Into the Blu

Wall-E

Posted on 20. Nov, 2008 by Gino Sassani in 1080p, 2.35:1, AVC MPEG-4, Animated, BD-Live, DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 (English), Digital Copy, Disney / Buena Vista, Family, Reviews, Special Edition

Pixar has managed to climb out from under its first less than stellar effort in Ratatouille. The studio took a huge gamble with WALL-E. It was one a lesser successful studio would have been either unwilling or unable to do. While the film contains enough cute moments and clever animated characters to entertain the kids, this film was most certainly made with adults in mind. Don’t worry, there aren’t any kinds of things that would not be appropriate for children. I just am not sure that the style of this CG animation project will hold near the same appeal to a younger attention span. There is very little dialog in WALL-E. For the first third of the film there is almost none at all. Still, even considering this bold silent film approach in the beginning, the film is quite entertaining, at least from an adult standpoint. The environments are so captivating that we have enough stimulation to almost forget that we’re not hearing any words. It’s not like we’re hearing nothing at all. Ben Burt provides us with so many interesting sounds, that again we aren’t very concerned with the lack of dialog. Anyone in the science fiction world knows who Ben Burt is. He has provided the sound effects for many genre projects, but most notably for the Star Wars films since the very first one in 1978. There’s a reason why WALL-E sounds a lot like R2D2; they are in essence being “voiced” by the same person. When you combine these wonderful animated environments with the sounds, you get a film that doesn’t appear lacking in anything at all.

The story is a simple enough one, but I’m not sure the younger audience will really catch on to it. The film has been criticized for its “green” message, but I really don’t find it to be preachy at all. In fact most of the concepts are presented in very subtle and creative ways. We’re introduced to a stark and very bleak future on Earth where life no longer exists. All of the people have long since left on starships because the planet was becoming overrun by our trash. Small robots called WALL-E’s were left behind to clean up the mess in preparation for an eventual human return. Centuries appear to have passed, and now only one of the trash compacting robots remains active. He goes about his daily life cleaning the place up. He’s developed a sense of curiosity and a sentience, of sorts. In his daily grind he collects things he finds interesting and brings them back to a bunker that he makes his home. There he stores all manner of trinkets, from light bulbs to eating utensils, including a worn VHS copy of My Fair Lady that appears to awaken WALL-E’s emotions. One day his endless routine is disrupted with the arrival of a large spaceship. From the craft emerges an egg shaped probe. WALL-E is fascinated by the probe, and in his own way falls in love. The probe, named EVE, takes a particular interest in WALL-E’s latest find, a lone plant. When she discovers his plant she goes into shutdown mode, alarming WALL-E. She transmits a locater beacon, and eventually the ship recovers her with the plant safely tucked inside her innards. WALL-E, reluctant to see his focus of infatuation leave, grabs the ship upon take-off and hitches a ride back to the Axiom. Here in this ship, remnants of humanity have been living for generations. They have lost their ambitions and are reduced to obese helpless figures served by the ship’s robot staff. EVE is transferred to the ship where the captain is alerted to her prize possession. It signals the long hoped for return to Earth. The ship’s robotic navigation system has had another directive programmed from a secret file. It implores the system to do whatever it takes to keep the ship from ever returning to Earth. From then it’s a cat and mouse game of hide and seek with WALL-E, EVE, and the important plant.

WALL-E’s design is not overly original. In fact I find him to look a lot like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. But it’s not the design that brings this character to life, any more than the almost idiotically simple design of EVE. What really works here is the animation. There is no question in our minds that there is life and intelligence behind those robotic eyes. The bots’ movements are so carefully thought out that we quickly can ascribe emotions to every robotic gesture. EVE has almost no moving parts, but we fall in love with her as assuredly as WALL-E does. There’s also a lot to be said for the incredibly realistic environment WALL-E lives in. We are then presented with such a direct opposite aboard the Axiom that the contrast blows us away. On the ship everything is brightly colored. Surfaces are shiny and everything explodes in color. Back on Earth we are presented with an almost always dark place cluttered with all things ugly and dead. The obese humans are really more comedic relief than anything else, and it’s here that the younger viewers will begin to get a bit more excited. It’s a very stark story of two different places, and WALL-E and EVE represent these places in an almost Romeo and Juliet motif.

Video

WALL-E is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. When you consider that this is a digital project, and a Pixar one to boot, your expectations are going to be out of this world. I’m happy to report that no matter how high you set the bar, this film’s going to clear it with plenty of room to spare. You get an absolutely pristine 1080p image provided through an AVC/MPEG-4 codec. The bit rate stays in the healthy 30’s mbps range. Everything about this thing works perfectly. On Earth you get a dark world that exhibits wonderful black levels and enormously detailed textures. On board the ship colors suddenly flood your screen, literally leaping out toward you. The images here are considerably brighter as well. Contrast is excellent. There are absolutely no flaws in this image. You are seeing exactly what the render team saw when they were creating the film in the supercomputers. This is definitely a show piece disc.

Audio

The DTS-HD lossless 5.1 track delivers about everything you could want here. Ben Burt’s magical sound effects come through in a presentation that only serves to complement his work Surrounds go from aggressive to extremely subtle, always appearing to provide just the right amount of punch. This is an immersive experience in both sight and sound. The audio delivers at a constant 1.5 mbps. While there’s a good deal of fullness to the bottom end, I did not find that my sub delivered quite what I was hoping for here. After recently reviewing Kung Fu Panda, I was left wanting more in that range. It’s my one and only complaint here.

There is an engaging Audio Commentary with Andrew Stanton who has pretty much guided this project for many years. He’ll give you a lot of information including WALL-E’s origins.

Special Features

This is a 3-disc set. The third disc is a digital copy of the film for your portable devices. The first disc contains the film and 2 shorts:

Presto: This is the short that appeared with WALL-E in the theaters. It’s about a rabbit who gets the upper hand on his magician partner.

BURN-E: This is a short that concentrates on another of the robots aboard the Axiom and takes place around events in the film. This bot is trying to repair an exterior light, but the events of the film make his job very difficult.

On Disc Two you’ll find two categories:

Robots:

WALL-E’s Treasures And Trinkets: This contains a little over 4 minutes of showing the WALL-E character in different environments doing things like playing ball.

Lots Of Bots: This is a short interactive read along story.

Axiom Arcade: This is a collection of simple games to play

Bot Files: You can get the skinny on all of your favorite robots in the film.

Humans:

Deleted Scenes: You get an optional intro to each by Stanton. The big surprise here is a rare gem, indeed. You get a deleted scene that is completely finished. A second is available in crude animation and 2 more are delivered in the more usual storyboard style.

The Imperfect Lens: The crew marvel about the realistic nature of the animation.

Animation Sound Design – Building Worlds From The Sound Up: There is no question that Ben Burt is as much to credit for this film as the animation crew. This 19 minute feature gives you a great close look at Burt’s efforts and how the sounds were created.

Captain’s Log: It appears that the humans were not originally intended to be a part of the story. With this feature you’ll see the green jelly blob aliens that were originally going to inhabit the ship. I think I might have liked them better.

BnL Shorts: There are three animated shorts here. One is a captain’s orientation video. A second contains the proposal to the BnL board for the planned exodus from Earth. The final short looks at all of the ship’s bots.

3D Flyover: A map of the Axiom provides you an interactive ability to check out different parts of the ship.

The Pixar Story: This hour and a half feature was once released on its own and provides a very detailed look at Pixar and how they work. It sure appears like the workers are about as happy as anyone can be. This is by far the best feature on the disc.

Final Thoughts

I applaud the folks at Pixar for taking a chance. Let’s be honest here. This was a huge gamble for the studio. The expectations for their films are often through the roof, and the kids are a big part of that audience. This one is actually pretty dark in nature, at least in the beginning. With CG technology being exploited by more and more studios, there are more and more features to give Pixar competition. This was no time to lose a big gamble, particularly when you think about the time and money that goes into making one of these things. It was a gamble, and gamble they did. I think, if you check this film out, you’ll find it paid off big time. So three cheers for “WALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-E”.