SYNOPSIS:
The
highly acclaimed director of Finding Nemo and the creative storytellers
behind Cars and Ratatouille transport you to a galaxy not so
far away for a new cosmic comedy adventure about a determined
robot named WALL-E.
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for,
the curious and lovable WALL-E discovers a new purpose in life
when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. Join them and
a hilarious cast of characters on a fantastic journey across
the universe.
Transport yourself to a fascinating new world with Disney-Pixar's
latest adventure, now even more astonishing on DVD and loaded
with bonus features (including the exclusive animated short
film BURN-E). WALL-E is a film your family will want to enjoy
over and over again.
MOVIE REVIEW:
A Pixar branded animation can do no wrong. With its
ninth full-length feature, it shows that a three dimensional
character that omits no dialogue of sorts can touch the hearts
of many.
Wall.E
which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth-Class
is the sole, stranded robot on earth faithfully clearing up
the waste left behind by the humans who has since temporarily
cruises to space on a gigantic ship called the Axiom. The
droid is lonely and eager for some companionship, the only
thing keeping him company is the various items he found in
the junkyards including an old videotape in which he treasured.
For
the first 30 minutes or so, director Andrew Stanton, his team
of animators and sound designer Ben Burtt did an amazing feat
of introducing the protagonist to the audience with nothing
except splendid CG backgrounds and ambient sound effects complimenting
the adorable Wall.E.
But
the best has yet to come, a love interest in the form of Eve
(Extra-terrestial Vegetation Evaluator) shows up and indirectly
transport Wall.E to a world that perhaps might be the only
possible solution for mankind in future given our current
declining environment.
Stanton
has stated in interviews that he’s not spreading a message
in the movie but the story clearly hints of the disastrous
consequences we are heading. The pacing on the other hand
never feels sluggish, in fact it gets more hastening as Wall-E
and Eve rush to save mankind from destruction while at the
same time discover their newfound love towards one another.
The
movie has something for everyone in the family, the little
kids will be entertained by the breakneck action sequences
and various cute robotic characters especially a neurotic
one called MO. The adults I’m sure will be in awe by
the wondrous CG graphics and the tender innocent love between
Wall-E and Eve which adults might find more attuned to.
Technically,
Pixar has done it again, increasing the stakes since we last
see Nemo and his dad swimming in the vast ocean or Remy scurrying
in the kitchen. Besides blow-your-eyes graphics, Pixar always
place their stories on the forefront and with a non-human
headed storyline (no talking animals too) liked "Wall-E",
it successfully manages to pull off a genuinely sweet touching
feat, something fellow competitors might find hard to top.
The
late Walt Disney always said, "For every laugh, there
should be a tear." How true is that with "Wall.E".
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Disc one of the DVD contains the movie plus a slew of features
including:
BURN.E
– Similar to "Jack Jack Attacks", "Burn.E"
is the hilarious new short created for the DVD which details
the extended sequence involving the poor repair bot which
was trapped outside the Axiom as see in the movie. A 4 stars
if not 5 stars short.
PRESTO
– The amusing short (as seen in theaters) involving
a hungry rabbit and his magician owner. 5 stars for it too.
There
are two Deleted Scenes which last almost
5 minutes, "Garbage Airlock" and "Dumped"
with a detailed optional intro commentary by Andrew Stanton.
Most of the graphics are near to completion and listen to
Stanton on why the shots were changed or deleted at the very
last minute.
Let
the father of modern sound design, Ben Burtt takes you to
the whole history of creating commonly heard sound effects
in Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds from the
Sound Up. A wonderful 18 minutes feature that is
particularly of interest to movie geeks and Disney fans.
The DVD is round up with a Audio Commentary by Director
Andrew Stanton - A glib talker and passionate filmmaker,
Stanton is wonderful to listen to, generously sharing anecdotes
on making Wall.E.
Disc Two of the DVD is divided into two chapters, "Humans"
(film fans) and "Robots" (families).
"Humans" start with the Lesile Iwerks directed 88
minutes documentary "The Pixar Story".
Honest and rich in facts, detailing how the once ailing company
comes to making its mark in the history of motion picture.
Disc
One has two deleted scenes and here we have two Additional
Deleted Scenes. But this time round, the scenes are
presented in pre-vis and storyboard forms. Not to say that
you got to skip them though as Stanton is here again to explain
why.
Making
of Featurettes start with The Imperfect Lens:
Creating the Look of Wall.E, lasting 14 minutes,
a behind-the-scenes feature that shows how visual consultant
Roger Deakins was hired by Pixar to advise on creating believable
angles and light source for the movie.
Next
up is Captain's Log: The Evolution of Humans.
The original intention was to have the human characters look
like jell-o and blob-like thus this feature explains why it
was fine-tuned to the final look in the finished movie.
Famed
composer Thomas Newman worked with Andrew Stanton in "Finding
Nemo" and here he is seen composing the music for Wall.E
in Notes on a Score.
You
want to know how much effort or staff is required for a movie
that requires almost 1500 shots? Life of a Shot: Deconstructing
the Pixar Process is an eye-opening 5 minutes feature
which shows you the crews needed behind one specific shot
alone.
The
numerous robots seen in the background is dissect in Robo-Everything.
Surprisingly, the robots were actually built on a modular
system similar to Lego bricks.
Wall-E
and EVE touches on how our two main protagonists
were created. Elbows or not, that’s the dilemma faced
by the animators while creating Wall.E.
And
here we are at the Robots chapter -
You
saw those rib-tickling online shorts featuring Wall.E and
his funny antics before the theatrical opening? All of them
are complied under Wall.E’s Treasures and Trinkets.
Pixar
is so good at shorts and here they are, a series of BnL
shorts explaining how the fictional corporation came
about.
If
you have the penchant for knowing all those different bots
shown in the movie, Bot Files gives us a
background look at them, a feature which Pixar did for the
Blu-Ray release of "Cars".
"Lots
of Bots" Read-Along Storybook which will appeal
to kids round up Disc Two.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
For
a movie that relies heavily on ambient sound effects, the
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround is an excellent showcase of Ben
Burtt’s skills to entice the audience given the minimal
dialogue in the movie. The widescreen 2.39:1 aspect ratio
with the flawless visual transfer makes it the perfect DVD
for wholesome family entertainment.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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