An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Andrew Stanton.
Cast: Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
Description: In the 28th century, mankind has abandoned the planet aboard giant space-ships, leaving behind cities ravaged by pollution and waste. A single solar-powered droid called WALL-E (an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is left behind to crush up the piles of scrap metal and detritus into cubes, neatly stacking them one atop the other. Out of the blue, a mothership touches down on Earth and spits out a sleek search-robot called EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), whose mission is to seek out signs of life. WALL-E is instantly smitten with the new arrival and he sets about wooing her using tips he picks up from a worn out video cassette of Hello, Dolly!.
Country: US. 2008. 103mins
It's lonely out in space: after hundreds of years cleaning up the planet, robot Wall-E finally meets probe droid Eve
It's all in the eyes: Wall-E has animation artistry
Cleaning up: Wall-E is not quite Citizen Kane, but is one of Pixar's best films
Hanging on: Wall-E looks stunning but may leave younger viewers cold
Someone foolish on C4 News opined that this latest Pixar film was animation's answer to Orson Welles's Citizen Kane. Now come on. Don't be silly. But you could say it carries reminders of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. And you could call it one of the most imaginatively made and individual pieces of work that the audacious Pixar has developed.
In the first place, its leading character is neither a human nor an animal but a robot called Wall-E, not because he is a bit of a Wally but because he's a Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class. He lives in a land that needs him badly since his purpose in life is to collect the detritus of a world almost entirely made of rubbish, to scrunch it together in what looks like his stomach and to process it into squares that will make do as building blocks.
He is a lonely soul who switches himself off at nights and wakes up each morning for yet another round of backbreaking work.
There seems to be no one else around at all, and it isn't surprising since it is hardly a world fit to live in. There are, it is true, some malfunctioning approximations of Wall-E around but they would be totally useless as chums. And he's been at it for some 700 years, once one of thousands of robots sent by the Buy 'n' Large corporation to clean up the planet.
Humans have completely devastated it and gone to live in a vast, brightly coloured enormity of a holiday camp in space where everything is done for them by the way of luxury provided they remain in their relaxing beach chairs and don't cause a fuss.
They are all too fat, like most Americans, and look much like each other. And it seems that even the captain of the huge spaceship is in thrall to a cold, mechanical robot whose secret orders are to keep everything running smoothly for some Mr Big somewhere.
Apart from a friendly cockroach called Hal (in homage to Kubrick) and a single green sprig he excitedly finds jutting out of what remains of Earth, he is without any real contact until Eve, a state-of-the-art "probedroid", equipped with a laser gun, comes along.
Eve (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, by the way) seems to be able to do what she likes , including blowing up anything that gets in her way. She's pretty alarming at first to our squashed metal hero but when she sees the little green plant, she rushes back to the spaceship to report what she has found to the humans who have been waiting patiently for news about when it is safe to return home.
She also takes a liking to Wall-E after a bit and there's a wonderful dance between the two when they rise above Earth and cavort between it and the spaceship. Is there romance in the offing?
Maybe, but the most appealing aspect of this movie is not the characters or the plot (Eve is a bit boring compared to Wall-E as a CG creation) but the infinite care with which writer-director Andrew Stanton and his team have visualised the whole scene.
It is the same care with which Ratatouille was made, though totally different in style, showing us a grey, eco-unfriendly world that would send a chill through one's bones if allied to a more dramatic story. It is marvellous work which compensates for a certain overall lack of lovability in the film.
If that sounds a bit grudging, all I can add is that one admires rather than warms to what one sees, even though Wall-E is a character every bit as touching as any in Toy Story, for which Stanton was one of the Oscar-winning writers.
Whether younger children will like Wall-E is a moot point. But you can be sure that the adults who will drag them along will be impressed. Animation artistry it has in spades.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
[ 1 ] [ 2 ]
I found the whole movie to be quite depressing and if it were not for the fact I had my 10 year old and his friend with me would have walked out after about 30 minutes, as did another group of about a dozen cinema goers.
The animation - good for the first part, but then the introduction of EVE and the humans brought it down to cartoon level.
The story - seen better stories develop in Saturday Disney cartoons such as Kim possible.
The dialogue - crap and annoying - you expect witty dialogue that will work on several levels for the different age groups - completely lacking and the Wall_e / EVE repitition is just annoying in the extreme.
As a movie - give it a miss.
- Alan Harper, Sydney Australia
I saw this film this weekend with two children 13 and 6 who both loved it. There were lots of very small children in the cinema who remained quiet and enthralled throughout. It has excellent animation, good story and a message of love and helping others. And I cant get that song out of my head!
- Rita, Eseex England
Hmm, I think the first 25-30 minutes are as good as anything seen on a screen this year; however, Eve is under visualised and the spaceship is a bit garish. I agree that Mr Malcolm confirms himself as a 'trendy liberal' with his gratuitous dig at fat Americans. Overall however this is a brilliant conceit - no talking for 30 minutes? Fabulous.
- Peter Bench, London
There are plenty of fat people in the UK as well. Your stereotype of Americans completely discounts your review.
- Thin American, Seattle, WA
I saw Wall-E last weekend and whilst it is classic Pixar brilliance I don't think it measured up to the high standards of Toy Story 1 & 2 but then it's nowhere near as bad as Cars, I would put it somewhere in the area of Ratatouille, good but not great. I'm still trying to work out whether the plot was lifted from Silent Running and 2001 or whether that was just an homage (of which there are many) to other sci-fi films. All in all a good family film but not great, a lot of the children in the cinema I was in had got bored and started playing up which means it may well be more of an adult than a children’s film.
- Bob, Cheam
Morning:
11°c
