Wall-E 2 Disc (2 Disc Special Edition) (Disney / Pixar)

WALL-E Review

Often have I wondered just how Pixar Animation keeps getting it right. Seemingly on a never-ending winning streak, the Mouse House has sired a studio that churns out hit after hit. Nary a bad apple in the bunch (even "Cars" and "A Bug's Life" have their unquestionable charms), Pixar reached new heights with last year's "Ratatouille". So how were the Lords of CG 'toons going to better themselves having raised the bar so high? Well, with the help of a little trash compactor named "WALL-E" that's how.

Back in 1994, the brain trust behind Pixar, including producer John Lasseter and director Andrew Stanton, convened for a roundtable meeting to sketch out some ideas. Born from this meeting were such hits as "Toy Stoy", "Finding Nemo", "Monsters. Inc." and a certain diminutive robot. After cutting their teeth on such titles, and growing in storytelling confidence, Pixar, some 14 years later, have returned to this pint-sized bot for their most audacious film yet. "WALL-E" is as brave as family entertainment gets. For the first 30 minutes of this film not a single word is spoken. Only the pops and whistles of WALL-E, along with Thomas Newman's beguiling score, filter into the auditorium. For you see WALL-E is all alone. The last robot programmed to clean up Earth after all the humans have long since vacated the premises. Earth is now covered in layer upon layer of detritus thanks to the omnipresence of Buy N Large - the uber-corporation that has sucked the life out of the human race and commoditised every facet of existence. In a last ditch effort to reclaim their world, Buy N Large call in an army of tiny compactors to sort things out whilst everyone else heads for the stars. And this is where WALL-E comes in. All alone, with only a cockroach for company. WALL-E has one or two bugs of his own - most of all a 'personality'. Thankfully hope comes in the sleek form of EVE - an environmental scanning bot - who is sent to Earth to scour for possible signs of life…and finding the lovelorn WALL-E instead.

These two strike up an unlikely bond and soon their adventures take them beyond WALL-E's ramshackle home (filled to bursting with trinkets) and out into the stars where WALL-E encounters the remnants of the human race. Quietly closeted in the safe-haven that is Axiom, a state-of-the-art pleasure cruiser, humanity has been reduced to man-size toddlers - coddled by robots with their every whim catered for. Thankfully, the introduction of our little bundle of chaos into this serene universe is enough to shake things up and force the inhabitants to take some drastic action.

Only the hardest of cynics could possibly aim the silo of a 'green message' at Pixar here despite the obvious references to our current disdain for our world and over-reliance on the big corporations. Instead what Pixar have accomplished is little short of a masterpiece in storytelling. It's as if Stanton and co. have paid homage to the sci-fis of the 70's like "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Alien" and "Star Wars" whilst genetically splicing this aesthetic with a litter of bunnies. The result would be something that's close, but not quite, "WALL-E". This tin man has one hell of a heart and makes for the perfect distillation of Pixar's work up to this point. The bar hasn't just been raised…it's been taken down and can now be found in the trophy cabinet of Pixar Animation. Pure Joy. A new generation's "Dumbo".