What Would Wall-e Do?

Pixar have the amazing ability to actually make good films. Wall-e took this generalisation, crushed it, and put it in a huge pile with all the other generalisations in the world. Right next to that one about people loving or hating Marmite. It's not just a good film. It's a great one.

People were a bit dubious about Wall-e when they heard that there was no talking what-so-ever in the first 40 minutes. This was a little bit of an over-exaggeration. There's music and singing (and laughter and romance) and the odd bit of talking from the adverts that are still going on in this abandoned world which, rather heroically, our little protagonist is single-handedly trying to clean-up. Without these little bursts of speech, even the most easily entertained would start to go ever so slightly mad. But yes, there's no dialogue from Wall-e himself, or his girlfriend. Yes it's true. Robots can fall in love. And in this case far more convincingly than alot of humans you see on the big screen.

I could have watched the first 40 minutes for alot longer. Who would have thought a robot cleaning could be so entertaining? But eventually the makers had to presume that there would be some people in the audience who actually possessed a stable mentality and so in an effort to keep them that way, they introduced a plot. I didn't expect this to be a good move and was quite ready to hunt down the studio and demand that they make another 40 minutes like the first. Possibly using a fish as a weapon. Or maybe not. But they surprised me by suggesting that I try watching the rest of the film. And so I did. And it was good. Very good. Wall-e himself continued be thoroughly entertaining. As were all the other characters that were introduced. Especially the few humans (overly large and therefore friendly like Father Christmas) that actually had a part in the film.

Not only was Wall-e funny. It was also a little bit moving. Don't worry. I didn't cry. But I imagine if you were the type of person predisposed to that sort of irrational behaviour you would.

Ok. Maybe I sniffed a little.

And then, on-top of that, they manage to preach about the dangers of eating and littering! Imagine it! A fat person dropping Mars bar wrappers! Oh the humanity! But they do this in such a subtle way, you won't notice until you're next at home, about to throw a tin in the bin and stop and think... 'What Would Wall-e Do?' I'm thinking of making some kind of bracelet.

Seriously. Go see this film. Or download it. Or whatever it is you kids do nowadays.