9.5 out of 10

I waited a bit to do this review, mainly because I’d heard it through the grapevine that we were all supposed to keep our keyboards closed after the screening I attended.

The Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar here in Austin played host to the first public screening of Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E, with a big thanks to Harry Knowles for continuing to bring us fantastic opportunities like this.

But, enough time has passed, and I’ve just gotta’ say it: Wall-E is magnificent.

Everything you could imagine wanting from this film, you’re going to get, and so much more that you probably never saw coming.

I’m going to talk a little about the plot. Not a ton, mind you, I’m not out to spoil the movie for anyone, but it’s tough to talk about what is so great in the film (and what doesn’t necessarily work) without talking about the film itself. I want you to be as fresh as I was going into the film, so don’t worry!

The Set-Up

Our culture is such a consumer society that Earth is covered with trash. A Wal-Mart style corporation, named BnL, has been Earth’s primary source for…well, everything! Food, gas, goods, vehicles, robots - you name it, BnL provides it.

We come into the story where everyone’s already abandoned the planet. A group of robots has been left to clean everything up, the WALL-E units, and when these little guys are finished, human’s will supposedly come back. How the robots clean this isn’t necessarily clear, as all that seems to happen is they compact trash into cubes, then build structures out of them. Big, huge, massive pyramidical towers of garbage.

All the WALL-E units are inexplicably broken down. Save one - a Johnny-Five reminiscent cute little creature whose AI has apparently become sentient. He’s enamored with the mundane things of our lives, the stuff we’ve thrown away and don’t care about anymore, and collects certain items - zippos, boxes, toys, etc.

Oh, and he loves the classic musical Hello Dolly!, dancing and emulating whenever he gets the chance.

The only other being on the planet is a cockroach, who is never given a name. He scurries around, and honestly, is the thing that helps us realize how personified WALL-E is.

One day, WALL-E’s doing his job, compacting trash, and a big, huge, honkin’ space ship lands. Mechanical arms from the ship drop off an upside-down egg shaped probe (designed with some help from Apple’s Jonathan Ive) who we learn is named EVE. WALL-E is in love.

Eventually, circumstances cause WALL-E to hitch a ride into space where he encounters the long-gone human race, who have “evolved” due to their new lifestyle. His presence is an immediate influence on the ship, and the bulk of the movie follows his adventures.

WALL-E is a Romantic Comedy

Pixar’s movies work because they don’t typically pander to young kids (Bug’s Life and Cars being the exception to this rule). The directors and writers always find a way to infuse smart, adult-resonating material, which makes them timeless. You can watch them as a child, and then continue to enjoy them into your adulthood, gaining different pieces of the puzzle.

Just like Nemo was a story about loss and father/son relationships and The Incredibles was about learning that you can balance life and work and still be happy, WALL-E is very much a story about the sacrifices sometimes necessary to make love work.

WALL-E goes to every extreme imaginable because he’s in love. Nothing is more important to him than the relationship he is fostering with EVE, a career-minded “woman” who has her own lessons to learn about letting go of her duties and giving into what her heart desires.

If you’re saying to yourself, “Dude, this movie is about ROBOTS!” then you understand why WALL-E is so amazing.

Never once do you stop and think, “They can’t be in love! Oh, they would never do that! They’re robots!” Instead, you find yourself smiling, cheering, and identifying 100% with the characters onscreen. Because once again, Pixar’s team of amazing creators has found a way to make concepts and objects we normally don’t identify with every bit as real as any human. Hell, probably more-so, because that’s the magic of movies. A crowd full of 300+ people all saying, “Awwwwwww!!!” at the same time!

The Bad

I don’t know if you can even say it’s bad, but the most jarring thing in the film is the inclusion of human, live-action elements.

This happens pretty early on, so there’s nothing given away by revealing this. Yes, it makes sense, to a degree, why there is the goal to use real people versus CGI constructs, but the creatives would have done better to go with Ratatouille or Incredibles style humans for these scenes. Fred Willard makes numerous appearances, and while often funny, he never seems to fit in any situation you experience.

Yup, that’s all. That’s the only thing that makes me deduct 1/2 a point from this film, because while it’s doesn’t fit in 100%, it still works, and these portions of the movie are vital to the story. You get used to it, and ignore it, but it never quite sits right.

See it! Many times!

I can’t wait to see this movie again. And again. And watch it in BluRay on my big ol’ TV!

Can I say this is the best Pixar film to date? No, because I’m a comic nerd and I love The Incredibles so much. Brad Bird’s a genius (see The Iron Giant if you haven’t, you’ll thank me) and the balance of that film is so flawless, the voice acting so good, the plot points and characterization spot-on.

The same thing, though, can be said about WALL-E. Andrew Stanton immediately connects you to this character and makes you care about them. Even though no real dialogue appears until halfway through the film.

WALL-E is you. Me. Your neighbor. Your son. Your daughter. He’s searching and grasping for things that are bigger than he is, and you love him every minute along the way. Just like he’d love you.