The trailers never really grabbed me, so I skipped Cars and Ratatouille. Still haven’t seen them on DVD. This movie, though? This movie had promise.
And boy, did it deliver. First, it’s visually breathtaking, even more so than Finding Nemo. From the dingy, polluted Earth to the ultra-shiny Axiom full of bright primary colours and neon holograms, with marvelous starscapes in between, those incredible Pixar animators have surpassed themselves yet again. It bears repeating: this movie looks absolutely fracking awesome.
The story leans towards the kids’ end of the spectrum, I found: no bad guys with guns like The Incredibles has, or the nasty predators of Finding Nemo. Just some cute robots (and a couple of humans). There is a plot besides the (so cute) love story between WALL•E and EVE, and it’s an interesting one, but it doesn’t distract from the cuteness. There’s a Big Message, too, just like in other Pixar movies, which goes beyond “We have to take care of our planet.” I like it, and the delivery is a lot more subtle than Finding Nemo‘s borderline-sledgehammer approach.
In short: two thumbs way up. WALL•E has it all: it’s sweet, funny, engaging, exciting, occasionally tear-jerking. I’ve seen it once, I’ll see it again at least a couple more times, and you can bet I’ll buy the DVD so I can watch it over and over.