'WALL-E': Best Robot Movie Ever

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

Robots are not exactly a fresh movie concept.

Remember Gort from "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? Then there was R2-D2 from "Star Wars." And, among others, the really cheesy Number 5 in "Short Circuit."

"WALL-E" -- eponymous star of the new animated Disney/Pixar love story -- leaves them all in the dust.  

Or, perhaps more accurately, in the junk heap that Earth has become, and where the adorable WALL-E is the last of his kind. His name stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class, and that is his function: to sort, crush and stack towers of garbage that human beings left behind after they literally trashed the planet.

They expected to return after five years. But, 700 years later, they're still orbiting the galaxy in a massive space hotel, and WALL-E remains below -- alone but for a cockroach, assorted items he's collected, and a VHS tape of "Hello, Dolly!," which he watches, yearning for someone to love.

It sounds like the setup for a movie that could be irredeemably corny, but it's not. The storytelling is top-notch, as is the art. Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") wrote and directed. Instead of relying on big-name celebrity voice power, as has become the norm in animated movies, he went another direction entirely.

Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy and Sigourney Weaver do play relatively minor human roles. For the most part, though, "WALL-E" -- especially in its first half -- tells its story with images, world-class audio and a subtly comic soundtrack.

It's a bold creative move, but it works really well, no doubt because the man who creates the sounds, Ben Burtt, is the mastermind behind some of cinema's other most memorable voices: the droids and aliens (including Chewbacca) in "Star Wars," and "E.T."

The movie is funny, sad and sweet, and one that will surely take its place with the classics.

What's in It for Kids

If anything, kids will find the movie's dialogue-free segments more palatable than their parents do. Kids devour picture books without words. Generations of teachers have made the wordless French film "The Red Balloon" a staple of elementary school classrooms since it came out in 1956.

If they don't know what a "directive" is, for example, they won't necessarily understand a sudden change that comes over a robot WALL-E eventually meets. They also might not get some of the subtle body language that advances much of the plot.

Even so, they will love the humor. They will love WALL-E's cockroach friend (and his preferred snack food). They will love what WALL-E collects and puts in his trailer.

They will also be dazzled by the space hotel that has been ferrying the human race around for centuries for the same reasons their parents will be appalled. The people on board don't have to walk. They ride floating chairs, sip sodas and watch virtual computer screens all day. What could be cooler?

The movie is rated G. There is some robot-on-robot violence. A cockroach demonstrates his species' uncanny resilience. Even so, most children should be able to watch "WALL-E" without being overly scared or riled up.

What in It for Grown-ups

"WALL-E" is one of the rare family movies that gives an adult audience a whole different level of enjoyment.

For kids, you have the love story and comic relief. For adults, you get a bittersweet perspective on certain human appetites and the healing effects of physical contact -- a touch of the hands -- in an increasingly virtual world.

It would be an unusual child who'd get this, but it's something most thoughtful adults have contemplated from time to time.

Combined with the images of a ruined Earth, this can make it hard to watch "WALL-E" without developing an occasional throat lump. Are we really taking care of ourselves and our planet?

This is especially true when you watch the shots of Earth from space. Here, the planet is wrapped in a muddy haze of floating space junk.

The visual contrast with the rest of the universe is astounding, particularly when WALL-E reaches out to touch a glittering comet as he hitches a ride on a rocket. Anything the humans in the movie touch has a way of turning to trash, at least initially. Anything WALL-E touches becomes comic, beautiful or both. That's the power of an unspoiled soul -- or, as it's coyly labeled in the trailers, a personality.

"WALL-E" could have relied on cuteness alone, but Pixar focused on craft. That's why the result is, in a word, stellar.

How Was the Short?

Pixar movies are known for the clever animated shorts that precede them. Remember the toothless old man playing chess with himself? The bounding sheep who danced in his nuddypants before "The Incredibles"?

Sometimes, these shorts stay in the memory as long as the movies they accompany.

This time around they offer "Presto," which tells the story of a hungry white rabbit who works for a self-absorbed magician. The magician neglects to give the bunny his carrot, and he pays for it in several hilarious, violent and humiliating ways.

Though it's not quite as funny as "Lifted," which came before "Ratatouille" and told the tale of an alien learning how to operate his ship's abduction gear, it is quite amusing. The bunny has really great teeth. And you might never look at a magic hat in the same way again.

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Martha Brockenbrough is Cinemama for the Parents' Movie Guide on MSN. She is also the author of "It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond" and the founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes a fun-with-kids column for Cranium.com, as well as an educational humor column for Encarta. Check out her Web site.

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