Opening Day: 28 August 2008

Synopsis:

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?

Academy Award®-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") and the inventive storytellers and technical geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios ("The Incredibles," "Cars," "Ratatouille") transport moviegoers to a galaxy not so very far away for a new computer-animated cosmic comedy about a determined robot named WALL•E.

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen


Movie Review:

There is no reason why we shouldn’t give Disney Pixar’s latest picture the perfect score. Like the animation studio’s efforts before this, you have to experience the magic for yourself to realize how ingenious these people are.

Just when you thought that these folks have more or less explored every possibility of enchanting audiences with a mouse who’s actually a chef, talking cars that stay on the legendary Route 66 and a superhero family that saves the world from perils, they give you their latest creation: Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth-Class (all together now, let’s read out the acronym in your cutest tones: Wall•E!), a lonely robot who stays on earth with his only friend, a nimble cockroach (yes, trust Pixar to make a cockroach cute).

The year is 2815, and mankind has abandoned the earth. One day, Wall•E meets a search robot EVE ("Extra-terrestial Vegetation Evaluator" – clever eh?) and over a lineup of events, they travel the galaxies and back, creating an adventure, like the movie trailer aptly puts it, out of the 'ordinar•E'.

Which other movie in recent memory features a monologue within its first five minutes via the hologragram display billboards, peculiar robotic noises that is supposed dialogue within the next 20 minutes, and no human voices until some 40 minutes into the movie? And which other movie in recent memory is so inventively enjoyable despite the lack of dialogue?

There is something for everyone in this family friendly adventure. Action: chase sequences between the good guys and the bad guys are in place. Romance: the affection between Wall•E and EVE are imaginatively played out. Drama: the final showdown between the good guys and bad guys is one sequence you’ll not forget in a short while.

The 98 minute picture is a perfect example how advanced technology can be flawlessly and faultlessly used in creating movie magic. The grimily sandy colors of the abandoned earth, the dazzling flashes of the galaxies and the wonderful cast of rejected robots are all brought to life with the animator’s clever manipulations of the ever evolving technology. Couple that with Thomas Newman’s (Finding Nemo, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) charming score and Stephen Schaffer’s (The Incredibles, Osmosis Jones) nifty editing, and you’ll get another feature that will go down animation history as a box office and critical success.

Like other Disney Pixar movies before this, the animation adventure has a story to tell. This time round, we discover the consequences if the human race were to become complacent and take what we have for granted. We also get a glimpse of what we’ll become if we relied on technology too much. And although the theme of robots developing personalities have been explored in many other movies before, this one actually moved us (watch out for the movie’s finale back on earth – the genuine feelings between Wall•E and EVE may just make you reflect on your own relationship with a fellow human being).

Kudos to director and writer Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life): We may be watching a movie about robots here, but it’s a truly moving experience that is, well, beyond the 'ordinar•E'.

Movie Rating:

(A perfect and fascinatingly delightful piece of work that will go down movie history as a classic)

Review by John Li