WALL·E (2008)
Description: In a distant, but not so unrealistic, future where mankind has abandoned earth because it has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation, WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. Mesmerized with trinkets of Earth’s history and show tunes, WALL-E is alone on Earth except for a sprightly pet cockroach. One day, EVE, a sleek (and dangerous) reconnaissance robot, is sent to Earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with EVE. WALL-E rescues EVE from a dust storm and shows her a living plant he found amongst the rubble. Consistent with her “directive”, EVE takes the plant and automatically enters a deactivated state except for a blinking green beacon. WALL-E, doesn’t understand what has happened to his new friend, but, true to his love, he protects her from wind, rain, and lightning, even as she is unresponsive.
Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton (original story by), Pete Docter (original story by)
Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin
Photos
Trivia
To explore the possibilities of pure visual storytelling, Andrew Stanton and the Pixar team watched every single Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton movie, both short films and features, every day during lunch for about 18 months.
The first Pixar film to be nominated for 6 Academy Awards. This ties it with the only other animated film to garner this many nominations: Beauty and the Beast (1991).
Elissa Knight, who provides the voice of EVE is not an actress, but an employee of Pixar.
WALL-E stands for: Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth Class. EVE stands for: Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator.
The name of the ship that the humans are living on is “Axiom.” In logic and math, an axiom is something unquestionable or taken for granted.
The survival of both the Twinkie and the cockroach perpetuates the urban myth that even should the world end, both will survive indefinitely.
Ben Burtt had just completed Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) and had told his wife that he never wanted to work on another film that involved robots. He changed his mind when Pixar talked through their ideas for WALL·E (2008), which he found to be fresh and exciting.
First instance of a Pixar feature-length film using live-action.
Andrew Stanton claimed that the film’s central theme was that irrational love can defeat everything, including programming.
The concept artists studied images of Chernobyl, Ukraine and the city of Sofia, Bulgaria for ideas for the ruined world. Art director Anthony Christov is from Bulgaria and knew the problems its capital had in storing garbage.