Wall-E

Andrew Stanton and Pixar’s latest is right up there with the best of theirs, which is certainly saying something, as Wall-E is one of the best characters in cinema history.
The humans have abandoned Earth and left behind an army of robots to clean up the mess. Wall-E is the last of these robots left to clean up all the trash and mess that earth has become as the proposed plan of returning in a few years has stretched to a few hundred for the human race. Wall-E has continues to do his job while also becoming self aware and forming emotions and a curiosity that helps him bide his time on the planet. Unfortunately, he has also become lonely and longs for someone to simply spend time with; maybe even hold his hand.
Enter Eve, a sleek and highly engineered robot that gets dropped off on earth by an unmanned space craft sent to scourer what’s left of earth in search of some form of natural life. Eve can be sweet and care free and turn hostile in an instant, with artillery strong enough to destroy a beached tanker ship. Eve’s arrival interrupts Wall-E’s usual routine of collecting knick knacks and junk as his longing for a companion possibly finally over. After an awkward and near violent, courting period the two begin to bond as the robots fall for each other. Unfortunately, Wall-E’s discovery of a small sprout of a plant is revealed to Eve, who after securing the plant inside her, goes into a dormant/lock down mode. Wall-E continues to keep her silent company until her ship comes to take her away and Wall-E is forced to follow his heart and latch on to the ship as it heads on its return trip to the humans with news of life.
I will spoil no more, as most of this is conveyed in the trailer, and let you discover the rest of this wonderful story on your own. Yes there are human characters in this film and they share the story taking up about 30% of the overall film, but Wall-E and Eve are still interlaced into most of their plot elements. The film also serves as a cautionary tale on multiple levels while also being a sweet romantic tale between our two robot leads. The messages aren’t beaten over your head, while remaining extremely clear and sadly true, and they hold true for almost every human being of any age, race, and gender.
The animation in this film is Pixar’s best to date. Topping Cars photorealism at times, Wall-E is an absolutely beautiful animated film that is rivaled by none to date. The artists at Pixar also deserves special props for designing and creating such a memorable and wonderful character in Wall-E simply through his actions and emotions with little to know use of audible sounds or words; it is truly an astonishing feat. The comedy in this film is also top-notch with plenty of laugh out loud moments while also being able to pull at our emotional strings with little to know effort at all.
In the end, there is no real complaint to be had for Wall-E, I was caught off guard on how much of a human element there was, but that isn’t really a complaint, but I think I will enjoy the film even more the second time around now that I know fully what to expect. Wall-E might be the best hero of the year and definitely sits as my favorite film of the year right now; without even a repeat viewing. Do not miss Wall-E as it is amazing piece of animation and will end up as one of the best films of the year. Pixar has done it again, and while not reaching the perfection of The Incredibles, it sits right with the Toy Story’s, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille as the just about perfect films from the Pixar catalog.
10/10 *(edited after 2nd viewing from 9.5)

p.s. Presto, the short film in front of Wall-E, is Pixar’s funniest and possibly best overall yet; competing with One Man Band as probably my favorite of the company’s short film catalog. So you are getting a double dose of greatness with this film.