Wall E
WALL E
Director: Andrew Stanton
Stars:Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures,Pixar Animation Studios
CAST:
Ben Burtt … WALL•E / M-O (voice)
Elissa Knight … Eve (voice)
Jeff Garlin … Captain (voice)
Fred Willard … Shelby Forthright, BnL CEO
John Ratzenberger … John (voice)
Kathy Najimy … Mary (voice)
Sigourney Weaver … Ship’s Computer (voice)
SYNOPSIS:
In the 2100s, the company Buy ‘n Large supplies almost every service on Earth and eventually becomes the world government. Overrun by consumerism, humanity pollutes the planet until it is uninhabitable. In an attempt to clean the planet, Buy ‘n Large sponsors an exodus to space aboard several Executive Starliners, one of which is the Axiom. In the meantime, thousands of WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) units are left behind to convert the garbage into a disposable form. The recovery plan fails, and by 2815, only one WALL-E (the protagonist, voiced by Ben Burtt) remains operational. This WALL-E has developed a personality and stores human knick-knacks in his station, including a sprouting plant that he discovers, and a treasured videotape of the film Hello, Dolly! that teaches him emotion, particularly holding hands.
EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) (Elissa Knight), a robot from the Axiom sent to find plant life, lands on Earth. After multiple misunderstandings, WALL-E shows her the plant he found. Following her directive, EVE stores the plant inside herself and shuts down. WALL-E goes to great lengths to protect her body, and eventually she is recovered by a spacecraft and flown back to the Axiom. Chasing EVE, WALL-E latches on to the outside of the ship and rides it back to its destination. At the Axiom, WALL-E escapes notice by other robots and explores the ship. Consumerism has made humanity lazy and morbidly obese, with every task being automated, including captaining, which is done by the autopilot AUTO (MacInTalk).
WALL-E follows EVE’s body to the captain’s room, where the captain (Jeff Garlin) is to be shown the plant. However, EVE’s body no longer contains the plant; she blames WALL-E. The captain assumes EVE has malfunctioned, and sends her to the robot repair room. WALL-E is spotted and also sent to the repair room, where he accidentally liberates all the malfunctioning robots. WALL-E takes EVE’s gun arm and is carried away by the celebrating newly-freed malfunctioning units. EVE chases the other robots and WALL-E to recover her arm but during the process is accidentally labeled as a rogue robot, mistaken for helping lead the other crazed robots. Seeing the chaos WALL-E has caused, EVE tries to send him back to Earth in an escape pod but he refuses to go. While she tries to put WALL-E into the pod, AUTO’s assistant, GO-4, arrives and reveals that he had the plant the whole time and tries to dispose of it in the escape pod. WALL-E becomes trapped in the pod when he tries to recover the plant and he soon discovers it is set to self-destruct. By using a fire extinguisher to propel himself, he escapes with the plant at the last second. Realizing that the plant has been recovered, AUTO again triggers the alert against WALL-E and EVE. EVE brings the plant to the captain; curious to see images of Earth, he projects EVE’s memories and security camera footage from when she shut down, where she sees the lengths that WALL-E went to protect her. The captain is shocked by the environmental devastation on Earth depicted in the recordings and decides they must return to make amends.
AUTO mutinies and tries to dispose of the plant, and is forced to reveal to the captain that Buy ‘n Large quickly abandoned recolonization plans after realizing that Earth was too toxic to support life; as a result, AUTO is programmed to never return to Earth. AUTO locks the captain in his bedroom, electrocutes WALL-E and throws him and the plant into a garbage chute, and deactivates EVE. EVE awakens in the Axiom’s disposal facility where gigantic WALL-A (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Axiom-Class) units are compacting garbage and launching it into space. EVE saves WALL-E, whose hardware is heavily damaged and rapidly losing battery power, and realizes that they must return to Earth in order to fix him. They recruit the malfunctioning robots and fight their way back to the main part of the ship. Meanwhile, the captain tricks AUTO into bringing him back into the cockpit. He tells WALL-E and EVE to put the plant on the holodetecter, a pedestal that rises from the floor. AUTO forces the holodetecter back into the floor and turns the ship on its side, and EVE is forced to save several humans as they slide into a wall. WALL-E uses his body to jam the holodetector, and EVE places the plant in the holodetector. The captain shuts down AUTO, and the Axiom jumps to Earth. WALL-E’s crushed and electrocuted body runs out of charge and shuts down.
Once they arrive on Earth, EVE frantically pieces him back together from spare parts in his home. As WALL-E recharges, he appears to lose the personality he has developed and begins to perform his programmed task by crushing nearby trash into cubes. EVE, despondent over the loss of WALL-E, holds his hand and leans foward “kissing” him, causing a spark to jump between the two. The spark reboots WALL-E’s memory and he suddenly recognizes her. With a renewed sense of purpose, humanity and robots together work to restore Earth’s biosphere.
The Good:
The film’s first half is literally perfect, nearly devoid of dialogue as we get to know Wall-E, his life on Earth, and attempts to communicate with Eve. It’s a masterpiece of pantomime animation that recalls the earliest Pixar short Luxo Jr., and the romantic comedy is better than many live action ones starring real humans one might call actors.
Tons of sci-fi movie references: Wall-E resembles Short Circuit and ET, robotic voices like the Star Wars droids (thanks Ben Burtt), a crowded hallway like THX-1138, and the second in command has a Hal-like eye from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Cute nods to Apple (Steve Jobs is head of Pixar) - Wall-E uses an iPod, Eve’s white plastic exterior resembles an iMac, and Wall-E blurts the Mac start up chime when drained of solar power.
A worthwhile environmental message and bleak vision of a technology-assisted / corporate-owned humanity - a comment on today’s society by showing a potential future. Pixar deserves credit for moving beyond slapstick comedy and tackling more serious subjects.
The Bad:
The robots are such strong characters, that once the relatively lackluster humans are introduced, the film drags. Our future, marshmallow-body-and-brain selves are so devoid of personality, and their leader is such a dud, that it was hard for me to relate to or care about them. Their physical and mental state fits with the movie’s message, but dramatically it bogs things down.
Definitely not as many laughs as other Pixar films, less than Ratatouille and Cars combined.
Wall E QUOTES:
Statler1976: so what’d you think of “wall-e”?
Waldorf1975: more like “LAME-e”!
Statler1976: no kidding! worse than “the happening”!
Statler1976: they should’ve brought in m. night to make the robo-dialogue more stilted.
Statler1976: “404 ERROR FILE NOT FOUND! WE JUST? HAD. TIRAMISU!”
Waldorf1975: oh, “happening” references. Already so dated, a mere two weeks after the fact.
Waldorf1975: But all jokes aside, I loved “wall-e.”
Statler1976: as did I.
Waldorf1975: in fact, i can’t help but wonder if the movie’s save-the-planet message will affect the environmental movement in the se way “bambi” affected the animal-rights movement.
Waldorf1975: or that “the great mouse detective” affected the pro-animal sleuth movement.
Statler1976: the big difference with “wall-e” is that most eco parables are essentially anti-technological.
Statler1976: and yet that’s not the movie’s message.
Statler1976: instead, it’s the silicon valley credo: technology put us in this fix. and it will also save us.
Statler1976: but there’s something about the imagery that’s much darker than that. i don’t know about you, but the big influences i saw here other than star wars were “the brave little toaster” and “the black hole.”
Waldorf1975: and “disney’s ‘the road.’”
Waldorf1975: burnt skies, stray shopping carts, roger deakins cinematography…. it’s cormac mccarthy, but for the whole family!
Waldorf1975: But i wonder if kids will see this and take to heart the anti-consumerism message, or whether they’ll walk away thinking, “buy me some wall-e crap, and take me to Disneyworld.”
Statler1976: Probably both, which is what’s so interesting about a mass-market thinking-kid’s movie.
Statler1976: this is either the most cynical kids movie in history, or the most subversive. At the end, the Buy n’ Large logo appears after the Disney emblem.
Waldorf1975: but “wall-e” is not only anti-consumerism, it’s anti-fatty.
Waldorf1975: and i’m sure some right-wing commenter will declare it anti-American in the coming days.
Statler1976: “look at what we’ve become!”
Statler1976: though the masses of slithering humanity were pretty striking
Statler1976: and the fact that humans play bumbling sidekicks to robots for, i think, the first time ever in a movie
Waldorf1975: true. But what really depresses me is that, in both “idiocracy” and “wall-e,” it’s implied that right before the world goes to poop, humans have a lot of fun and get to enjoy lots of wonderful cross-branding experiences. when will that happen, exactly?
Statler1976: I know! It’s looking like we may not get the chance to die of our own excesses. I want to live long enough for Wal-Mart to fly me into space, with a Big Gulp!
Statler1976: where’s the orgiastic capitalism of the final spasm?
Waldorf1975: i would like to be around for that!
Statler1976: or did that already happen, and all I got out of it was cheeseburger-flavored doritos?
Waldorf1975: I think it’s supposed to happen just before the supposed robot invasion we’ve been warned about for years. for some reason, we’ve accepted robot dominance as an inevitability.
Waldorf1975: and yet, it’s 2008, and as of today, there are no robots living in my neighborhood.
Waldorf1975: they’re not really doing a good job of becoming our new overlords.
Statler1976: i think their love of musical theater makes them weak.
Statler1976: not to stereotype or anything.
Waldorf1975:: it’s true. According to “wall-e,” robots must always quote “hello, dolly!” that was one of asimov’s rules.
Statler1976: Honestly, i never thought i’d live long enough to see a movie combine my two dominant dork passions: science fiction and musical theater.
Waldorf1975: and ben burtt sound effects!
Statler1976: Yes! I did love all the R2 bleeps and bloops. And the score that played with John Williams tropes.
Waldorf1975: how come “star wars” has inspired so much wonderfulness in the last 10 years, with the exception of the actual “star wars” movies?
Statler1976: i think the answer lies in legos.
Statler1976: because that’s what “star wars” is — and I’m not even talking about “lego star wars.”
Statler1976: we’ve been given all these wonderful parts, by people like george lucas
Statler1976: and now it’s the job of future generations to assemble them into something, y’know, good.
Waldorf1975: true. meanwhile, my “radioland murders” playset is still sitting in the box.
Statler1976: finally, robot love: what do we think?
Waldorf1975: i went for it.
Statler1976: as did i.
Waldorf1975: it’s a nice antidote to all those talky human romantic comedies nowadays.
Statler1976: yes. now we know what was wrong with all those movies:
Statler1976: 1) people
Statler1976: 2) language
Waldorf1975: exactly. in “wall-e,” i can believe that two minimally expressive robots can woo each other and fall in love. that didn’t work in “fool’s gold.”
Sound Department
Ben Burtt …. sound designer
Dustin Cawood …. sound effects editor
Frank Clary …. foley recordist
John Countryman …. digital sound transferer
Sean England …. foley recordist
Al Nelson …. sound effects editor
Ronald G. Roumas …. recordist
Clint Smith …. sound recordist
Patrick Spain …. assistant mix engineer
Matthew Wood …. supervising sound editor
Special Effects
Chris Chapman …. special effects
Visual Effects
Frank Aalbers …. crowds artist
Frank Aalbers …. effects artist
Frank Aalbers …. global tech
Jeremy Birn …. lighting technical director
Brian Boyd …. master lighting artist
Stephan Vladimir Bugaj …. shading technical director
Gordon D.B. Cameron …. production software engineer
Jiayi Chong …. crowd simulation technical director
Trent Crow …. shading technical director
Simon Dunsdon …. CG artist: pre-visualisation/layout/modelling
Sean Feeley …. software development
Christopher Lee Fowler …. lighting technical director
Sarah Fowler Deluna …. shading technical director
Diego Garzon …. effects technical director
Patrick Guenette …. shading technical director
Christopher James Hall …. visual effects production supervisor: Kerner Optical
Seth Holladay …. effects artist
Andrew Jimenez …. digital artist
Jason Johnston …. effects sequence lead
Mike Jutan …. shading technical director
Fran Kalal …. shading technical director
Paul Kanyuk …. crowds artist
William Austin Lee …. character modeler (as Austin Lee)
William Austin Lee …. character rigger (as Austin Lee)
Carlos Monzon …. digital compositor
Dennis Muren …. visual effects
Tom Nixon …. effects technical director
Brandon Onstott …. shading technical director
Maxwell Planck …. shading technical director
Evan Pontoriero …. modeler
Afonso Salcedo …. lighting artist
Sajan Skaria …. technical director
Suzanne Slatcher …. technical director
Keith Stichweh …. technical director
Eunkyoung Lee Swearingen …. lighting artist
Gaston Ugarte …. modeling technical director
Bill Watral …. effects artist
Dan Weeks …. production engineering
Athena Xenakis …. character shading lead
Animation Department
Dovi Anderson …. crowd animator
Brett Coderre …. animator
Arik Ehle …. crowd animation lead
Mark Cordell Holmes …. computer graphics artist
George Hull …. visual development artist
Guilherme Sauerbronn Jacinto …. animator
Todd Krish …. animation simulation artist
Bruce Kuei …. animator
Victor Navone …. animator
Raphael Suter …. animator
Rob Duquette Thompson …. animator
Jeremy Vickery …. digital artist
Stephen L. Wong …. crowd animator
Editorial Department
Colin Bohrer …. editorial manager
Jim Passon …. color timer
Freesia Pearson …. post-production assistant
Music Department
Carl Johnson …. orchestrator
Larry Mah …. digital score recordist
J.A.C. Redford …. orchestrator
Patrick Spain …. scoring assistant engineer
Gary K. Thomas …. orchestrator
Other crew
Cassandra Barbour …. rights and clearances
Susan Bradley …. title designer
Tyler Fazakerley …. systems administrator
Remy Galang …. systems administrator
Susan Boylan Griffin …. technical writer
Jon Hadden …. systems administrator
Ling Hsu …. systems administrator
Jason ‘Jayfish’ Hull …. systems administrator
Jose Ignacio …. systems administrator
Ryan Kautzman …. software engineer
Mark Leone …. senior software engineer
Marty Lew …. systems administrator
Matthew Lindahl …. systems administrator
BoB ‘Naked BoB’ Morgan …. systems administrator
Terry Lee Moseley …. lead system administrator
Silvia Palara …. software engineer: tools
Martin Reddy …. software lead
Laura Sevier …. rights and clearances
David Sotnick …. systems administrator and support
Mike Sundy …. systems administrator
Andy Thomas …. systems administrator
Michael Todd …. technical director
Erick Tryzelaar …. rendering systems administrator
Rudy Vucelich …. color calibration technician
Jay Weiland …. systems administrator
Ian Westcott …. systems administrator
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