuss them a lot) then you will love this.
A short, five minute film is up next. “Presto” is a funny little short that revolves around the power struggle between a rabbit and his Magician owner.
“Burn-E” focuses on the repair robot, BURN-E. Watching this feature gives you the chance to see how the travels of WALL-E and Eve affect Burn-E. This short is quite amusing and like the others, well worth watching. This feature, along with a Geek o Rama Easter egg ends the first disc.
The second disc includes a ton of special features that are broken down into two main categories, Robots and Humans.
Robots
“WALL-E’s Treasures and Trinkets” is a five minute short film that has WALL-E going on a series of silly and hilarious adventures. This one is great for the whole family, especially the kids.
“Lots of Bots Storybook” is a narrated story that includes both the Axiom robots and WALL-E. In addition to the story, there is a play along button for the younger kids to turn the feature into an interactive game.
The Axiom Arcade includes four games that are actually pretty fun, considering. Usually DVD games aren’t that amusing, but these remind me of old-school video games like you might have found on an Atari back in the day. The games include Eve’s Bot Blaster, M-O’s Mop Up Madness, Burn-E’s Break Through, and WALL-E’s Dodge and Dock. These are plenty of fun for the whole family.
This section ends with a sneak peek of an Internet feature, “Wall-E’s Tour of the Universe” and some Bot Files that tell you all you want to know about Axiom’s robot servants.
Humans
The Deleted Scene section includes four scenes with an introduction by the director. These scenes are quite cute even though it’s obvious why the scenes weren’t put in the movie.
“The Imperfect Lens” lasts for close to 15 minutes and looks at the camera techniques that are necessary when creating a movie like WALL-E.
“Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds from the Sound Up” includes information from the sound designer, Ben Burtt on how he managed to achieve various sound effects. He also allows viewers to learn about the early days of Disney sound design.
One of the most interesting features is “Captain’s Log: The Evolution of Humans.” The reason I find this so interesting is because it shows the evolution of the human design for the humans in WALL-E. It’s surprising to see how different the original concept and the final product ended up being.
“Notes on a Score” lasts for just over ten minutes and includes both the director and the composer in a discussion on the movie’s score.
If you want to know how many people it takes to film one small sequence in a digital film then “Life of a Shot” is just the featurette for you.
After that, you might want to check out “Robo Everything,” which is a six minute look at the design process for the robots. Another design featurette is “Wall-E and Eve,” which looks at the creation of the two lovebirds in the film.
There are five “BNL Shorts.” These shorts include “Captaining the Axiom,” “Operation Cleanup,” “Meet the BnL Bots,” “The History of Buy n Large,” and “All Aboard the Axiom.” This is followed up by the 3-D set Fly Through, which offers a stunning look at the Axiom and the remnants of Earth.
Galleries and a set of Worldwide Trailers finish out the smaller features, leaving only one feature left.
The final feature is a full-length documentary, “The Pixar Story” by Leslie Iwerks. This feature is simply amazing. You will learn a great deal about the history of Pixar, digital animation, and how Pixar almost almost wasn’t as visible as it is today.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
I would be absolutely shocked and dismayed if WALL-E doesn’t walk away with the animated best picture Oscar. I would be even more shocked if it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture, period. This movie is as enjoyable for adults as it is for children. Just be prepared to have a new favorite movie when you watch it. I not only recommend this for your own BD library, I highly recommend that you pick this up for friends this Christmas. If on the off chance you do not have a Blu-ray player or a PS3, I highly recommend picking this up in standard definition format. You can find our review of the standard definition DVD on LI Kids.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: DVD Review, Blu-Ray, Disney/Pixar, WALL-E, Animated, Disney Classic, Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, MacInTalk, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. She really is friendlier than we make her look.
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