Wall-E !

   When it comes to movies- I consider myself to be pretty particular in terms of genre. I like romantic comedies and don't really explore much outside of that category. So, when I initially found out that our class was going to watch a Sci-Fi movie needless to say..I was not so thrilled. However, as soon as the movie came on and the credits started rolling, I discovered that this was not a typical Sci-Fi movie; but rather a Pixar film that I sincerely could not keep my eyes off of. This movie, Wall-E had it all; an incredibly touching and creative storyline, amazing computer graphics and special effects. However, it was just lacking one thing. This one thing-dialogue- or in this case lack of it, was the single most effective element of the entire film. It is truly amazing to me how such a powerful storyline can be conveyed simply through images and not communicated through words. The lack of words in this film only enhanced the storyline that is reliant upon the amazing real-life graphics created on the computer.
   It is mind-boggling to me how this Sci-Fi animation is presented. Each image is so closely examined-with nothing being left behind. You can tell that this film must have taken a long time to produce-with each image being closely linked together with precision and detail. The real-life computer images really make the entire film. It is evident that the director, Andrew Stanton uses lighting as one of the key components in the success of his animation. In watching the film, I noticed that the lighting changed within the three acts. In the first act, when Wall-E meets Eve on Earth, the lighting is rustic and a bit romantic. Stanton used "earthly" (no pun intended) tones like browns, greens, mustard and tans. When the two lovers enter space, the lighting changes. Here, in the second act, Stanton used darker tones like navy, blacks, silvers; very cool tones. When the third act came around, and Eve and Wall-E returned back to earth, Stanton referred back to the romantic colors that he began the film with. The realistic lighting only further paints a more realistic picture of a Sci-Fi film for young people. ( and college students!) Because the film makers decided to use live action shots for their film, the rest of the scenes also had to be live action in order to make everything come together smoothly and create the most realistic pieces of footage.
   Another successful and vital component that adds to the success of Wall-E is sound/selection of music. The audio was totally in sync with the animation. Each character, whether it would be Eve or Wall-E had their own distinctive noises, which ultimately made them unique. For me, one of the most clever and memorable sounds was the Macintosh noise that Wall-E's body made when it was fully charged. I just thought it was so creative and adorable (not to mention awfully funny) to incorporate that into the film. One of my most favorite parts to Wall-E was the song choices. I absolutely adored the older, more classic adventure and love songs throughout the movie. For me, the music really painted the picture of Eve and Wall-E's relationship-adorable and fun. The music, whether it was light and playful or deep and mysterious allowed the audience members to really ride along the journey with the characters. My favorite piece of music in Wall-E was the song where he and Eve join hands at the very end of the film. The audience is finally able to understand their love and it is conveyed not only through their simple hand holding, but also through the incorporation of the song-which was pure genius.
   One of the major themes in Wall-E was humanity and the environment in which we live in. Wall-E's job was to collect garbage and compact it into small squares so it could be contained in a more organized and environmentally friendly way. It was at his job site that he met his love, a robot named Eve. Just as Wall-E put all of his effort into being with Eve, together they stress the importance of helping the Earth and being justly humane. Wall-E's job is very important-in fact it is just as important as his love for Eve. When they took a journey to Eve's home-the Axium- the audience can see just how separated the people of that galaxy are from the rest of the world. It is almost as if they have become salves to the technology that surrounds them. They don't have that type of interaction with one another- just as Wall-E and Eve do. They have lost what makes them human-the absence of humanity and true human nature. At the end, upon their return to Earth, the robots and humans are working together to renew the Earth and bring it back to its true beauty.
   I would be lying if I said that Wall-E truly was not one of my favorite movies. I couldn't help but fall in love with how cute and cuddly Wall-E and Eve were. Their journey-and his resistance to give up was conveyed in a very cute and simple way. The film really did have significant themes and was also visually appealing. Even tho there was little to virtually no dialogue within the film, audiences were still able to capture the true essence of Wall-E- and grasp the importance of the film. I really enjoyed watching this movie and it honestly made me broaden my horizons in terms of film selection. I never expected this "Sci-Fi" movie to be so advanced in its animation and so incredibly adorable in its storyline. I would absolutely recommend this film to audience members of all ages!