Wall-E

Wall-E (Rated G)

Running time: 1 hr 47 mins

Voice Cast:

Ben Burt as Wall-E
Elissa Knight as Eve
Jeff Garlin as The Captain
Sigourney Weaver as Ships Computer

with Fred Willard as the BnL CEO

Critical Consensus (www.rottentomatoes.com):

****1/2 out of *****

My consensus:

***** out of *****

The premise: The year is 2700. WALL*E, a robot, spends every day doing what he was made for. But soon, he will discover what he was meant for.

My review: Was anyone truly expecting Wall-E to be anywhere near a bad film? On the contrary, Wall-E may very well be one of the best films Pixar has released to this date, and may also very well be one of the best animated films ever made. In a world where the Shrek series has won over the hearts of children, teenagers and adults alike for being a borderline vulgar comedy series which teeters on the line of teenager and adult humor; we have Wall-E, which is a fresh and original film the entire family can enjoy without having to laugh at an Ogor farting in a swamp.

This film almost quite literally has no dialogue. Well it does, mainly by the human characters, but it's very scarce, and really doesn't mean anything to the overall story. The first fourty or so minutes however, there IS no dialogue with the exception of the robotic saying of the names "Wall-E" and "Eve-a". The first fourty minutes of this film is absolutely incredible, it's filmaking genious. It had signs of what "I Am Legend" could have been. We have a robot cleaning up Earths garbage all by himself (well he does bond with the first cockroach in history to be really adorable) throughout the day, and then spends his nights in a large metal box filled with junk he collected he thought was valuable. He also spends his nights watching Hello Dolly a musical from way back when, dreaming of the day when he can hold hands with a beautiful lady.

The story and screenplay here are what could be one of the years best. I have never seen such a sweet, touching, heartwarming story featured in an animated film. This isn't just about a robot who finds a plant that can eventually bring humans back to Earth. This is about a lonely robot trying to find out what he's really meant for, and to find true love. Yes, the idea is borderline creepy, espeically since it involved robots, but Wall-E is one of the cutest film characters ever, and you really, really fall in love with the guy. You find yourself rooting for this robot to hold hands with Eve, and to have her fall in love with him. It is so ridiculously sweet. Wall-E is easily the best and most sincere and realistic romantic film of the year, and I'm not kidding. The developing romance between the two robots is almost subtle, but you know it's the point of the movie. It's done rather tastefully, and at that point, you can't take your eyes and hearts off Wall-E and his quest to get the girl. Truly beautiful!

But with the other story in play, the ones involving the obese humans in space, we have an sorta typical Pixar film story, but it works so friggen well with the story of Wall-E and Eve. Wall-E finds plantlife on the once thought doomed planet Earth, and now the the Captain of the ship gets to be the hero and save man kind and bring them all back to Earth. However, some of the evil little robots want to stop that from happening. Basically we have an absolutely brilliant story here, and a phenomenal screenplay that blends to make one of the sweetest and most lovable love stories in recent memory.