Reviews

When I saw this movie for the first time, I was completely blown away. The documentary style of the opening scenes is more than just a film-making conceit: the whole realisation of the characters, the aliens, the slum is treated in a matter of fact way. No big reveals or false buildups to be seen. And this prosaic approach perversely gives ones reaction to the prawns, probably the most perfectly realised aliens on film so far, more of a sense of wonder than if they had been given the usual big Hollywood buildup.

In fact to me this same factor explains the success of the film on many levels, and unfortunately a large part of this is the contrast between other recent efforts in the same genre. Watching this movie throws into sharp relief just how unutterably shallow efforts such as the Transformers films and Terminator Salvation really are, to name but two. For example, the main character's climactic battle in the alien power suit more than held its own against any action sequence you can name, being genuinely viscerally exciting, but the development of the character through the film, the beautifully understated and touching relationship with his wife, and even the development of his relationship with Christopher, the alien he was trying to protect, also made it profoundly affecting at the same time.

It will be very interesting to see how this movie lasts the test of time. Looking back on it the underlying plot is only just strong enough to carry the film, and there are a number of implausibilities that call for the willing suspension of disbelief just a little too often. However, as a movie of its time, it currently stands out like a lush tropical glade in the middle of an otherwise pretty barren desert for the sf fan. Please please let this be the first step in a new direction.

Anybody at the other studios who believes they are catching up with Pixar in the realm of computer animated movies will watch Wall-E and weep. The visuals are just staggering: almost photographically super-real, and packed with breathtaking detail. The opening half hour of the movie is absolutely stunning, not least for the way in which character and emotion is conveyed by the robot protagonists.

However, halfway through, the movie undergoes a radical change in direction, look and feel. As soon as the humans enter the story, things take a turn for the worse. The visuals become more cartoonlike, and the plot can't seem to make up its mind whether it is focusing on Wall-E's quest for Eve, or getting the humans back to Earth. More fundamentally, however, the human characters are just not as well drawn, in any sense of the words, as the robots, failing to make any impression on an emotional level. Not only was it hard to care whether they made it back to Earth or not, but the total disregard of the fact that they would have both starved and collapsed under their own weight was just a bit too much of a strain on the willing suspension of disbelief.

Take the plot elements concerning only the robots, and you have one of the greatest short films ever made. Take the movie as a whole, and you have a good but ultimately disappointing mishmash.

The movie also epitomised a recent and very unfortunate trend of giving far too much away in the trailers (Kung Fu Panda being another egregious recent example of this). The first teaser trailer, a year ago or more, with Wall-E looking up at the stars, was surely all this film needed. The more recent trailers, including large chunks of the plot line with Eve, just lessened the impact of the film itself.