![]() ![]() Moments of intense-but-cartoonish peril and violence, usually played for humor, pulse through WALL-E. ![]() So when a dastardly, HAL 9000-esque robot named Auto tries to keep the ship from returning to Earth, the captain, John, Mary, WALL-E and EVE join forces to change the course of humankind’s destiny. The captain becomes especially engrossed with the idea of plants and farming. It also births in the captain an intense interest in his race’s history, which neither he nor the ship’s passengers know anything about. EVE’s arrival with a live plant automatically activates the ship’s preprogrammed directive to return to humanity’s home. The third human nudged out of his consumerist stupor is the ship’s captain. For them, it’s akin to waking from a dream to soak up the sunshine of a beautiful morning. They notice the beauty of the stars, and they discover one another. John and Mary get bumped out of their routines and look up from their computer screens for seemingly the first time ever. WALL-E and EVE’s adventures on the Axiom impact three humans in particular. When a few folks fall off these carts, robots have to help the poor “beached whales” back on. And once WALL-E and EVE reach the humans’ spaceship, the Axiom, we see the next result: enormously overweight people who ride around on floating, car-ish electro-couches with a computer screen forever in front of them. The corporation’s motto? “We Want More for You.” It’s an attitude that’s obviously made Earth unlivable. Constant commercials and enormous Blade Runner-like billboards have utterly numbed humanity’s soul. A big-box corporation satirically dubbed Buy n Large has taken over and directs virtually every aspect of humanity. Without jabbing its thumb too fiercely into moviegoers’ chests, the film skewers our consumer culture and the damaging effects of over-consumption. Once the robots hit it off, they’re equally dedicated to protecting and rescuing each other from the perils that follow. Likewise, even though EVE is curious about WALL-E, she, too, is dedicated to her directive of finding vegetative life. WALL-E knows what his purpose is, and he dutifully fulfills it. But the lack of accountability doesn’t stop him from doing his junkyard job every day. WALL-E has been alone for who knows how long. One of the first virtues showcased by Pixar’s latest is a good work ethic. WALL-E and EVE’s arrival turns everything topsy-turvy-helping a few humans realize the time has come to re-colonize Earth. Their destination is an ark-like spaceship carrying humanity’s remnants, who have grown obese and utterly self-absorbed as robots tend to their every need. Soon a rocket returns to whisk her back to where she came from-with WALL-E tenaciously clinging to the craft’s exterior lest he be separated from his new love. Her digital eyes light up! It’s her holy grail. ![]() Still, WALL-E is smitten, and he gives her the plant he’s found as a gift. It’s not long before the pair o’ bots meet-an event that’s almost WALL-E’s undoing since EVE has an off-putting habit of blasting potential threats into smithereens. She’s obviously looking for something, but to no avail. WALL-E watches in wonder as EVE scans one object after another and as she flits this way and that. And his wish comes true the day a rocket unexpectedly thunders down on top of him and dispatches a pretty, sleek and mysterious “female” robot dubbed EVE (for Extraterrestrial Vegetative Evaluator). The latter he watches nearly every day: WALL-E pines for the love he observes between the movie’s main characters. WALL-E’s only companions? A good-natured cockroach and a beloved, ancient VHS copy of Hello Dolly. So he stores them away inside the decrepit industrial vehicle he calls home. Occasionally, bits of castoff flotsam catch his eye: a Rubik’s Cube. His trash-compactor torso crunches garbage into cubes, which WALL-E artfully stacks as high as skyscrapers. Each day the diligent bot-whose name stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class-charges his solar-powered batteries and gets to work cleaning up the global landfill that is humanity’s messy legacy. Seven hundred years after humankind fled its refuse-strewn planet, one robot remains: WALL-E. ![]()
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