#52 WALL-E

In Summary

WALL-E is Pixar's tale of a lonely robot's search for companionship amid a post-apocalyptic scenario where humans have left an overly-polluted planet Earth.

With large sections of the film completely absent of dialogue, WALL-E feels strongly akin to the silent-era of filmmaking, with the story largely told via actions rather than words. It gives the film this universal appeal, with audiences from across the world and of all ages being able to understand the events on screen.

The character of WALL-E has this naive, childlike appeal - almost akin to Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp character - as he stumbles across the grander narrative motivated purely by his innocent desire for the companionship of the robot, EVA.

While WALL-E tells a simple story on one level, there is a grander critique of capitalism evoked in this film. Humanity has fled Earth and now lives on this giant spaceship, where a corporation has kept everyone fat and docile, with there only needs being the consumption of goods fed to them by that very corporation.

The film's narrative events are set off when WALL-E - his primary directive is to compact rubbish - stumbles across the first plant to grow on Earth since the evacuation, for which EVA - who has been sent to seek out plant life - returns to humanity's mothership.

Determined to find his one companion, WALL-E follows EVA's ship into outer-space and trawls across the machinations of this heavily-corporatised environment in order to reunite with her. The plot is then thickened when the AI in charge of the mothership attempts to destroy evidence of the plant life, leading to a struggle between this malevolent force and a rag-tag bunch of misfit robots.

WALL-E is a film that is memorable both on a storytelling level and for its message about the evils of corporate greed.

A Memorable Quote
With the film short on dialogue, it is the sound of whirring robot gears and gizmos that define WALL-E. Examples of which can be heard below:

Things You May Not Know

• The team who made this film watched the films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin during their lunch-breaks for 18 months in order to understand the language and techniques of silent cinema.
• It was the first Pixar film to be nominated for six Oscars, which tied the record at the time for an animated film - the other being The Beauty and the Beast.
• The name WALL-E is reference to Walt Disney.

One of the Greatest of All-Time
By keeping the ambitions of its storytelling stripped down as much as possible, WALL-E is a highly efficient and watchable film that still finds it has a social critique to offer - which is much like some of the great silent films.

WALL-E is a film that it is impossible not to be charmed by. It is one of the greatest animated films of the contemporary era.