Critic's Grade: A

Frank's film tip: One will feel highly animated by resilient Disney fixture Andrew Stanton's merry-minded mechanical kiddie love story WALL-E

Writer-director Andrew Stanton’s beloved bucket-of-bolts WALL-E is yet another imaginative and impressive piece of cinematic animation from the Pixar production line. Endearingly stylized and thoroughly captivating in its light-hearted lunacy, WALL-E is a sci-fi spectacle that radiates with percolating pithiness. Stanton’s stimulated animated story about a lovable robot left to linger in the aftermath of Earth’s devastation is revealing and restive in its mechanical-induced mockery. As far as quality family fare is concerned, WALL-E is top-notch in entertaining wonderment.

Stanton is no stranger to contributing his magical panache to Pixar’s creative cause involving highly charged family flicks that generate as resounding filmmaking at its finest offering. Classic glossy gems such as the Toy Story franchise, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and A Bug’s Life are indicative of Stanton’s staying power as one of the most innovative, profitable and resourceful Disney-oriented screenwriters/helmers to emerge from that legendary movie studio. The continuation of Stanton’s glorious efforts in Wall-E indeed paints a perfect picture for Pixar’s future projects coming into artistic fruition.

Thankfully, Stanton specializes in fantastically offbeat characterizations that are adventurous, charming and curiously delightful in instinctive scope. There’s a feeling of three-dimensional depth when enduring the playful platitudes of the personalities that march around in the giddy-minded psyche of Stanton’s free-wheeling universe. Fittingly, WALL-E exemplifies such a prototype as he joins the company of such luminary robotic rogues as Star Wars’ R2D2 and Short Circuit’s Number 5. More important, WALL-E embodies the winning spirit of a tenderized tin can that embraces independence etched in determination. This is certainly a worthy sentiment that parents will tolerate when exposing their tykes to such an exceptional spunky animated movie.

The planet Earth no longer holds on to its once mighty civilizations. It is the year 2815 and evidences of mankind is no where to be found on this desolate and deteriorating earthy landscape. The only holdover existing in this abandoned world is the trash-collecting, merry-making mechanism WALL-E (“Star Wars” sound designer Ben Burtt). Apparently WALL-E has been programmed to collect items and clean up debris in his lonely path. He does have a companion of sorts in a cockroach that he’s befriended. Nevertheless, WALL-E is a hard-working clump of hardware that refreshingly harbors a heart of gold—and a capacity to love faithfully.

Soon, WALL-E will be joined by another droid named Eve (Melissa Knight, “Cars”) when she’s dropped off from a mysterious spaceship. At first Eve is hostile, restless and has the need to destroy and encourage havoc. Eventually, the jittery Eve warms up to the good-natured WALL-E and the two computerized companions forge an intimacy that’s productively sweet. When Eve locates a plant and digests it in her storage compartment she becomes a victim of malfunction. Eve’s spaceship returns to fetch her back. Naturally, WALL-E is despondent about this turn of saddened events and decides to hitch a ride to follow his departing Eve.

The second act takes place on a spaceship filled with the remaining humans that ironically have no soul and act as if they were the robotic remnants. WALL-E gets his first exposure to these “humanoids” that lazily are at the mercy of the technological contraptions afforded them. These people seem soulless and synthetically hollow. There’s no semblance of drive or ambition to be found in these lounging lugs on a seemingly space-crafted utopia.

The revelation is that WALL-E has more humanistic qualities under his metal underarms than these shiftless humans have in their whole fleshy body cavity. The message is soon clear: we as a society have become soft and detached to our personal convictions—and have become slaves to the technological trivialities that we take for granted. What a strong and responsible message that is, huh? In weaving that forethought into the mindset of a sci-fi kiddie caper it tells you how much WALL-E is so valued as a thought-provoking animation that dares both grown-ups and kids to think about this caustic footnote.

Perhaps WALL-E is one of the more genuine and legitimate romancers to arrive on the scene in a very long time. Sure, it’s an unconventional love story because of the robotic Romeo and Juliet leads headlining this tot-friendly tale. Still, this warm and witty exposition puts to shame the so-called live action romantic comedies drenched in artificial ribaldry. WALL-E is transcended beyond its cutesy whims and sophisticated special effects gadgetry—it grasps the notion of an individual’s commitment to realize one’s potential and progression. When a can opener becomes more life-like and reliable than a shiftless human being willing to go through the indifferent motions then something is intrinsically wrong with the state of human motivation.

The dialogue is minimal throughout the first half of the film but the expressive antics of the metal-plated misfits are infectious. The voiceovers are convincing and energetic therefore giving an authentic appreciation for the believability of these lovable participants. The story presented is rich in structure and ambience. The visual presentation is breathtakingly vibrant and skillfully realized. Triumphant and teary-eyed, WALL-E withstands its mellifluous moments with a welcomed surge of honesty, impishness and introspection.

Smart, heart-warming and savvy in its observational radar, WALL-E displays a tinge of melodramatic mush at times but this doesn’t distract from the positive message at hand about humanizing decline at the expense of tactical technology. Stanton’s frolicking fable is one of the most rewarding and resilient kid-induced romancers to plant its engaging showcase of love, devotion and dire sense of duty on the big screen. Instinctively, all mainstream mediocre love stories should take a page out of WALL-E’s well-rounded, noteworthy book.

Frank rates this film: *** and a half stars (out of 4 stars)

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