WALL-E

WALL-E (promoted with an interpunct as WALL·E) is a 2008 computer-animated-science fiction-romance film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton. It follows the story of a robot named WALL-E who is designed to clean up a polluted Earth. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure.

After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt Pixar had created believable simulations of underwater physics and was willing to direct a film set in space. Most of the characters do not have actual human voices, but instead communicate with body language and robotic sounds, designed by Ben Burtt, that resemble voices. In addition, it is the first animated feature by Pixar to have segments featuring live-action characters.

Walt Disney Pictures released it in the United States and Canada on June 27, 2008. The film grossed $23.1 million on its opening day, and $63 million during its opening weekend in 3,992 theaters, ranking #1 at the box office. This ranks the third highest-grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film as of July 2008. Following Pixar tradition, WALL-E was paired with a short film, Presto, for its theatrical release. The Blu-ray and DVD included a second short titled BURN-E. WALL-E has achieved highly positive reviews with an approval rating of 96% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot

By the early 22nd century, the megacorporation Buy n Large took control of every economic service on Earth, causing worldwide consumerism to cover the planet in trash. A plan was proposed that would have the Earth's population evacuate the planet into space on fully automated luxury starliners where they would spend the next five years while an army of waste disposal robots called "WALL-E" (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) would be left behind to clean the planet. This plan failed, however, and the planet was deemed uninhabitable. For the next 700 years, humanity continued to live in space while all of the WALL-E robots on Earth broke down except for one; this lone unit still performs his duties but, after centuries of prolonged activation, has developed a personality and a sense of curiosity, as shown by his habit of collecting knickknacks among the trash, and his fascination with the old musical film Hello, Dolly!.

One day, WALL-E discovers a new plant growth and adds it to his collection. Later, a spaceship lands and deploys a new probe robot named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), who begins to scan the soil as part of her classified directive of finding plant life on Earth. While WALL-E falls in love with EVE on first sight, EVE is much more concerned with fulfilling her directive, though she does take to his unique personality. When WALL-E shows her the plant he found, she stores it inside herself and shuts down. WALL-E goes to great lengths to take care of her inert body, as well as take her out on a date, in the hopes that she will reawaken. When her ship returns to collect her, WALL-E clings onto the side of the ship as it launches into space to the Axiom, flagship of the human starliners.

On the Axiom, humans have become obese and immobile after growing reliant on the machinery and living in space has lead to bone loss. Most of the ship's command duties are performed by the ship's computerized autopilot, Auto. WALL-E follows EVE as she is taken to the bridge of the ship. An automated message from Shelby Forthright, CEO of Buy n Large, reveals that if EVE's plant sample is scanned in the ship's holo-detector, the Axiom will make a hyperjump to Earth and allow humanity to recolonize the planet; unfortunately, the plant turns out to be missing. After a series of chaotic misadventures on the Axiom that follow, WALL-E and EVE witness a corrupt security robot with the missing plant attempting to destroy it in a self-destructing escape pod. WALL-E and EVE manage to recover the plant safely, culminating with a "kiss"—an electric spark between their faces—and a dance in space around the ship.

The plant is returned to the Captain, who surveys EVE's visual recordings of Earth and realizes they must return to restore the devastated planet. Through these recordings, EVE's romantic feelings for WALL-E grow when she witnesses footage of his selfless dedication to her while she was inactive. Before the plant can be placed in the ship's holo-detector, Auto takes control of the ship, revealing that he was given a final directive from Earth to keep humanity in space, incorrectly asserting that Earth would never again be habitable. Auto sends the plant down a garbage chute with WALL-E and EVE unconscious. WALL-E is significantly damaged in the process, and the only parts that can save him are on Earth. Escaping the Axiom's waste chambers, WALL-E and EVE make their way to the ship's holo-detector, but Auto's attempts to thwart them damage WALL-E even further. The Captain manages to stand up unaided, allowing him to confront and deactivate Auto. The plant is inserted into the holo-detector and the Axiom returns to Earth where EVE manages to repair and reactivate WALL-E. However, his memory and personality seem to have been erased completely. Heartbroken, EVE takes a hold of his hand and gives him another electric spark "kiss" as a final farewell. This reboots WALL-E's memory and restores him to his old self, and the two robots happily reunite. Placing the plant in the ground, the humans and robots begin working together to restore their home.

Cast

Ben Burtt is the sound engineer for WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), the titular character of the film. WALL-E is a mobile trash compactor, the last operational unit in a massive line created by the Buy n Large Corporation to gather and compact the waste created by the humans that used their products. WALL-E is solar-powered and constantly replaces his worn parts with those scavenged from non-functional WALL-E units. He can retract his limbs and head into his body and form a cube when he senses danger (although he is armed with a laser beam between his eyes, he uses this chiefly as a cutting tool with which to manipulate waste). He may also fold into a cube when he is resting. WALL-E's long and lonely existence has granted him sentience and emotion. His loneliness is soon requited via EVE, a probe that comes to Earth searching for signs of plant life. The chime produced by WALL-E to signify his recharge is identical to the chime produced by a Macintosh computer upon activation, signifying the successful completion of the power-on self-test (POST).^[4]

Burtt also produced the voice for M-O (Microbe Obliterator), as well as all other robots in the film. M-O is a maintenance robot who cleans the ship and inspects incoming shipments for foreign contaminants. M-O is annoyed by the amount of filth on WALL-E, and learns to act on his own accord by following WALL-E in an attempt to clean both him and the dirt he tracks everywhere. His trek eventually leads him to save WALL-E and EVE from certain doom in the waste disposal chamber of the Axiom and befriend them. M-O's warning message and catchphrase, "foreign contaminant," were created using PlainTalk.^[4]

Elissa Knight as EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a sleek, ergonomically advanced robotic probe whose main function is to locate plant life in order to determine whether the Earth is capable of supporting human life. She is equipped with scanners and a retractable plasma cannon in her right arm, the latter of which she is quick to use, let alone brandish, at the slightest provocation. EVE initially appears to be an unfeeling, stoic robot concerned with nothing more than fulfilling her mission, though she does display basic emotions early on in the film. As she spends more time with WALL-E throughout the film, she learns how to convey her emotions even more, eventually leading her to put others, namely WALL-E, before her programming. Her design was inspired by the sleek white products of Apple, Inc., such as the iPod.^[5]

Jeff Garlin as the Captain, the sole leader and commander of the Axiom, who becomes enraptured by the images of Earth as it was before the rise of Buy n Large and therefore assumes dynamism and a leader's position among the humans who recolonize Earth. His holographic commemoration in his room reveals his name to be "B. McCrea" (his given name is unknown).

Fred Willard as Shelby Forthright, CEO of the Buy n Large Corporation. In the film, a global cleanup project is initiated by Shelby Forthright as humanity is evacuated into space; the project goes awry when he finds he had underestimated just how toxic the Earth has become, persuading him to forsake hope. Fred Willard is the only cast member in this film who plays a live-action character with a speaking role, and the first to do so in any Pixar film.

MacInTalk sounds were used for Auto, the Axiom's internal autopilot, built into the ship's steering wheel. Burtt originally wanted to use maritime military sounds for the character.^[6] Auto has a single, HAL-like eye. He serves as the antagonist of the film. His responsibilities include following Directive A113, by which to ensure that the ship never returns to Earth. Upon discovering a small plant retrieved by EVE, Auto seeks to dispose of it in order to follow the A113 protocol, thus maintaining the status quo.

John Ratzenberger and Kathy Najimy as John and Mary, respectively. John and Mary are both humans who live on the Axiom and, as such, are largely unaware of their surroundings. However, after chance encounters with WALL-E, they are awakened to the world around them and to each other, and fall in love.

Sigourney Weaver as the Axiom's computer. Other than for monitoring the ship's features, the computer is used to advertise products on the ship. Weaver's casting was a nod to the Alien films.^[7]

Other robots

• BIRD-E - Golf robots used as opponents for golf-playing passengers.
• BRL-A - Umbrella robots that provide shade for humans. One has trouble keeping himself closed and befriends WALL-E.
• BUF-4 - Buffer robots that clean the interior of the Axiom.
• BURN-E - (Basic Utility Repair Nano Engineer)^[8] Repair robots that are used for maintenance on the Axiom. One gets accidentally locked outside of the ship by WALL-E and EVE.
• D-FIB - Defibrillator robots that provide cardiac aid to passengers. One cannot control the use of her paddles and befriends WALL-E.
• FIL-R - Tanker truck robots built to provide hydraulic services to thirsty bots and equipment.
• FIX-IT - Repair robots intended for general maintenance on the Axiom.
• GO-4 - Head of security entirely subservient to Auto. He steals the plant on Auto's orders, but is later destroyed.
• GRAB-E - Claw robots used to load freight and heavy equipment.
• HAN-S - Massage robots that rub down passengers. One is overly energetic with little control over his flailing arms and befriends WALL-E.
• L-T - Light robots that illuminate the Axiom. One likes to play in the dark and befriends WALL-E.
• NAN-E - Nanny robots that teach and watch over the children on the Axiom.
• POW-R - Amp robots built to combat electrical failures and power outages on the Axiom.
• PR-T - Beautician robots that personally groom passengers. One tries to give a garish makeover to anything nearby and befriends WALL-E.
• REM-E - the "mice" robots seen in the Axiom's lower levels.
• SAUT-A - Chef robots built to prepare cuisine for hungry passengers.
• SECUR-T - Robotic stewards that oversee security on the Axiom, primarily following commands from Auto.
• SERV-A - Service tram robots that carry other robots and items from place to place.
• SPR-A - Spray robots that decontaminate EVE probes.
• SR-V - Tennis robots used as opponents for tennis-playing passengers.
• THIRST-E - Drink dispenser robots built to supply beverages to all passengers.
• TYP-E - A typing robot and the Axiom's elevator guard. It learns how to wave hands from WALL-E.
• VAQ-M - Vacuum robots that clean spills and messes. One is prone to sneezing fits and befriends WALL-E.
• VEND-R - Food dispenser robots built to quickly deliver food to passengers in their hover-chairs.
• VN-GO - Paint robots used to decorate living surfaces on the Axiom. One tracks paint wherever it goes and befriends WALL-E.
• WALL-A - (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Axiom-Class). Large trash-compactor robots similar in design to WALL-E, who work on the Axiom's lower levels.

Production

Andrew Stanton conceived WALL-E before Toy Story was made:^[9] the idea was, "What if mankind evacuated Earth and forgot to turn off the last remaining robot?"^[10] Pete Docter developed the film for two months in 1995, after Stanton explained the story to him, but he decided to make Monsters, Inc. (2001) instead, as he was unsure of telling a love story.^[11] The idea continued to preoccupy Stanton, because of his love of space opera and personifying inanimate objects.^[6]

After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt they "had really achieved the physics of believing you were really under water, so I said 'Hey, let’s do that with air'. Let’s fix our lenses, let’s get the depth of field looking exactly how anamorphic lenses work and do all these tricks that make us have the same kind of dimensionality that we got on Nemo with an object out in the air and on the ground'".^[9] Producer Jim Morris added that the film was animated so that it would feel "as if there really was a cameraman".^[12] Dennis Muren was hired to advise Pixar on replicating science fiction films from the 1960s and 1970s, including elements such as 70 mm frames, barrel distortion and lens flare.^[4][13] Scale models were made for Muren, which he used to teach Pixar.^[14] Acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins, was also credited as a Visual Consultant. ^[15]

The design of the robots came about by Stanton telling his designers, "See it as an appliance first, and then read character into it".^[9] In creating the title character, the animators were inspired by a pair of binoculars and by Luxo Jr., the lamp featured in the Pixar logo.^[6] Stanton was playing with a pair of binoculars, which looked happy or sad depending on whether they were upside down or not.^[4] Stanton felt "you don't need a mouth, you don't need a nose, you get a whole personality just from [the eyes]", which meant the audience would feel he is "not just a human in a robot shell". WALL-E's body came from the logic of having his head, arms, and legs pull into his body like a turtle and tank treads that would allow him to overcome any terrain. The director also acknowledged he may have been subconsciously influenced by Johnny 5 from the film Short Circuit, which he once saw.^[13]

Stanton pitched the story to Ben Burtt who signed on to do the sound design.^[6] There is little traditional dialogue in the film; Stanton joked, "I’m basically making R2-D2: The Movie", in reference to Burtt's work on Star Wars. To create dialogue, Burtt took various mechanical sounds, and combined them to resemble speech.^[10] When WALL-E recharges his battery by means of solar energy, he makes the same startup chime as does a Macintosh computer.^[16] Executive producer John Lasseter said of the film's lack of dialogue that "the art of animation is about what the character does, not what it says. It all depends on how you tell the story, whether it has a lot of dialogue or not."^[17]

WALL-E was dedicated to Justin Wright (1981–2008), a Pixar animator who had worked on Ratatouille and died of a heart attack before WALL-E's release.^[18]

As of July 2008, WALL-E holds the record for the highest production budget of any Pixar film at $180 million.

Soundtrack

Main article: WALL-E (soundtrack)

Thomas Newman previously composed Stanton's Finding Nemo. The songs "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment" from Hello Dolly! were used because they inspired the symbolism of WALL-E wanting to hold hands with EVE. Stanton came across the former song first as he found the idea of using it in a science fiction film unconventional. Coincidentally, Newman's uncle Lionel Newman worked on that film.^[19] Composing began in 2005. EVE's theme was arranged for the first time in October 2007, and originally used more orchestral elements. Newman was encouraged to make it sound more feminine.^[20] Newman travelled to London to compose the song "Down to Earth" with Peter Gabriel, who is one of Stanton's favorite musicians. Afterwards, Newman rescored some of the film to include the song's composition, so it would not sound intrusive when played during the film's end.^[19]

Release

Continuing a Pixar tradition, WALL-E was paired with a short film for its theatrical release. The attached film was Presto.^[21] This is the first Disney-Pixar film to use the new Walt Disney Pictures logo (used in 2006 since Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), since the previous eight films (Toy Story–Ratatouille) used the Pixar version of the logo.

Box office

WALL-E marquee at the El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, on June 26, 2008

The film premiered at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on June 23, 2008.^[22] WALL-E opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on June 27, 2008 and grossed $23.1 million in its opening day.^[23] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $63 million in 3,992 theaters, ranking #1 at the box office.^[24] The opening weekend would give the film the third-best opening weekend for a Pixar film.^[25] As of December 1, 2008, the movie has grossed $223,651,119 domestically and $265,000,000 internationally, giving it a total worldwide gross of $488,651,119.^[3]

Reception

WALL-E received universal acclaim from film critics.^[26] Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 200 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10.^[27] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 93, based on 39 reviews.^[26] It is the highest rated film of 2008.

Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "Pixar's ninth consecutive wonder", saying it was imaginative yet straightforward. Citing WALL-E's "adroit" borrowing from other works, McCarthy said it pushed the boundaries of animation in managing to balance esoteric ideas with more immediately accessible ones, and that the main difference between the film and other science fiction projects rooted in an apocalypse was its optimism. McCarthy also had praise for Thomas Newman's musical score and the visuals, for which he cited cinematographer Roger Deakins' input as a visual consultant as a possible factor.^[28]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter declared that WALL-E surpassed the achievements of Pixar's previous eight features, saying that the film had the "heart, soul, spirit and romance" of the best silent films. He said that the filmmakers managed to tell a terrific story through visual and aural ideas which enabled the robotic characters to convey "a rainbow of emotions". He said the visuals were arguably Pixar's best and praised the creation of a ruined Earth city and a human spaceship as "fantastically imaginative". Honeycutt said the film's definitive stroke of brilliance was in using a mix of archive film footage and computer graphics to trigger WALL-E's romantic leanings. He praised Burtt's sound design, saying "If there is such a thing as an aural sleight of hand, this is it". Honeycutt concluded by saying that despite the film's acknowledged nods to other works (2001: A Space Odyssey, and moments where robots "run riot" bringing to mind Monsters, Inc.), WALL-E could be Pixar's most original work to date.^[29]

Roger Ebert writing in the Chicago Sun-Times said WALL-E succeeded in three areas: as "an enthralling animated film, a visual wonderment, and a decent science-fiction story". Ebert said the scarcity of dialogue would allow it to "cross language barriers" in a manner appropriate to the global theme, and he had praise for the visual effects, saying the color palette was "bright and cheerful... and a little bit realistic". He cited early Disney animations that successfully translated human expressions onto non-human characters as an influence on the title character. He said the film managed to generate a "curious" regard for the WALL-E, comparing his design ("rusty and hard-working and plucky") favorably to more obvious attempts at creating "lovable" lead characters. Ebert called the storytelling "enchanting" and said the film could be enjoyed by adults and children alike. He said WALL-E was concerned with ideas rather than spectacle, saying it may require "a little thought" on the part of the audience, and that this could be particularly stimulating to younger viewers.^[30]

Commentary

The film was interpreted as tackling a topical, ecologically-minded agenda.^[27][28][29] Todd McCarthy said it did so with a lightness of touch that granted the viewer the ability to accept or ignore the message.^[28] Jessica Jensen, blogging at The Huffington Post, while praising the film overall, felt it did not make enough of a point with its environmental themes. She suggested it should have had environmental advice or a website link during the end credits, adding it was "troubling" that by the end "humans return to Earth and it seems as if everything will just be hunky-dory".^[31] The film's ecological theme was criticized by conservative commentators such as Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck, and contributors for National Review Online;^[32] Shannen W. Coffin said that the film was "leftist propaganda about the evils of mankind",^[33] and Jonah Goldberg wrote that he agreed with the charges of hypocrisy and "Malthusian fear mongering" leveled at the film by others, but said that it was "fascinating" and occasionally "brilliant".^[34]

Patrick J. Ford of The American Conservative said WALL-E's conservative critics were missing lessons in the film that he felt were appealing to traditional conservatism. He argued that the mass consumerism in the film was not shown to be a product of big business, but of too close a tie between big business and big government: "The government unilaterally provided its citizens with everything they needed, and this lack of variety led to Earth’s downfall". Responding to Coffin's claim that the film points out the "evils of mankind", he argued the only evils depicted were those that resulted from "losing touch with our own humanity" and that fundamental conservative representations such as the farm, the family unit, and "wholesome" entertainment were in the end held aloft by the human characters. He concluded, "By steering conservative families away from WALL-E, these commentators are doing their readers a great disservice".^[35]

Andrew Stanton commented on the reaction to the film by denying any specific agenda beyond telling the story about 'the last robot on Earth'.^[36][37] He said that people were making connections that he "never saw coming", and that the circumstances of humanity's abandoning the Earth arose merely as a way of telling the story, "reverse-engineered" from the initial concept of using refuse as both a visual shorthand that would be easy for children to understand, and as a way of depicting the title character as holding a low-status, menial job.^[38]

Kyle Smith, author and columnist for the New York Post, wrote that in depicting humans of the future as "a flabby mass of peabrained idiots who are literally too fat to walk", WALL-E was darker and more cynical than any major Disney feature film he could recall. He compared the humans in the film to the patrons of Disney World, adding, "I'm also not sure I've ever seen a major corporation spend so much money to issue an insult to its customers".^[39] Maura Judkis of U.S. News & World Report questioned whether this depiction of "frighteningly obese humans" would resonate with children, making them more likely to "play outside rather than in front of the computer, to avoid a similar fate".^[40] Stanton denied that his intention was to pass comment on obesity, saying the purpose was instead to portray human overdependency.^[38]

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards won or nominated by Pixar

Nominations

51st Grammy Awards (2009)

• Best Score Soundtrack Album
• Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media
• Best Instrumental Arrangement^[41]

Satellite Awards 2008

• Best Animated film
• Original Score
• Original Song
• Sound^[42]

Annie Awards 2009

• Best Animated Feature
• Animated effects
• Character animation
• Directing
• Production design
• Storyboarding
• Voice acting^[43]

World Soundtrack Awards 2008

• Best Original Score of the Year, Thomas Newman^[44]

2008 Teen Choice Awards

• Best Summer Comedy Movie.^[45]

Academy Awards

Disney is pushing for an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination; chairman Dick Cook felt "If we didn’t do it, I don’t think we’d be giving the movie its due." Only one other animated film, 1991's Beauty and the Beast, was nominated for that award.^[46] Walt Disney Pictures has already sent WALL-E, alongside Bolt as their entries in the category for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.^[47]

Wins

National Board of Review of Motion Pictures

• Annimated Feature^[48]

The National Movie Awards

• Best Family Film (Won)
• Special Honorary Award (Won)

Spike TV's Scream Awards

• Best Science Fiction Movie (Lost to Iron Man)
• Breakout Performance: WALL-E (Won)

British Academy Children's Awards

• Winner of Best Feature Fim^[49]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in regions 1 and 3 on November 18, 2008 and was released in region 2 on November 24, 2008—both in a standard and special edition version.^[50] The special editions of WALL-E include a second disc with special features, and a third disc that includes a bonus digital copy of the film. Special features include several deleted scenes, an audio commentary with director Andrew Stanton, the short film Presto, a new short film BURN-E, an animation sound design featurette, and the documentary The Pixar Story.^[51]

See also

• List of Pixar film references lists references made by WALL-E to other Pixar films.

References

External links

• Official site
  • Screenplay - Made avaliable "For Your Consideration"
• WALL-E at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• WALL-E at the Internet Movie Database
• WALL-E at Allmovie
• WALL-E at Box Office Mojo
• WALL-E at Rotten Tomatoes
• WALL-E at Metacritic

• WALL-E hidden references ("Easter eggs")