Where do I begin,
to tell the story of how great a love can be?
The sweet love story that is older than the sea.
The simple truth about the love she brings to me.
Where do I start?

Why do I begin a review of an animated science fiction film with lyrics from Where Do I Begin, the theme song from the movie Love Story? The story parallels are quite striking to me. Poor boy falls in love with rich girl from the other side of the tracks, with potentially tragic results. That summary fits both movies.

Seven hundred years from now, the Earth has been abandoned by humans, after they ran out of room to put their garbage. The entire planet’s land-area is covered by garbage, most of it made by the huge retail conglomerate Buy n Large (BnL). The only one left is Wall-E, a clunky, adorable robot, sort of a mechanized E.T. in appearance and personality, whose job originally was to wander about, collect garbage, compact it into cubes, and stack it. The Earth is devoid of life; the humans left on the enormous luxury space-liner Axiom, made by BnL. Wall-E’s only companion is a spunky, loyal, comical little cockroach.

Then, Eve comes. Who is Eve? What is Eve? She is a sleek, elegant, fast, powerful probe-robot, on Earth to assess its ability to sustain Earth. When Wall-E sees Eve, it is love at first sight, and he manages to woo her, without her blasting him to smithereens. He gives her many gifts, as he has long collected novelty items that he found amongst the refuse. When Wall-E gives her a small plant that he had found, it sets into motion a wild interstellar adventure that spans light-years and might just result in the restoration of Earth and the salvation of humankind. Along the way, Wall-E and Eve encounter celestial wonders, an megalomaniacal auto-pilot, a band of friendly cleaner-robots, and an entire population of supreme couch-potatoes.

The animation is superb, giving us a frightening image of a worst-case scenario for Earth’s future, environmentally. The musical score, with a sprinkling of old show-tunes, adds to the overall wistful tone of many scenes in the film. The voice-over performances are very good, including the robotic voices of Wall-E and Eve.

In two different ways, this movie acts as a cautionary tale. What will happen to the Earth if rampant over-use of resources and profuse garbage-production continues? We get an image of that, and it is not pretty. There is another image of a future we are stampeding toward, in this film, and is equally bad. Even as Isaac Asimov warned us what could happen if we let robot do too much for us, in his robot stories, and Frank Herbert painted a picture of a future where computers had to be forbidden, to keep us from becoming their slaves, in the Dune books, this film shows us a future where over-reliance upon automated servants has reduced humanity to a bunch of nearly-helpless, complacent blobs. Strangely enough, in this movie, it is robots who inspire humans to step forward and reclaim their lives.

One reservation about this film has to do with the ending. I will avoid details, to not spoil the experience for anyone who has not yet seen this excellent Disney-Pixar creation but, right at the end, there is a moment where either of two things could have happened. One outcome would leave the audience smiling and clapping, whereas the other outcome would leave many viewers in tears. The sadder option would have contained a powerful symbol that I think we need to see these days. But, it is a typical Disney movie, regarding the choice they made, as to outcomes. One step away from true greatness, the film went the safe way.

There are few logic flaws too.  What has the cockroach been eating?  Where does the electricity come from for the powerful electromagnet on the cargo ship?  What happened to the other ships, shown at the beginning of the film?

The DVD has two very nice short features, which Pixar does quite well. Presto and His Magic Hat is about a vaudeville-style magic show, where a disgruntled rabbit manages to steal the show -- and make it better. Burn-E is a direct side-story from the film, focusing on a minor character, Burn-E, a repair robot who welds things, and the exasperating time he has trying to fix one thing, thanks to the bigger events going on around him.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8