By Marc S. Sanders
There are some movies that seem to accurately predict what we can expect of our planet’s future. Paddy Chayefsky was one such prophet with his script for Network and the rampant consumption of television influence and addiction. Author Phillip K Dick might have also been a Nostrodomus of sorts when his writings were adapted into such films as Total Recall, Minority Report and Blade Runner which offered convincing convenience to lifestyles and evolved productivity. Perhaps the imagineers behind PIXAR are also on to something because their adorable, futuristic WALL·E does not seem so farfetched.
The robot title character is a trash collector on an abandoned planet Earth seven hundred years into the future. A Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club amalgamation known as the fictional Buy N Large appeared to have become the main resource for any immediate need of the human population that once existed; what the coming of Amazon is turning into. This monopolized interpretation of absolute capitalism was run by a CEO and maybe Commander In Chief of the free world, played by Fred Willard, the one major flesh and blood actor to appear in this picture.
WALL·E, along with a faithful cockroach, roams the wastelands. The puppy dog, bug eyed robot wheels around on his tractor legs collecting the endless amounts of leftover trash and compacting it into neat, stackable boxes. Piled on top of each other, these boxes get as high as skyscrapers. These are the remnants from what Buy N Large left for the planet.
One day a rocket ship arrives and drops off a highly sophisticated and glossy white droid that we come to know as EVE. For WALL·E, it’s almost love at first sight even though EVE has a treacherous laser cannon for an arm and intimidating blue cyborg eyes.
Eventually, the two bots hitch a ride into space when the rocket returns to pick up EVE. They arrive on a galaxy cruise liner that’s floating through the solar system. While the two get into a bunch of Looney Tunes shenanigans running through the corridors and piping of the ship, the audience bears witness to what exactly happened to planet Earth, and who has survived to carry on. At this point a prophecy seems to be declared by writers Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Jim Reardon (all PIXAR regulars at the time).
Humans aboard this liner have become oversized, lazy blobs with no neck, fat arms, fingers and legs, and reclined to permanent seats while robotics cater to their hungers and comforts. These people are cheerful but happily lazy and unproductive. Remember when your mother would tell you to clean your room? Well, the wasteland universe of WALL·E bears justification for mom’s aggravation and constant pestering.
The computerized animation of this PIXAR romantic adventure is dazzling in details and character expression. There’s an unattractive sand like and earth tone mood to anyplace we explore on Earth. Yet, the industrial sheen of the cruise liner appears to have all the comforts imaginable. You can practically taste the colors and feel the balmy air conditioning within this ginormous vehicular city in space. Yet, the telling story of WALL·E has no problem convincing me that this is not right. This is not a future I’d want to be a part of.
Disney and PIXAR follow that mentality of ensuring a soul of emotion drives their characters of fantasy and it’s easy to fall in love with the clunky lead robot. You want WALL·E to be safe from sandstorms, while also keeping his only friend, the cockroach, by his side for companionship in an entirely lonely world. His only other source of cheerfulness comes from watching the musical Hello, Dolly! on an old TV. Even playing ATARI’s Pong is not stimulating enough for this little guy.
Sound Effects Wizard Ben Burtt, who pioneered staple sci fi elements with the Star Wars films, performs the vocal expressions of chirps and beeps for WALL·E’s innocence. There’s a language to the little fella and it’ll leave a lump in your throat when he calls for EVE. Elissa Knight brings a more experienced, technologically up to date personality to EVE. We worry when an organized entity like EVE robotically screams for WALL·E when she thinks he’s in danger. She’s only supposed to follow a program, but the manufactured mind lends to a side effect of genuine emotion. As the two get acquainted with each other, there’s a touching chemistry to them both. A floating dance through space is as much silly as it is adorably romantic. You cannot help but smile because by this point you are invested in this relationship as much you’d buy Rick and Ilsa’s affections towards one another, or Harry and Sally’s.
I really embrace the childlike love story connecting these two non-living beings. Set against what appears like an apocalyptic wasteland, there are layered dynamics to this animated film, one of PIXAR’s best.
I have to also salute the film’s nods to classic science fiction that also offer not so unrealistic possibilities. An antagonist comes in the form of a robot similar in appearance to HAL-9000 from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. He’s a nasty bugger with an all too familiar blood-red eye. It’s also a delight to recognize Sigourney Weaver’s voice as the cruise liner’s computer, a sort of slap in the face to monochromatic computers that would countdown a certain doom for the actress’s most famous role of Ellen Ripley in the Alien films. PIXAR has always been brilliant with their wink and nod delights.
The film was released in 2008, a near generation ago maybe, when iPhones and Androids were not even as entirely sophisticated as today. Yet PIXAR could telegraph what was to come. The environments on Earth and on the cruiser tell us just how overly reliable we’ve become on technological conveniences for socializing or even one stop shopping.
We are getting to a point where we might not even procreate with one another. It’s a sad irony that it will take two self-thinking, yet designed for programing, robotic appliances to remind us how valuable the human touch is and what a purpose to life really serves ourselves and those we have to interactively live with.
You might be embracing that cell phone tight in the palm of your hand, but will that device ever hold your hand in return?
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 