Film info

• Title WALL·E
• Director Andrew Stanton
• Year 2008
• Run time 1hr 38m
• Genres Animation, Family, Science Fiction
• Tagline After 700 years of doing what he was built for, he'll discover what he was meant for

Heart-warming Pixar animated tale about a robot who accidentally discovers the way to save planet Earth. 700 years after humanity has left Earth, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) fills his days collecting rubbish, and anything else that takes his fancy, trying to fend off the boredom of his lot. But unknowingly, the tiny tube-eyed robot has discovered a secret that could make the once beautiful planet habitable again, enabling humankind to return. One day, Eve, a search robot, lands on Earth in a cloud of dust, and WALL-E is smitten. When she realises the importance of his find, she sets out to tell the remaining humans, eager to let them know the planet can be saved. But WALL-E, after centuries of being alone, can't bear to see her go, and hitches a ride through the cosmos on an adventure his memory banks will never forget.

Live blog

2:10 - I like that sequence as a way of showing the Earth’s progression towards disaster. 3:44 - For some reason, I thought this was set on a different planet, but this is Earth. 7:04 - Pesky spork. Do you store it with the spoons or the forks? 8:31 - That’s like the white-outs in Outcasts. A tidal wave of dust. Not fun. 11:35 - The only bit of greenery for miles and he digs it up? Crazy. 15:44 - A spaceship came all that way to drop off a robot? 18:07 - She, it, doesn’t seem very friendly. How will they ever get on? 20:47 - That’s a lot of firepower for a little robot. 23:53 - Bubble wrap! When aliens take over the earth, we can baffle them with bubble wrap. 29:18 - He seems to like her more now she’s all shut up. 32:22 - They do go into space! 36:06 - A sterile environment, eh? How very Apple. 37:23 - The little cleaning robot is awesome. I expect the Roomba to turn into that at some point. 39:54 - I know it’s bad that they’re all fat and stuff, but that space ship does look like fun. 45:36 - That’s an actual human! Weird. 53:06 - The robots have gone rogue! 55:10 - Why does the other robot want rid of the plant? 57:34 - Wall-e’s in lurve. 1:01:49 - Interesting to think of these generations who don’t remember the Earth. 1:12:05 - Mo is definitely my favourite. 1:16:29 - The Axiom is a great idea for a ship. Can someone please invent that? 1:23:40 - Why wouldn’t he remember? She didn’t change his hard drive. 1:25:49 - He hasn’t even noticed he’s back on Earth!

Conclusions

It definitely wasn’t as mushy as I thought it was going to be, but my expectations were quite low. It was better than anticipated, but I did think the beginning was very slow. Whilst it was fun to see Wall-e interacting with his environment, it’s thirty minutes on the dust and depression of Earth before the fun stuff out in space begins. Overall, I mostly liked it, but I wouldn’t watch it again.

Rating: 3/5

Be Kind, Rewind - Feb 2017

In my memory, I had this film pegged as one of the weaker Pixar outings, but totally watchable - unlike something like Cars 2, or Up (which I haven’t even attempted). Watching it with a more open attitude to emotions made it slightly better, and I didn’t think it drifted too much at the start - embedding Wall-e in his lonely environment made perfect sense, and I could almost feel the solitude.

Still, even after all this time, the cleaning robot is my favourite.

Rating: 3 / 5