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Ken's Review: Wall-E - The First Perfect Movie of 2008!

by Ken Evans
June 26, 2008

US Release Date: June 27, 2008
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
MPAA: Rated G
Running Time: 103 minutes
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
on IMDb
10/10

Movies have the ability to make us feel every possible emotion. There are times we cry, times we laugh, times we love and times that we are scared out of our wits. With all the different feelings that I experience during the many films I watch, it wasn't until after seeing Wall-E that I realized there is one emotion that movies so rarely make me feel. The emotion that I'm talking about is joy. To be honest, Wall-E has so consumed my thoughts that I can't even bring another movie to mind that has made me feel the pure joy that I felt during or after seeing Pixar's Wall-E.

Wall-E is the last operational trash compacting robot left on an abandoned Earth. He has spent the last 700 years doing the same thing. That is until a mysterious ship lands and drops off a probe named Eve. Eve sets off on her mission while Wall-E watches from the shadows. He finally builds up the nerve to talk to her while at the same time accidentally helping her to find what she was sent there for. Eve is whisked away, but after 700 years of being alone, Wall-E is not about to let her go and follows her into space. Unbeknownst to Wall-E, he is about to set in motion a sequence of events greater than he could have ever imagined.

After 700 years of working alone, Wall-E falls in love with the first robot he encounters named Eve and won't let her go. Wall-E Review

Last year I saw Ratatouille and thought that Pixar had finally out done themselves. They had made a movie that seemed, in my mind, unable to be topped and is in my opinion one of the greatest animated movies of all time. Then I saw the trailer for Wall-E and as excited as I was, I couldn't comprehend it being better or even on the same level as Ratatouille. I was wrong. Wall-E blew me away in every aspect!

I'll admit again, like I did in my review of Kung Fu Panda, that I'm not an expert when it comes to animation, but I know what I like and think I have a good eye for quality. I'll give the award for edginess to Kung Fu Panda, but for beauty and groundbreaking animation, Wall-E wins hands down. Wall-E is a perfect combination of simplicity and detail. The mixing of real people with an animated world caught me off guard and had my eyes racing to take it all in. The colors were as bright and fluid as I have ever seen. There were so many scenes that, even with my eyes open as wide as possible, I couldn't catch it all. It is going to take multiple viewings before I'm going to be able to put together all my thoughts regarding the animation.

If you are a Star Wars fan and you haven't heard of Ben Burtt, then consider yourself the worst Star Wars fan in existence. Burtt is the sound designer behind all of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, not to mention countless others. In case you don't know already, the majority of Wall-E has no actual dialogue. It is mostly beeps and squeaks from the many robots and objects they interact with. Writer and director Andrew Stanton didn't just hire a good sound guy to set the tone for the film, he hired the best in the business. The amount of story and emotion that is conveyed to the audience without speech really says a lot about Burtt's work in Wall-E. It is truly amazing what that man can do with a few sound effects.

Wall-E and Eve embark on a mission together to give humanity a reboot in Wall-E. Wall-E Review

Speaking of Andrew Stanton, all I can say is wow! It's like Pixar just has these guys sitting around writing the best screenplays ever. The story is what gripped me the most, just like in Ratatouille. This is what sets Pixar apart from DreamWorks and every other animation studio. There is so much depth, meaning and emotion put into these stories. We don't just get a glimpse of love, we get an eye opening look into what love truly is and all the different aspects of it. Ultimately, Wall-E is the story of a robot that's fallen in love and desires more than anything to hold the hand of the robot he loves.

There is more to the plot than just Wall-E and Eve though. There is the story of the human race and how they have become lazy and fat in space. The message there is important but also obvious. I don't really need to go into that because you would have to be blind not to pick up the message there. I'm much more interested in the attributes that Wall-E manifests toward Eve and how she responds.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. It is not just a kid's movie. It is meant to be a film that everyone can appreciate. Kids will eat it up, while grownups will enjoy the humor of the characters and depth of the story. Without a doubt this is the movie I would tell everyone to see this weekend. Do whatever you have to do so that you can see it and take everyone you know to see it. The first perfect movie of 2008!

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Keith

Bravo!
Dylan

Wow I will definitly be seeing it more that once. I can't freakin wait.
Darrin

wow. pixar did it again.
Jezza

I'm glad all your wildest dreams came true
Nick

Just got home from the midnight premiere. If this doesn't win movie of the year I will be very upset. These robots emote better than a lot of actors I've seen. No joke.
Sam

Atonishing!! Makes me sad to not be in love right now THANK YOU PIXAR
B4tS

CAN'T WAIT The Movie i must see before TDK.
Kail

Taking a girl I've been hanging out with recently to see it on Sunday. Wish me luck guys! I might be the first guy on the internet to make it with a girl!
dom

SUCKS to be in the uk right now Gota wait.
http://blog.myspace.com/shero_rauf Shero

I am really glad that this movie got such nice lights and love ... As I see from the comments here and in the other sites near by 99.99% are so agree that this movie is great and perfect and one of the best .... I will be waiting for this " 5 September 2008 (Bulgaria)" ...and hope to read more and more about everything about the movie ...even spoilers or even things that may some people didn't like ....
http://blogger.xs4all.nl/vads Vitor

I had HUGE expectations for this movie. It's unfair, but after so many trailers and short films of Wall-E, I was awaiting THE best movie of the year. But having seen Kung Fu Panda last Sunday and The Dark Knight past wednesday, Wall-E turned out to be a bit disappointing. Maybe I shouldn't have watched it immediately after the epic Dark Knight, but if not now, whenever?! Don't get me wrong, absolutely not! It's a great movie and you'll be well entertained. Wall-E is an adorable character and the emotions he's experiencing alone on earth and later on with Eve, are genuine and understandable. You'll love him! And when Eve enters the game, you'll love her too. And that's where Pixar succeeded wonderfully; even though there isn't a lot of dialog between the main characters, you'll feel attached to them. Pixar created wonderful new characters into their already vast collection. It's a beautiful story about love, friendship and loneliness. But the movie let me down on exactly the point where I expected the movie to fail. The story is about Wall-E, a garbage droid who's alone on earth cleaning up the mess humanity left after departing to space. So a large part of the time we see Wall-E alone. No dialogs; only the interaction between him and his cockroach-friend. But these settings we've already seen in the trailers. And it's here that the movie turns out to be a bit boring and gets you thinking:"When is anything going to happen?!". Only when Wall-E follows Eve into space, back to the spaceship where humanity is living large, the adventure kicks in. Again, the characters are adorable. I overheard people talking about the characters as they were leaving the screening, saying they didn't feel any "click" with them. I did. I've always been a fan of sentimental movies, like E.T. and that's what you can compare Wall-E with. It's a great movie to go see with your children or little cousins; especially they will love the movie. It contains a good message for them. My son has had a Wall-E-poster for months now in his room and we were both highly anticipating this movie. Now that I've seen it, I'm curious to know what he'll think of it. For adults I don't think it's entertaining enough... The animation is beautiful and at times even better than Kung Fu Panda. Sound is good, with some usage of classical tunes. After disappointing me last year with Ratatouille, Pixar made up with me with Wall-E. But still, it could have been more adventurous and exciting than this final result. My rating: 8 out of 10
Parish

I have to be honest in that I am getting tired of hearing how world changing this movie is. I get it, it is a good movie, but really guys? Did you walk out of the theater a different person for seeing the movie? I just don't get it. There is no such thing as a perfect movie. Everyone take a deep breath and pull your hand out of your pants ok? It's just a movie.
Tim C

@Parish I pretty much agree with Ken's review. This film was hands down the best film I've seen in years. It captured my heart and took it for an adventure of a lifetime. When Ken speaks of the feeling of 'joy' you have at the end of the film...I couldn't agree more. This film tore me apart emotionally and rebuilt me into something better. So if that's not perfect...then I don't know what is. And world changing? Who said anything about this film being world changing? Though I would argue that there will be many young children that could one day look back on this film as their inspiration to do something great in this world. Perhaps there are some lessons that people can pick up on subconsciously from the film as well. People applauded Wall-E throughout the film and I could see the joy on people's faces as they walked out. All in all...this film gets a perfect rating from me as well. I loved every millisecond of it.
Shige

Good movie but.. not THAT good. The second half runed the whole thing for me. 7/10
Jamie Goldsmith

My question is will a four year old dig it or will they get bored with the lack of dialogue.
twispious

10/10,what a joke.
Tim C

I took my 2yr old niece to see it today, my second time, and she absolutely loved it! We went to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday...she liked that one, but she got bored towards the end and I had to wrangle her from running around the theater. Complete opposite experience with WALL-E. She was entranced through the entire movie, even the credits. The ride home she kept repeating Eve saying "Wallll-eeee". Oh and she was laughing hysterically through 'Presto', as was I. And technically there is dialogue, it's just not spoken. Body language, bleeps and environmental interaction is where the dialogue lives in this film. @Shige: What about the second half ruined it for you, without spoiling it too much for other readers?? @twispious: what about 10/10 is a joke? Without reasons to support your statement, some may look at your post as a joke... Someone explain to me how this movie is not good, because I must lack that cynical part of the brain to comprehend that...?
Shige

Tim C Well, SPOILERS SPOILERS the real life humans and partly the whole chase sequense ruined it for me. First part was great without any dialogue at all.
ModernRock

The best PIXAR movie ever! That is saying a lot! I'm watching it Sat morning!
paulina

i knew the first perfc movie of this year!!
Jay

just cute i got to say i liked it.. and now stealing it from the server lol jk... but i know some one that getting me a screener quility of it
Alex F

I built a movie theater in my house because I love movies so much. I have to admit out of all the movies coming out these days "b" rated with good actors...(blockbuster movies) I have to say there aren't to many that I would see over and over....Wall-e is def. one that I think I will see many times.
Alfredo

What's with the Wall-E hate? It was honestly better than... any movie I've watched in years. I had high expectations and hoped they wouldn't be crushed, but instead my expectations got taken for a ride. Ridiculously good movie. Crushes, if momentarily, the cynicism we might have about relationships, humans, etc.
Taciana

An adorable robot. A fascinating story. That movie really surprised me with so much depth, meaning and emotion... the fact that there is almost no dialogue is insignificant. Those robots blew my mind and my heart with just body language and bleeps, which confirms a fact: one gesture worth more than a thousand words.
Mark P

The review perfectly summed it up for me. After watching it, I just wanted to watch it again. I rarely enjoy movies this much. Everyone NEEDS to see this.
ModernRock

Well i saw it and was a little bored. It is not the best PIXAR movie. It may be the worst. With that said, it is still a good movie. Just the bottom of the list in the PIXAR lineup.
http://jessicaxmaria.blogspot.com Jessica Maria

My favorite Pixar movie! Definitely already in my top ten this year...
http://Firstshowing.net nell

I hated this movie more than I can say. My kids were bored, I was bored. What a waste of $27. Lucky for me we did not buy popcorn and drinks. The obvious political statement was "take care of the earth." That fact that anyone was mildly entertained with this demonstates exactly what the movie implied....We are Brain dead, to lazy to expect more. Political statement number 2.
Tim C

@neil What more did you expect to see out of this film? It sounds like you are focusing too much on a non-issue. This film is not made with any message hidden inside. It's not put here to change the world. This is a very simple story about two robots falling in love. The future portrayed in this film has been put on screen dozens of times in the past. I've never heard anyone complain about the political statements of the Mad Max films?? And I'm sorry, but you implying that we that like this film are the brain dead?? Seriously? The fact that you were bored with this film suggests that you would be happier with more of the 'brain dead' films that play during the summer. Those films that are made for the lowest common denominators out there, they usually star Will Smith. What are films that you aren't bored with? Don't call me a lazy, mindless drone for enjoying this film. Pixar really took a risk by releasing a film, in the summer, with little to no spoken dialogue in it. A risk that, so far, has paid of in great reviews and revenue.
dac_fan

I went and saw it expecting greatness, i was sadly disapointed. The best part of the movie was the short at the begining. I'd give this movie 3/10 and i would also like to add... WORST PICSAR MOVIE EVER MADE
dac_fan

my spelling also 3/10
dac_fan

This movie was making fun of fat people and children, overweight children have enough problems and are teesed alot of the time. This movie only adds fuel to the fire. Take your kids to see kung fu panda instead.
Xerxex

I went in with all the hype still fresh and was expectiong to be a little let down but I am glad to say I wasn't. All the hype was genuine. I can't tell how many movies have let me down after I followed it up until release. But Wall-E held frim in the end. Now I know everbody has their own opinion about this film, I guess for those who did not like it really are not in touch with their inner child, but for those who did like it like myself are always going to have that inner child pulling the strings with films like Wall-E. The short film "Presto" was a great way to start off the fun, for those watching, all around the entire film was nothing short of greatness.
http://www.kogmedia.com patrick

Wall-E totally looks like the robot from "Short Circuit"... minus the cheesy 80's style
Skywalker007

I love to see WALL-E get nominated for Best Picture. Actually I think it deserves a win. Also, there was wonderful sound editing and mixing by Ben Burtt, he might even deserve a Special Achievement. And there was a beautful score by Newman. Derserves nomintaion. Most importantly, Stanton derserves a win for Best Original Screenplay. Beautiful storytelling, beautiful originality. But what makes those voters discriminate animated movie? WALL-E FOR BEST PICTURE.
Megan

WALL-E was a good movie... but not as good as I thought it would be. I didn't really care for the story line but WALL-E the character, was hands down the cutest thing ever! I loved him and his interactions with Eve and the cockroach and everything else. He was ADORABLE! Loved WALL-E, didn't love the story.
http://myspace.com/corycow CoryCow

Nick(6), I couldn't agree with you more. This movie is a PERFECT example of why I find myself enjoying Pixar films over Dreamworks and other competitors most times. There is so little of an actual script in this movie and yet it STILL manages to be one of the best movies I have ever seen period. Not just from Pixar. Not just in 3D. Period. Aside from being pure eye-candy, it just seems to ignite every emotion that may come to mind. Very rarely do we see such quality even from movies that have vocal scripts from start to finish. I agree 1000%. This movie better get Movie of the Year/Best Picture. Tim C(17), about Shige and twispious...high five? lol