Wall-E ~ "First and foremost, a love story..."

Disney/Pixar

Reviewers are tripping all over their tongues with abundant praise for Wall-E.

• While the film's social message comes through loud and clear, it never detracts from the heart of the picture--the unlikely romance between Wall*E and EVE

• It is a story about love and loneliness, perseverance and triumph, the possibilities and pitfalls of human existence. That this story is told by way of the exploits of a tiny, faceless robot only makes it more extraordinary

• Wall-E may be the first truly dystopian animated movie for kids.

Disney/Pixar

Note: This is my third attempt at posting this. The browser I was using turns out to not be playing well with the "Share-This" widget. Did a new install as per TypePad directive in the "file a ticket for help" section.. Fingers crossed. I can't write this a fourth time!

Synopsis of 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.

"Wall-E" is written and directed by Andrew Stanton, (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, others, not my favourites)  who says this about his film,

“I wanted this movie, about Earth’s last robot, to transport you to another world, give you that sense of awe that’s hard to come by today.”

I totally did get it everything he was going for. I loved it to pieces and had a goofy smile on my face as the credits rolled, continuing the story in a sketch sequence added to the credits throughout.

It's apparent--in a good way that Andrew Stanton paid homage to a number of film classics especially in the Science Fiction genre. Some that were more obvious were Close Encounters of The Third Kind, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. Sigourney Weaver plays the voice of the Axiom, the massive spaceship that contains the last of "humanity." Can't help but think Alien or in my case Galaxy Quest as she did lots of announcing in that. Love her.

And if you don't remember the movie Silent Running with Bruce Dern, the photo below may help.

He was a sort of space hippie on a doomed save the Earth mission. It way pretty darn dystopian even if he had Huey, Dewey and Louie for buddies!

"It’s a little more obscure, but it’s Bruce Dern, out in space, and he’s out there with three little robots - Huey, Dewey and Louie - trying to save the last plant life on Earth. As you’ll see, this one was particularly influential.” comments yet another enthusiastic reviewer of Wall-E.

Disney/Pixar