So the other day, I was watching my little girl while my wife was out.  With nothing to do, I decided I might as well introduce her to my favorite Pixar movie, Wall-E.  But, since I’d seen it a million times, I watched it with commentary by director Andrew Stanton.  This was a major treat, and convinced me I need to do this with other favorites.  I was going to give my little spiel about the movie, then go off of what the director said, but  that would be redundant, because my view of Wall-E is irrevocably connected to what I learned from Stanton.

I think the first thing that needs to be mentioned is that this movie didn’t have an environmentalist agenda. The director, who co-wrote and created the entire idea of Wall-E said it was never meant to be that way.  That might be hard to believe, but the true message is really about our lonely little robot.  Really think what Wall-E, the character is about.  He’s this trash compactor that’s been going for hundreds of years, he’s developed his own personality and has no idea he can stop his mundane and, at this point, pointless task.  That is, until EVE arrives and he embarks on his historic journey to bring the human race home.

Proof that robots can be adorable, but not look creepy.

Wall-E is a metaphor for our lives.  Just like him, we can get stuck in this routine where we just go.  But maybe something drops out of the sky and causes us to pursue a passion.  What if that didn’t happen though?  Would he/us just continue on doing the same old thing?  Unlike us though, our yellow tin can is pretty innocent in his desires and finds absolutely no reason to stop chasing his dream.  Pixar really hit a stride with this film, especially in the sci-fi genre.  Everything in it says something, or asks questions, about what we’re doing.  The trash isn’t some dystopian belief saying we’re evil and will ruin our planet.  What the creators were trying to do was ask a question, what happens when we run out of place to put our garbage?  The Axiom looks into convenience, how would the human race evolve if we continued to put more and more reliance on automated systems?

Enough of that though, let’s talk about the one thing that makes this movie different, the fact the main character never actually speaks.  In preparation for this film, Andrew Stanton and his team watched hordes of silent films to  relearn this ancient art.  For the entire first act and into the second, we hear a few robotic intonations formed to say two names, and that’s all.  Some people might not appreciate the difficulty this gives the film makers.  Because with no words spoken, they’ve got to keep us reeled in through the actions of very inhuman like robots.  The first time I saw this movie, I was absolutely enthralled by those sequences leading up to the Axiom.  I remember wanting to just watch those parts over and over till my eyes stopped working.

Despite this movie being animated and “kid friendly” the subject matter and true nature of it was made for adults.  As I listened to all 98 minutes of the commentary I realized this is a pretty serious sci-fi film that took years and years to make.  Stanton spent a decade coming up with Wall-E, countless hours of storyboarding, then as the film was finished he had the animators re-work an entire sequence and a half.  I wish I could convey the many things learned while listening to the director, but suffice it to say, I have a new found appreciation for this movie.