WALL-E Review

WALL-E

Release Date: 18th September 2008 – Australia


Production Companies
Walt Disney Pictures (presents)
Pixar Animation Studios

Distribution
Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures Australia


Genre: Animation/Family/

Sci-Fi

Rating: G

Runtime: 98 minutes


Budget: $180,000,000

Box Office Gross: $527,402,840 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
In the distant future, humanity leaves Earth after it becomes too littered. After 700 years of collecting trash (as he was built to do), the curious and lovable robot WALL-E falls in love with EVE, a sleek search probe, for the first time.

This leads to a fantastic journey across the galaxy, where WALL-E boards the Axiom and must help EVE, the pilot, and a group of malfunctioning robots retrieve a plant and save Earth.

Voice Cast
Ben Burtt – WALL-E/M-O

Elissa Knight – EVE
Jeff Garlin – Captain
MacInTalk – AUTO
John Ratzenberger – John
Kathy Najimy – Mary
Sigourney Weaver – Axiom's Computer

Teddy Newton – Additional Voices

Pete Docter – Additional Voices

Lori Richardson – Additional Voices

Live-Action Cast
Fred Willard – Shelby Forthright, Bnl CEO


Crew
Original Story/Screenplay/
Director – Andrew Stanton
Original Story – Pete Docter
Screenplay/Story

Supervisor – Jim Reardon

Associate Producer – Thomas Porter
Executive Producer – John Lasseter
Producer – Jim Morris
Co-Producer – Lindsey Collins
Visual Consultants – Roger Deakins and Dennis Muren
Production Designer – Ralph Eggleston

Character Art Director – Jason Deamer

Sets Art Director – Anthony Christov

Shader Art Director – Bert Berry

Production/Storyboard Artist/Directing

Animator – Angus MacLane

Director of Photography: Camera – Jeremy Lasky
Director of Photography: Lighting –

Danielle Feinberg

Director of Photography: Live-Action –

Martin Rosenberg

Lighting Consultant – Sharon Calahan

Production Manager – Andrea Warren

Supervising Animators – Alan Barillaro

and Steven Clay Hunter

Character Supervisor – Bill Wise

Sets Supervisor – David Munier

Crowds Supervisor – Mark Thomas Henne

Supervising Technical Director – Nigel Hardwidge

Technical Pipeline Supervisor – John Warren

Effects Supervisor – David MacCarthy

Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM – Edward Hirsh

Visual Effects Supervisor: Pixar, Live-Action

Unit – Richard E. Hollander

Digital Production Supervisor: ILM – Patrick Tubach

Layout Supervisor: ILM – Brian Cantwell

Original Dialogue (Uncredited)/Re-Recording

Mixer/Sound & Character Voice Designer/

Sound Effects Recordist (Uncredited)/

Supervising Sound Editor & Mixer – Ben Burtt

Supervising Sound Editor – Matthew Wood

Assistant Supervising Sound Editor – Coya Elliott

Sound Effects Editors – Teresa Eckton,

Dustin Cawood and Al Nelson

Re-Recording Mixers – Tom Myers

and Michael Semanick

Foley Artists – Jana Vance and Dennie Thorpe

Foley Mixer – Frank Rinella

Film Editor – Stephen Schaffer

Second Film Editors – Axel Geddes,

Jason Hudak and Nicholas C. Smith

Additional Editing – Kevin Nolting

Direction: End Titles – Jim Capobianco

Music – Thomas Newman

Music Supervisor – Tom MacDougall

Executive Music Producer – Chris Montan

Music/Lyrics/Performer: Down to Earth –

Peter Gabriel


Awards

2009 Academy Awards
Best Animated Feature – Andrew Stanton (Won)
-----------------
Best Original Score – Thomas Newman (Nominated)
Best Original Song "Down to Earth" –

Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (Nominated)
Best Sound Editing – Ben Burtt and

Matthew Wood (Nominated)

Best Sound Mixing – Tom Myers,

Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt (Nominated)
Best Original Screenplay – Andrew Stanton,
Jim Reardon and Pete Docter (Nominated)

Review
WALL-E is a charming, funny, exciting, beautiful, and cute CGI-animated film that's an outstanding achievement from Disney and Pixar. What affected me most was its ecological message: Earth is suffering an environmental catastrophe, forcing its population to abandon cities and evacuate to a ship called the Axiom, which relies too heavily on technology. I enjoyed the captivating romantic relationship between the two robots, EVE and WALL-E, which is a focal point of the movie. Almost the entire film is silent, except for the characters' interactions, which provide the sound. However, it is only present in the movie's first half-hour.

The film features masterful, cutting-edge animation and spectacular visuals. The excellent sound design is a breath of fresh air. Ben Burtt, known for Star Wars, created the robotic voices, including WALL-E's. Thomas Newman's musical score is vivid and complements the sequences quite well.

WALL-E was one of my favourite films and is much better than the sci-fi family movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial because it combines a heartfelt story, environmental themes, minimal dialogue, and visual brilliance. The world in this film is unique and unlike any other I've seen. Like Disney's Lilo & Stitch, it succeeded during the sci-fi animation boom, where others tried and failed. I cannot think of a single negative thing about this animated hit. My star rating reflects that. In closing, it's an absolute must-see film.

Star rating: (5/5) Best Movie Ever

Back to Home