Wall-E

Can 2 animated robots, who speak no more than a handful of words make you cry? In Wall-E they can.

Wall-E is the latest Pixar movie, which oddly enough had never appealed to me, event though I'm a big fan of Pixar's movies. Having watched over the weekend, I realised I wrong I was - this movie is a masterpiece, pure genius. Wall-E is beautiful, moving, hilarious and sad all at the same time.

A rusty, binocular-faced, wide-eyed, little robot named Wall-E lives potentially one of the loneliest lives imaginable. He is the only remaining inhabitant of earth, machine or organism (that is save a cockroach he adopts early on). Everyday he continues the dutiful task he was beset by his creators: compact garbage in an attempt to clean up the now deserted earth, which has become an endless desert of waste. Eventually his several hundred year routine is interrupted by the landing of a spaceship that sends out a sleek, white chrome (think Apple), advanced robot that's mission is to search Wall-E's wasteland home for signs of life. That probe's name is Eve...and instantly Wall E is in love. So begins a touching story of romance.

That's the basic premise in Wall-E. The real genius here is the way the movie is so visual - it communicates visually, and spectacularly so. The first 30 minutes hardly contain any dialogue and still you get more attached with these characters than you do in most "spoken" movies. Wall-E's innocence and childlike wonder (reminds me of E.T.), as exemplified by how he introduces himself to everyone he meets, will undoubtedly touch you, and that's what makes him such a lovable character. When he shuts down each night to sleep, he rocks himself as a child would. He is clumsy around Eve, and when he takes her to his makeshift home of robot parts and paraphernalia, he is like a little kid.

Obviously, there are other plot elements that I won't mention here, but ultimately Wall-E is the tale of a classic and touching love story. I wouldn't call this a child's film at all. Not because it has adult-only material, because it doesn't. I say this because the film is perfect for everyone. Literally, everyone. There are things in it every person can enjoy, no matter who they are. And for a film with little dialog, it carries more of an emotional punch and has a richer story than most live-action movies I've seen. So do yourself a favour and go buy/rent/download of the 2008's best movies. And then tell me if 2 robots can make you cry too...