Wall-E: A Review

Wall-E is about as ambitious a project I’ve seen from a major animation studio in recent memory. Animation isn’t cheap, and Wall-E’s published $185 million budget (plus the exorbitant marketing costs) mean that Pixar needs a lot of ticket sales to turn a profit on this effort. Because of this, the temptation in animation is to play as broadly as possible, pandering to a young humor with a few references for the parents to appreciate.

Instead, Wall-E gives us... silence. Well, not silence so much as just the absence of dialogue. About 45 minutes worth of no dialogue. That means that they gamble on the power of the robot to engage the audience, to bring us into the story, to make us understand what’s happening and why, and to make us root for the hero without saying a thing for the first half of the film. As far as mainstream summer fare goes, that’s pretty ambitious.

Fortunately, it works. Wall-E is a janitor robot (actually a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class). Left behind on a junked up world, his job is to keep things clean. It’s obviously been a long while since he’s seen anyone, and somewhere along the line he’s developed something of a personality. Despite the seeming inanity of his existence, Wall-E is fascinated by the world around him, searching among the junk for items of wonder that he can add to his collection. He has a collection of old romantic movies, and finds pleasure in the old dance numbers. The film takes its time drawing us into this charmer’s little world, who has somehow find a way to experience joy and pleasure even in his lonely existence.

But then one day Wall-E’s world changes. A new robot lands on earth. As he marvels at EVE, following her around and trying to strike up a friendship (and avoid being blown up by her), we’re slowly introduced to her mission. EVE is on a search for life, looking for evidence that earth, long abandoned by humans, is now ready for their return. She finds evidence of life, and sets off to return to the humans to report on her success.

Wall-E tags along, and so we are introduced to the rest of reality. In abandoning the planet, humans have settled into the ultimate leisurely existence, having lived for generations on a kind of space cruise ship. Few can walk anymore, as they have given themselves over to an entirely lethargic existence. All have long since given up on any hope of returning to earth, and they now seem at ease in this new existence.

As the adventure heightens, Wall-E devotes himself to EVE, showing a determination that slowly wins her over. Meanwhile, some humans slowly wake to the opportunity that EVE has discovered, and find themselves fighting to return to earth, facing opposition that rises at every turn.

The film has an interesting parabolic quality, with this lurking warning lingering about creation care and the cost of earthly neglect. But more interesting is the experience of humans who have learned to disengage from reality because of their obsession with gadgets. Of course, I’m watching the film as some lunkhead nearby tries to blind the rest of the audience with the light of their cell phone, checking their text messages throughout the film. It’s a connection they would probably miss.

On the one hand, we get Wall-E, who experiences wonder and joy at creation (even the gadgets), and finds his experience of the things in his life bringing out greater delight, even drawing him more to other people (well, other robots, in the form of EVE). On the other hand, we have the humans, who enjoy every convenience and comfort, but struggle to find anything joyful in their existence.

It was this beat of the film that was most engaging for me, and most interesting. As a self-confessed gadget guy, I own the warning the film offers, that I want my fascination with the stuff of life to bring out my sense of wonder, not quench it. I think our sense of wonder is a divine gift, and is meant to draw us to divine things. The pleasure that we can experience here is meant to draw us to the source of ultimate pleasure. Wall-E is a grand celebration of the gift of wonder, a gift that we can easily lose in a culture of entertainment and excess. If the message of Wall-E is to engage life grandly and discover the wonders within, then I celebrate with them.