Chances are the Walt Disney Company is counting their blessings that they didn’t part ways with Pixar after making Cars. The computer animation juggernaut — and arguably a Disney savior — has again proved who wears the pants in the relationship.
The ninth film in Pixar’s prestigious repertoire propels nearly 800 years into the future. Earth is nothing more than a garbage heap, and one of the few signs of life rests in the big, metal-wrapped glass eyes of a robot. The last of his kind, Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class) spends his days collecting various trinkets found while cleaning up the tons of garbage that have overtaken the planet. But his daily routine is shaken up when EVE (Extra Terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) touches down on Earth.
There are few that could produce a piece of cinema of this caliber. Consider the fact that we’re not only asked to commit to a “silent” character for the first time since Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin but to also root for two robots to fall in love. The result is both the best animated and science fiction film in years.
Wall-E’s beauty is only enhanced on Blue-Ray. From the first shots of a waste-plagued Earth to the pristine eloquence of the Axiom space station, director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) serves as a perfect tour guide with an in-depth commentary track that can prove difficult to listen to when your eyes are watering to the point of visual orgasm.
Add a new short, Burn-E, the not-easily-forgotten robot left stranded outside the Axiom, to sweeten the deal, and you have no chance to recover from a near sensory-overload. Grade: A
