Movie Review: WALL-E

Pixar’s latest offering, WALL-E, is being hailed as perhaps its finest yet.

The famous animations studio has produced such recent children’s classics as Toy Story and Monsters’ Inc, but this movie goes one step further, offering beautiful rendering and lessons on consumerism and ecology.

Set in a time when Earth is uninhabited by humans and is filled with piles of rubbish that touch the sky as a result of man’s ever-increasing desire for consumer goods, the movie follows the story of the eponymous hero, a robot called WALL-E.

WALL-E (which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class) lives alone with only a cockroach for company, until a shiny search-robot called EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is sent down to earth.

Smitten with her, WALL-E stows away on her spaceship, which he finds is populated by obese humans who have a robot to cater to their every whim.

The message of the movie is powerful but understated – the gentle natures of WALL-E and EVE act as a clear contrast to the gluttonous humans they serve, while the images of a barren post-apocalyptic Earth act as a shocking reminder of the importance of taking care of the planet.

Fathers are sure to like this clever movie, while its inoffensive content (no swearing or scenes of a sexual nature and very little violence) means it is suitable for all ages.

However, the subtlety of the WALL-E’s message and the lack of action – almost no dialogue is spoken in the first 40 minutes – means children under the age of eight may find it difficult to concentrate for the one hour and 37 minutes running time.