An Ode to WALL-E

or "On the Courtship of a Mac and PC"

It's become an unfortunately rare occurrence when a Pixar movie really touches me. So often the films they produce are pretty, meticulously detailed, yet somehow bland. My reigning favorite is the Incredibles, and it is to this standard that I hold all their releases. I can't say that WALL-E has usurped that spot, as it had many shortcomings that I won't go into, but they both have one thing in common: an overabundance of heart.

I can't write this as a comparison between the two, as they are obviously different types of movies. The Incredibles is about a family coming to terms with itself, while WALL-E is an old-fashioned love story. That, alone, is enough to raise it past its brethren, as I am a sucker for a good romantic yarn. Its why I cherished the classic Disney movies and one reason I have such fondness for anime over Western cartoons.

Just to clarify, I have immense respect for Pixar, and look forward to each of their movies. Their attention to detail alone is incredible, and their storytelling is extremely tight. That being said, I must additionally applaud them for choosing to take on the unusual topic of robot love. Being a fan of anime, as mentioned, romance involved artificial beings is not a new concept to me. In almost all the stories I've seen, however, said beings were human in design, making it easier for the audience to relate to them.

WALL-E, however, is a box. EVE is an inverted teardrop. Here we have no strong, handsome man to admire. No sweet, pretty girl to swoon over. These are machines. You don't expect to sympathize with a hunk of steel or an oversized plastic fishing lure. And yet we do.

Our relation to such characters is built from the ground up. The first thing to do was give them faces, which let them emote. EVE's eyes are are cartoonish yet cute, while WALL-E is quite literally wide-eyed with wonder at the world. Other small details add to the effect. EVE's digital face flickers when her expression changes drastically, and WALL-E has eyebrows that raise, as a person's, in surprise.

Then there are the voices. Most of the time their dialog seems taken from a poorly written romance where the characters scream each other's names back and forth. Indeed, you will hear "wall-e" spoken A LOT. Again, though, we come back to the fact that we're dealing with true robots here. If they were to have full conversations, that would humanize them. So, instead, we have them latching on to identifications and letting gesture and context convey the major part of what they're trying to say.

When it comes down to it, though, EVE made this movie for me. As far as the vocalizations, I loved hearing the different ways she could say WALL-E, each with its own meaning and emotion. Even with its digital effects, they managed to keep the femininity of the voice actress behind her. Plus, EVE as a character was an interesting mix. She was serious, strong, and duty-bound, yet still playful enough to become fascinated with WALL-E. I think they made a sweet pair, and that's what carried it all.

And so, as a last tribute to WALL-E, I offer up an image that I found on DeviantArt that depicts what the two of them might look like as people...



So, I guess that's it. I definitely plan to see it again, along with Hancock, the Hulk, and Hellboy 2.

Oh, and I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Mine was a blast, which lots of partying and wet antics on the Edisto River. I even learned that I'm not too shabby at Flip Cup and Beer Pong. Woo-hiccup-hoo!


Twilight out.