''WALL-E'' (stylized with an
interpunct
An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did no ...
as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American
computer-animated science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
produced by
Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
and released by
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...
. It was directed and co-written by
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's ''A Bug's Life'' (1998), directing '' Finding Nemo'' (2003) ...
, produced by
Jim Morris
James Samuel Morris Jr. (born January 19, 1964) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although brief, Morris' career is noted for making hi ...
, and co-written by
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an American animator, storyboard artist, television writer, television director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the animated TV series ''The Simpsons''. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series and was cr ...
. It stars the voices of
Ben Burtt
Benjamin Burtt Jr. (born July 12, 1948) is an American sound designer, film director and editor, screenwriter, and voice actor. As a sound designer, his credits include the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' film series, ''Invasion of the Body ...
,
Elissa Knight
Elissa Knight (born April 15, 1975) is an American employee at Pixar and voice actress. As a voice actress, her first major role was in the 2006 film ''Cars'' as one of the twins known as Tia and as Eve in ''WALL-E'' 2008.
Biography
Knight wa ...
,
Jeff Garlin
Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom '' Curb You ...
,
John Ratzenberger
John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)[About John](_blank)
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...
,
Kathy Najimy
Kathy Ann Najimy ( ; ar, كاثي ان نجيمي ; born February 6, 1957) is an American actress and activist. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Soapdish'' (1991), ''Sister Act'' (1992), '' Hocus Pocus'' (1993), ''Hope Floats'' (1 ...
, with
Sigourney Weaver
Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver (; born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. A figure in science fiction and popular culture, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Gram ...
and
Fred Willard
Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...
.
The overall ninth feature film produced by the studio, ''WALL-E'' follows a
solitary robot on a
future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
,
uninhabitable
Inhabit means to live in, reside in, occupy or populate some place – a so-called habitat.
Inhabit may also refer to:
* ''Inhabit'' (album), an album by Living Sacrifice
* Inhabited (band), a rock group
See also
* Circumstellar habitable zo ...
, deserted
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in 2805, left to clean up garbage. He is visited by a probe sent by the starship ''Axiom'', a robot called EVE, with whom he falls in love and pursues across the galaxy.
After directing ''
Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...
'', Stanton felt Pixar had created believable simulations of underwater physics and was willing to direct a film set largely in space. ''WALL-E'' has minimal dialogue in its early sequences; many of the characters do not have voices, but instead communicate with
body language
Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
and robotic sounds designed by Burtt. The film incorporates various topics including
consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
,
corporatocracy
Corporatocracy (, from corporate and el, -κρατία, translit=-kratía, lit=domination by; short form corpocracy) is an economic, political and judicial system controlled by corporations or corporate interests.
The concept has been used ...
,
nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
,
waste management
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...
,
human environmental impact and concerns,
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
/
sedentary lifestyles, and
global catastrophic risk
A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical future event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, even endangering or destroying modern civilization. An event that could cause human extinction or permanen ...
.
It is also Pixar's first animated film with segments featuring live-action characters.
Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...
composed the film's musical score. The film cost $180 million to produce, a record-breaking sum for an animated film at the time. Following Pixar tradition, ''WALL-E'' was paired with a short film titled ''
Presto'' for its theatrical release.
''WALL-E'' was released in the United States on June 27, 2008. The film received critical acclaim for its animation, story, voice acting, characters, visuals, score, use of minimal dialogue, and scenes of romance. It was also commercially successful, grossing $521.3 million worldwide and becoming the
ninth-highest grossing film of 2008. It won the 2008
Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time at the 64th Golden Globe Awards in 2007. It was the first time that the Golden Globe Awards had created a separate category for anima ...
, the 2009
Hugo Award for Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation,
the final
Nebula Award for Best Script
The Nebula Award for Best Script was given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy scripts for movies or television episodes. Awards are also given out for published literary works in ...
,
the
Saturn Award for Best Animated Film
The Saturn Award for Best Animated Film (formerly Saturn Award for Best Animation) is one of the annual awards given by the American professionnel organization, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. The Saturn Awards, which are th ...
and the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for
Best Animated Feature with five additional Oscar nominations. It is considered by many critics as the best film of 2008, and to be among
the greatest animated films ever made. The film topped
''Time'''s list of the "Best Movies of the Decade",
and in 2016 was voted 29th among 100 films considered the
best of the 21st century by 117 film critics from around the world.
In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In the 22nd century, rampant
consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
, corporate greed, and environmental neglect had turned
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
into a garbage-strewn wasteland, and the
megacorporation
Megacorporation, mega-corporation, or megacorp, a term originally coined by Alfred Eichner in his book ''The Megacorp and Oligopoly: Micro Foundations of Macro Dynamics'' but popularized by William Gibson, derives from the combination of the prefi ...
Buy n Large (BnL) had evacuated humanity to space on giant
starliners, leaving
trash compacting robots to clean up the planet. Seven hundred years later, in 2805, the cleanup has failed and the last remaining active robot, named
Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth Class (WALL·E) has developed a personality. WALL·E is able to remain active by salvaging parts from other inactive robots and lives in a large truck designed to carry the robots. One day, WALL·E's routine of compressing trash and collecting interesting objects is broken by the arrival of an unmanned probe carrying an egg-shaped robot named ''Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator'' (EVE) who is sent to scan the planet for signs of sustainable life. WALL·E is smitten by the sleek, otherworldly robot, and the two begin to connect, until EVE goes into
standby mode when WALL·E shows her his most recent find: a living seedling. The probe ship eventually returns and collects EVE and the plant, with WALL·E clinging on. The probe ship then returns to its mothership, the starliner ''Axiom''.
In the centuries since the ''Axiom'' left Earth, its passengers have degenerated into helpless
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
due to
microgravity
The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...
and laziness, with robots catering to their every whim. Even the Captain B. McCrea is used to sitting back while his robotic
AI autopilot helm, nicknamed AUTO, pilots the ship. McCrea is unprepared to receive the positive probe response, but discovers that placing the plant in the ship's Holo-Detector will trigger a
hyperjump back to Earth so that humanity can begin recolonization. When McCrea inspects EVE's storage compartment, the plant is missing, with EVE blaming WALL·E for its disappearance.
EVE is deemed faulty and taken to diagnostics. Mistaking the process for torture, WALL·E intervenes and inadvertently releases all the other faulty bots, causing him and EVE to be designated as rogues. Frustrated, EVE tries to send WALL·E home in an
escape pod
An escape pod, escape capsule, life capsule, or lifepod is a capsule or craft, usually only big enough for one person, used to escape from a vessel in an emergency. An escape ship is a larger, more complete craft also used for the same purpose ...
, but before she can, the two witness AUTO's henchman GO-4 stowing the plant in a pod set to self-destruct, revealing that WALL·E did not steal the plant. WALL·E attempts to retrieve it, but is launched into space. EVE uses an emergency exit to chase after WALL·E, and witnesses the pod explode, although both he and the plant survive unscathed. He and EVE reconcile, celebrating with a dance in space around the ''Axiom''.
EVE brings the plant back to McCrea, who watches her recordings of Earth, concluding that they can and must save it. However, AUTO reveals that it has been programmed with the secret no-return directive
A113
A113 (sometimes A-113, A-1-13, A1-13 or A11-3) is an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
History
Student ...
issued after BnL CEO Shelby Forthright inaccurately declared that Earth could not be saved; AUTO had ordered GO-4 to dispose of the plant. When McCrea countermands the directive, AUTO and GO-4 mutiny, electrocuting WALL·E, forcefully putting EVE into standby, throwing them both down a garbage chute, and locking McCrea in his quarters. EVE (having been reactivated by a mouse-like robot) and WALL·E are nearly ejected into space with the ship's refuse, but ''Microbe Obliterator'' (M-O), a cleaning robot who had been following WALL·E's dirt trail across the ship, saves the two when he gets stuck when the gate closes, alerting the WALL·A garbage bots and prompting them to abort the ejection. As humans and robots help in securing the plant, McCrea and AUTO fight for control of the ''Axiom''. AUTO crushes WALL·E using the Holo-Detector in a last-ditch attempt to keep the human passengers in space; McCrea eventually overpowers and deactivates AUTO by switching it to manual mode, and EVE successfully inserts the plant, initiating the hyperjump.
Arriving back on Earth, EVE repairs WALL·E, but finds that his memory and personality have been erased. Heartbroken, EVE gives WALL·E a goodbye "kiss", which restores him to his normal self. WALL-E and EVE reunite as the inhabitants of the ''Axiom'' take their first steps on Earth. Humans and robots turn the ravaged planet into a paradise, and the plant grows into a mighty tree, which EVE and WALL·E rest beneath.
Cast
Voice cast
*
Ben Burtt
Benjamin Burtt Jr. (born July 12, 1948) is an American sound designer, film director and editor, screenwriter, and voice actor. As a sound designer, his credits include the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' film series, ''Invasion of the Body ...
as
WALL·E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-Class),
a compactor robot who has achieved
sentience
Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '':wikt:sentientem, sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it fro ...
, he is the only one still functioning on Earth. He is a small mobile compactor box accompanied by his cockroach friend Hal. He collects trinkets from the garbage and displays them at his home, where he watches a
video cassette
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recordin ...
of ''
Hello, Dolly!'', mimicking the dance sequences.
** Burtt also voices M-O (Microbe-Obliterator), a cleaning robot.
*
Elissa Knight
Elissa Knight (born April 15, 1975) is an American employee at Pixar and voice actress. As a voice actress, her first major role was in the 2006 film ''Cars'' as one of the twins known as Tia and as Eve in ''WALL-E'' 2008.
Biography
Knight wa ...
as EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator),
a glossy white egg-shaped probe robot with blue LED eyes, whose directive is to verify the habitability of planets for humans. She moves using
antigravity and is equipped with scanners, specimen storage, and a
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
which she is quick to use.
*
Jeff Garlin
Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom '' Curb You ...
as Captain B. McCrea, the captain of the ''Axiom''.
*
MacInTalk
PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis (MacinTalk) and speech recognition technologies developed by Apple Inc. In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many researchers in th ...
, the text-to-speech program for Apple
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computers, is the voice of AUTO (pronounced Otto), the ''Axiom''s villainous
AI autopilot which handles command functions of the ship. Loyal only to directive
A113
A113 (sometimes A-113, A-1-13, A1-13 or A11-3) is an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
History
Student ...
, it is the only computer not influenced by WALL-E.
*
John Ratzenberger
John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)[About John](_blank)
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...
and
Kathy Najimy
Kathy Ann Najimy ( ; ar, كاثي ان نجيمي ; born February 6, 1957) is an American actress and activist. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Soapdish'' (1991), ''Sister Act'' (1992), '' Hocus Pocus'' (1993), ''Hope Floats'' (1 ...
as John and Mary, who live on the ''Axiom'', so dependent on their automatic services as to be oblivious to their surroundings. They are brought out of their trances by encounters with WALL-E.
*
Sigourney Weaver
Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver (; born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. A figure in science fiction and popular culture, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Gram ...
as the ''Axiom''s computer. Stanton joked to Weaver: "You realize you get to be 'Mother' now?"
[DVD. Scene 16. "Captain on Deck". Audio commentary by Director Andrew Stanton. 52:01–52:09.] referring to the ship's computer in the film ''Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'', starring Weaver.
Live-action cast
* Fred Willard
Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...
as Shelby Forthright, owner of the Buy n Large Corporation and President of Earth
In both science fiction and utopia/dystopian fiction, authors have made frequent use of the age-old idea of a global state and, accordingly, of world government.
Overview
In tune with Immanuel Kant's vision of a world state based on the voluntar ...
. The only major live-action character, appearing only in videos recorded around the time of the ''Axiom''s launch in the 22nd century. Forthright proposed the plan to evacuate Earth's population then clean up the planet so they could return within five years. Discovering that Earth had become too toxic to support life, the cleanup and recolonization were abandoned. Forthright issued directive A113
A113 (sometimes A-113, A-1-13, A1-13 or A11-3) is an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
History
Student ...
preventing anyone from returning to Earth. As of 2022, Forthright is the only live-action character with a speaking role in any Pixar film.
* Michael Crawford
Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian.
Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...
and Marianne McAndrew
Marianne Christine McAndrew (born November 26, 1942) is an actress known for her role as Irene Molloy in the film '' Hello, Dolly!''
Career
''Hello, Dolly!'' was McAndrew's first credited film role. The role of Irene Molloy was given considerab ...
appear in an archival recording performing "It Only Takes a Moment" from '' Hello, Dolly!.
Production
Writing
Andrew Stanton conceived ''WALL-E'' during a lunch with fellow writers John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, ...
, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft
Joseph Henry Ranft (March 13, 1960 – August 16, 2005) was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation ...
in 1994. ''Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'' was near completion and the writers brainstormed ideas for their next projects — ''A Bug's Life
''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...
'', ''Monsters, Inc.
''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...
'', and ''Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...
''—at this lunch. Stanton asked, "What if mankind had to leave Earth and somebody forgot to turn off the last robot?" Having struggled for many years with making the characters in ''Toy Story'' appealing, Stanton found his simple ''Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
''-esque idea of a lonely robot on a deserted planet strong. Stanton made WALL·E a waste collector
A waste collector, also known as a garbageman, garbage collector, trashman (in the US), binman or (rarely) dustman (in the UK), is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and dispose of municipal solid waste (refuse) and ...
as the idea was instantly understandable, and because it was a low-status menial job that made him sympathetic.[ Stanton also liked the imagery of stacked cubes of garbage. He did not find the idea dark because having a planet covered in garbage was for him a childish imagining of disaster.]
Stanton and Docter developed the film under the title of ''Trash Planet'' for two months in 1995, but they did not know how to develop the story and Docter chose to direct ''Monsters, Inc.'' instead.[Hauser, p. 11.] Stanton came up with the idea of WALL-E finding a plant, because his life as the sole inhabitant on a deserted world reminded Stanton of a plant growing among pavements. Before they turned their attention to other projects, Stanton and Lasseter thought about having WALL-E fall in love, as it was the necessary progression away from loneliness.[ Stanton started writing ''WALL-E'' again in 2002 while completing ''Finding Nemo''.] Stanton formatted his script in a manner reminiscent of Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas O'Bannon (September 30, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American film screenwriter, director and visual effects supervisor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.
O'Bannon wrote the screenplay for '' Alien'', adap ...
's ''Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
''. O'Bannon wrote his script in a manner Stanton found reminded him of ''haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
'', where visual descriptions were done in continuous lines of a few words. Stanton wrote his robot "dialogue" conventionally, but placed them in brackets.[ In late 2003, Stanton and a few others created a ]story reel
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of Previsualization, pre-visualizing a film, motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyb ...
of the first twenty minutes of the film. Lasseter and Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
were impressed and officially began development, though Jobs stated he did not like the title, originally spelled "''W.A.L.-E.''"
While the first act of ''WALL-E'' "fell out of the sky" for Stanton,[ he had originally wanted aliens to plant EVE to explore Earth and the rest of the film was different. When WALL-E comes to the ''Axiom'', he incites a '']Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...
''-style rebellion by the robots against the remnants of the human race, which were cruel alien Gels (completely devolved, gelatinous, boneless, legless, see-through, green creatures that resemble Jell-O
Jell-O is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of the brand. "Jell-O" is a ...
). James Hicks, a physiologist, mentioned to Stanton the concept of atrophy and the effects prolonged weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fi ...
would have on humans living in space for an inordinately extended time period.[ Therefore, this was the inspiration of the humans degenerating into the alien Gels,][Deleted scenes with introductions by Andrew Stanton, 2008 DVD, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment] and their ancestry would have been revealed in a ''Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...
''-style ending.[ The Gels also spoke a made-up gibberish language, but Stanton scrapped this idea because he thought it would be too complicated for the audience to understand and they could easily be driven off from the storyline.][''Captain's Log: The Evolution of Humans'', 2008 DVD featurette, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment] The Gels had a royal family, who host a dance in a castle on a lake in the back of the ship, and the ''Axiom'' curled up into a ball when returning to Earth in this incarnation of the story.[ Stanton decided this was too bizarre and unengaging, and conceived humanity as "big babies".][ Stanton developed the metaphorical theme of the humans learning to stand again and "grow ngup",] wanting WALL-E and EVE's relationship to inspire humanity because he felt few films explore how utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
n societies come to exist. The process of depicting the descendants of humanity as the way they appear in the movie was slow. Stanton first decided to put a nose and ears on the Gels so the audience could recognize them. Eventually, fingers, legs, clothes, and other characteristics were added until they arrived at the concept of being fetus-like to allow the audience to see themselves in the characters.
In a later version of the film, AUTO comes to the docking bay to retrieve EVE's plant. The film would have its first cutaway to the captain, but Stanton moved that as he found it too early to begin moving away from WALL·E's point-of-view. As an homage to ''Get Smart
''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s, with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, an ...
'', AUTO takes the plant and goes into the bowels of the ship into a room resembling a brain where he watches videos of Buy n Large's scheme to clean up the Earth falling apart through the years. Stanton removed this to keep some mystery as to why the plant is taken from EVE. The captain appears to be unintelligent, but Stanton wanted him to just be unchallenged; otherwise he would have not been sympathetic.[ One example of how unintelligent the captain was depicted initially is that he was seen to wear his hat upside-down, only to fix it before he challenges AUTO. In the finished film, he merely wears it casually atop his head, tightening it when he really takes command of the ''Axiom''.][
Stanton also moved the moment where WALL-E reveals his plant (which he had snatched from the self-destructing escape pod) from producing it from a closet to immediately after his escape, as it made EVE happier and gave them stronger motivation to dance around the ship. Originally, EVE would have been electrocuted by AUTO, and then be quickly saved from ejection at the hands of the ''Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Axiom-class'' (WALL·A) robots, by WALL-E. He would have then revived her by replacing her power unit with a cigarette lighter he brought from Earth. Stanton reversed this following a 2007 test screening, as he wanted to show EVE replacing her directive of bringing the plant to the captain with repairing WALL-E, and it made WALL-E even more heroic if he held the holo-detector open despite being badly hurt.][ Stanton felt half the audience at the screening believed the humans would be unable to cope with living on Earth and would have died out after the film's end. Jim Capobianco, director of the '']Ratatouille
Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
'' short film ''Your Friend the Rat
''Your Friend the Rat'' is a 2007 American computer animated short film by Pixar. The special takes on the form of an educational film and stars rats Remy and Emile, the main protagonists of ''Ratatouille'', who argue for the reconciliation of hu ...
'', created an end credits animation that continued the story—and stylized in different artistic movements throughout history—to clarify an optimistic tone.
Design
''WALL-E'' was the most complex Pixar production since ''Monsters, Inc.'' because of the world and the history that had to be conveyed.[ Whereas most Pixar films have up to 75,000 storyboards, ''WALL-E'' required 125,000. ]Production designer
In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...
Ralph Eggleston
Ralph Eggleston (October 18, 1965 – August 28, 2022). was an American animator, art director, storyboard artist, and production designer at Pixar Animation Studios. He won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for '' For the Birds''. ...
wanted the lighting of the first act on Earth to be romantic, and that of the second act on the ''Axiom'' to be cold and sterile. During the third act, the romantic lighting is slowly introduced into the ''Axiom'' environment.[ Pixar studied ]Chernobyl
Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...
and the city of Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
to create the ruined world; art director Anthony Christov was from Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
and recalled Sofia used to have problems storing its garbage. Eggleston bleached out the whites on Earth to make WALL-E feel vulnerable. The overexposed light makes the location look more vast. Because of the haziness, the cubes making up the towers of garbage had to be large, otherwise they would have lost shape (in turn, this helped save rendering time). The dull tans of Earth subtly become soft pinks and blues when EVE arrives. When WALL-E shows EVE all his collected items, all the lights he has collected light up to give an inviting atmosphere, like a Christmas tree
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...
. Eggleston tried to avoid the colors yellow and green so WALL-E—who was made yellow to emulate a tractor—would not blend into the deserted Earth, and to make the plant more prominent.[
Stanton also wanted the lighting to look realistic and evoke the science fiction films of his youth. He thought that Pixar captured the physics of being underwater with '']Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...
'' and so for ''WALL·E'', he wanted to push that for air. While rewatching some of his favorite science fiction films, he realized that Pixar's other movies had lacked the look of 70 mm film
70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...
and its barrel distortion
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...
, lens flare
A lens flare happens when light is scattered or flared in a lens system, often in response to a bright light, producing a sometimes undesirable artifact in the image. This happens through light scattered by the imaging mechanism itself, for ex ...
, and racking focus
A focus puller or first assistant camera (1st AC) is a member of a film crew's camera department whose primary responsibility is to maintain the camera lens's optical focus on whatever subject or action is being filmed.
"Pulling focus" refers to ...
.[ Producer Jim Morris invited ]Roger Deakins
Sir Roger Alexander Deakins (born 24 May 1949) is an English cinematographer, best known for his collaborations with directors the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes and Denis Villeneuve. Deakins has been admitted to both the British Society of Cinema ...
and Dennis Muren
Dennis Muren, A.S.C (born November 1, 1946) is an American film visual effects artist and supervisor. He has worked on the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron, among others, and has won nine Oscars in total: eight for Bes ...
to advise on lighting and atmosphere. Muren spent several months with Pixar, while Deakins hosted one talk and was requested to stay on for another two weeks. Stanton said Muren's experience came from integrating computer animation into live-action settings, while Deakins helped them understand not to overly complicate their camerawork and lighting.[ 1970s ]Panavision cameras
Panavision has been a manufacturer of cameras for the motion picture industry since the 1950s, beginning with anamorphic widescreen lenses. The lightweight Panaflex is credited with revolutionizing filmmaking. Other influential cameras include t ...
were used to help the animators understand and replicate handheld imperfections like unfocused backgrounds in digital environments.[ The first lighting test included building a three-dimensional replica of WALL-E, filming it with a 70 mm camera, and then trying to replicate that in the computer.] Stanton cited the shallow lens work of Gus Van Sant's films as an influence, as it created intimacy in each close-up. Stanton chose angles for the virtual cameras that a live-action filmmaker would choose if filming on a set.[
Stanton wanted the ''Axiom''s interior to resemble Shanghai and ]Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
.[ Eggleston studied 1960s NASA paintings and the original concept art for ]Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...
for the ''Axiom'', to reflect that era's sense of optimism.[ Stanton remarked "We are all probably very similar in our backgrounds here t Pixarin that we all miss the Tomorrowland that was promised us from the heyday of ]Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
," and wanted a "jet pack
A jet pack, rocket belt, or rocket pack is a device worn on the back which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air. The concept has been present in science fiction for almost a century and became widespread in the 1960s. ...
" feel.[ Pixar also studied the ]Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is a cruise line operation that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 as Magical Cruise Company Limited, through the first vessel, ''Disney Magic'' and is domiciled in London, Englan ...
and visited Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, which was helpful in understanding artificial lighting.[ Eggleston based his ''Axiom'' designs on the futuristic architecture of ]Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...
. Eggleston divided the inside of the ship into three sections; the rear's economy class has a basic gray concrete texture with graphics keeping to the red, blue, and white of the BnL logo. The coach class with living/shopping spaces has "S" shapes as people are always looking for "what's around the corner". Stanton intended to have many colorful signs, but he realized this would overwhelm the audience and went with Eggleston's original idea of a small number of larger signs. The premier class is a large Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
-like spa with colors limited to turquoise, cream, and tan, and leads on to the captain's warm carpeted and wooded quarters and the sleek dark bridge. In keeping with the artificial ''Axiom'', camera movements were modeled after those of the steadicam
Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for Movie camera, motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. It was designed to isolate the camera from the camera operator's movement ...
.
The use of live action was a stepping stone for Pixar, as Stanton was planning to make ''John Carter of Mars
John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabi ...
'' his next project.[ Storyboarder Derek Thompson noted introducing live action meant that they would make the rest of the film look even more realistic.][ Eggleston added that if the historical humans had been animated and slightly caricaturized, the audience then would not have been able to recognize how serious their devolution was.][ Stanton cast ]Fred Willard
Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...
as the historical Buy n Large CEO because " 's the most friendly and insincere car salesman I could think of."[ The CEO says "]stay the course
"Stay the course" is a phrase used in the context of a war or battle meaning to pursue a goal regardless of any obstacles or criticism. The modern usage of this term was popularized by United States presidents George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, an ...
", which Stanton used because he thought it was funny.[ ]Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
did the visual effects for these shots.[
]
Animation
''WALL·E'' went undeveloped during the 1990s partly because Stanton and Pixar were not confident enough yet to have a feature-length film with a main character that behaved like Luxo Jr., the Pixar lamp or R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...
.[ Stanton explained there are two types of robots in cinema: "human with metal skin", like the Tin Man, or "machine with function" like Luxo and R2. He found the latter idea "powerful" because it allowed the audience to project personalities onto the characters, as they do with babies and pets: "You're compelled ... you almost can't stop yourself from finishing the sentence 'Oh, I think it likes me! I think it's hungry! I think it wants to go for a walk!'"] He added, "We wanted the audience to believe they were witnessing a machine that has come to life."[ The animators visited recycling stations to study machinery, and also met robot designers, visited ]NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
to study robots, watched a recording of a Mars rover
A Mars rover is a motor vehicle designed to travel on the surface of Mars. Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny pos ...
,[ and borrowed a bomb detecting robot from the San Francisco Police Department. Simplicity was preferred in their performances as giving them too many movements would make them feel human.][
Stanton wanted WALL·E to be a box and EVE to be like an egg.][''WALL-E and EVE'', 2008 DVD, ]Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
WALL·E's eyes were inspired by a pair of binoculars
Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...
Stanton was given when watching the Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
play against the Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
. He "missed the entire inning" because he was distracted by them. The director was reminded of Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
and decided the robot would not need a nose or mouth.[ Stanton added a ]zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length (and thus angle of view) can be varied, as opposed to a fixed-focal-length (FFL) lens (see prime lens).
A true zoom lens, also called a parfocal lens, is one ...
to make WALL-E more sympathetic.[ ]Ralph Eggleston
Ralph Eggleston (October 18, 1965 – August 28, 2022). was an American animator, art director, storyboard artist, and production designer at Pixar Animation Studios. He won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for '' For the Birds''. ...
noted this feature gave the animators more to work with and gave the robot a childlike quality.[ Pixar's studies of trash ]compactor
A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of material such as waste material or bio mass through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by a home or business to reduce the volume of trash it produces. A baler-wrapper comp ...
s during their visits to recycling stations inspired his body.[ His tank treads were inspired by a wheelchair someone had developed that used treads instead of wheels.][ The animators wanted him to have elbows, but realized this was unrealistic because he is only designed to pull garbage into his body.][ His arms also looked flimsy when they did a test of him waving.][ Animation director Angus MacLane suggested they attach his arms to a track on the sides of his body to move them around, based on the ]inkjet printer
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...
s his father designed. This arm design contributed to creating the character's posture, so if they wanted him to be nervous, they would lower them. Stanton was unaware of the similarities between WALL-E and Johnny 5 from ''Short Circuit
A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...
'' until others pointed it out to him.[
Stanton wanted EVE to be at the higher end of technology, and asked ]iPod
The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
designer Jonathan Ive
Sir Jonathan Paul Ive (born 27 February 1967) is a British industrial and product designer, as well as businessman. Ive was the chief design officer (CDO) of Apple Inc. from 1997 until 2019 (known as senior vice principal of industrial design ...
to inspect her design. He was very impressed.[ Her eyes are modelled on ]Lite-Brite
Lite-Brite is a toy that was originally marketed in 1967. It consists of a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a panel and illuminate to create a lit picture, by either using one of the included templates or creating a "freef ...
toys,[ but Pixar chose not to make them overly expressive as it would be too easy to have her eyes turn into hearts to express love or something similar.][ Her limited design meant the animators had to treat her like a drawing, relying on posing her body to express emotion.][ They also found her similar to a ]manatee
Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living speci ...
or a narwhal because her floating body resembled an underwater creature.[ Auto was a conscious homage to ]HAL 9000
HAL 9000 is a fictional artificial intelligence character and the main antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's ''Space Odyssey'' series. First appearing in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', HAL ( Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) ...
from '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'',[ and the usage of ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' for the showdown between Captain McCrea and Auto furthers that. The manner in which he hangs from a wall or ceiling gives him a threatening feel, like a spider.][''Robo-everything'', 2008 DVD featurette, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment] Originally, Auto was designed entirely differently, resembling EVE, but masculine and authoritative and SECUR-T was also a more aggressive patrol steward robot.[ The majority of the robot cast were formed with the Build-a-bot program, where different heads, arms and treads were combined in over a hundred variations.][ The humans were modelled on sea lions due to their ]blubber
Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians.
Description
Lipid-rich, collagen fiber-laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except for pa ...
y bodies,[ as well as babies. The filmmakers noticed baby fat is a lot tighter than adult fat and copied that texture for the film's humans.
To animate their robots, the film's story crew and animation crew watched a Keaton and a ]Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
film every day for almost a year, and occasionally a Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55.
One of the most influential film co ...
picture.[ Afterwards, the filmmakers knew all emotions could be conveyed silently. Stanton cited Keaton's "great stone face" as giving them perseverance in animating a character with an unchanging expression.] As he rewatched these, Stanton felt that filmmakers—since the advent of sound—relied on dialogue too much to convey exposition.[ The filmmakers dubbed the cockroach WALL-E keeps as a pet "Hal", in reference to silent film producer ]Hal Roach
Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...
(as well as being an additional reference to HAL 9000).[ They also watched ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', '']The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion, known as the Black or Shêtân, is the title character from author Walter Farley's bestselling series about the Arab stallion and his young owner, Alec Ramsay. The series chronicles the story of a Sheikh's prized stallion a ...
'' and '' Never Cry Wolf'', films that had sound but were not reliant on dialogue. Stanton acknowledged ''Silent Running
''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American environmental-themed apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse ...
'' as an influence because its silent robots were a forerunner to the likes of R2-D2,[ and that the "hopeless romantic" ]Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
also inspired WALL-E.[
]
Sound
Producer Jim Morris recommended Ben Burtt
Benjamin Burtt Jr. (born July 12, 1948) is an American sound designer, film director and editor, screenwriter, and voice actor. As a sound designer, his credits include the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' film series, ''Invasion of the Body ...
as sound design
Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...
er for ''WALL-E'' because Stanton kept using R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...
as the benchmark for the robots.[ Burtt had completed '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' and told his wife he would no longer work on films with robots, but found ''WALL-E'' and its substitution of voices with sound "fresh and exciting".][ He recorded 2,500 sounds for the film, which was twice the average number for a '']Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' film,[ and a record in his career.][ Burtt began work in 2005, and experimented with filtering his voice for two years. Burtt described the robot voices as "like a ]toddler
A toddler is a child approximately 12 to 36 months old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child ...
... universal language
Universal language may refer to a hypothetical or historical language spoken and understood by all or most of the world's people. In some contexts, it refers to a means of communication said to be understood by all humans. It may be the idea of ...
of intonation. 'Oh', 'Hm?', 'Huh!', you know?"
During production Burtt had the opportunity to look at the items used by Jimmy MacDonald, Disney's in-house sound designer for many of their classic films. Burtt used many of MacDonald's items on ''WALL-E''. Because Burtt was not simply adding sound effects in post-production, the animators were always evaluating his new creations and ideas, which Burtt found an unusual experience.[''Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds From The Sound Up'' featurette, 2008 DVD featurette, ]Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
He worked in sync with the animators, returning their animation after adding the sounds to give them more ideas.[ Burtt would choose scientifically accurate sounds for each character, but if he could not find one that worked, he would choose a dramatic and unrealistic noise.][ Burtt would find hundreds of sounds by looking at concept art of characters, before he and Stanton pared it down to a distinct few for each robot.][
Burtt saw a hand-cranked electrical generator while watching '' Island in the Sky'', and bought an identical, unpacked device from 1950 on ]eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
to use for WALL·E moving around. Burtt also used an automobile self-starter for when WALL·E goes fast,[ and the sound of cars being wrecked at a demolition derby provided for WALL·E's compressing trash in his body.][ The ]Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computer chime was used to signify when WALL-E has fully recharged his battery. For EVE, Burtt wanted her humming to have a musical quality.[ Burtt was only able to provide neutral or masculine voices, so Pixar employee Elissa Knight was asked to provide her voice for Burtt to electronically modify. Stanton deemed the sound effect good enough to properly cast her in the role.] Burtt recorded a flying radio-controlled jet plane for EVE's flying,[ and for her plasma cannon, Burtt hit a ]slinky
The Slinky is a helical spring toy invented by Richard James in the early 1940s. It can perform a number of tricks, including travelling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its ow ...
hung from a ladder with a timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...
stick. He described it as a "cousin" to the blaster noise from ''Star Wars''.
MacInTalk
PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis (MacinTalk) and speech recognition technologies developed by Apple Inc. In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many researchers in th ...
was used because Stanton "wanted Auto to be the epitome of a robot, cold, zeros & ones, calculating, and soulless nd Stephen Hawking's kind of voice I thought was perfect."[ Additional sounds for the character were meant to give him a clockwork feel, to show he is always thinking and calculating.][
Burtt had visited ]Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...
in 1987 and used his recordings from his trip for the sounds of wind,[''List of a Shot: Deconstructing the Pixar Process'', 2008 DVD featurette, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment] and ran around a hall with a canvas
Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...
bag up to record the sandstorm.[ For the scene where WALL-E flees from falling shopping carts, Burtt and his daughter went to a supermarket and placed a recorder in their cart. They crashed it around the parking lot and then let it tumble down a hill.] To create Hal (WALL-E's pet cockroach)'s skittering, he recorded the clicking caused by taking apart and reassembling handcuffs
Handcuffs are Physical restraint, restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other. They comprise two parts, linked together by a Link chain, chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each cuff has a rotating arm whi ...
.[
]
Music
Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...
recollaborated with Stanton on ''WALL-E'' since the two got along well on ''Finding Nemo'', which gave Newman the Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature. He began writing the score in 2005, in the hope that starting this task early would make him more involved with the finished film. But, Newman remarked that animation is so dependent on scheduling he should have begun work earlier on when Stanton and Reardon were writing the script. EVE's theme was arranged for the first time in October 2007. Her theme when played as she first flies around Earth originally used more orchestral elements, and Newman was encouraged to make it sound more feminine. Newman said Stanton had thought up many ideas for how he wanted the music to sound, and he generally followed them as he found scoring a partially silent film difficult. Stanton wanted the whole score to be orchestral, but Newman felt limited by this idea especially in scenes aboard the ''Axiom'', and used electronics too.
Stanton originally wanted to juxtapose the opening shots of space with 1930s French swing music
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...
, but changed his mind after seeing ''The Triplets of Belleville
''The Triplets of Belleville'' (french: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as ''Belleville Rendez-vous'' in the United Kingdom. The film is Chomet's first feature ...
'' (2003), not wanting to appear as if he were copying it.[ Stanton then thought about the song "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from '' Hello, Dolly!'', since he had portrayed the sidekick Barnaby Tucker in a 1980 high school production. Stanton found that the song was about two naive young men looking for love, which was similar to WALL-E's own hope for companionship. ]Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an American animator, storyboard artist, television writer, television director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the animated TV series ''The Simpsons''. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series and was cr ...
, storyboard supervisor for the film, suggested WALL-E find the film on video, and Stanton included "It Only Takes a Moment" and the clip of the actors holding hands, because he wanted a visual way to show how WALL-E understands love and conveys it to EVE. ''Hello, Dolly!'' composer Jerry Herman
Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre.
One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyricis ...
allowed the songs to be used without knowing what for; when he saw the film, he found its incorporation into the story "genius". Coincidentally, Newman's uncle Lionel worked on ''Hello, Dolly!''[
Newman travelled to London to compose the end credits song " Down to Earth" with ]Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
, who was one of Stanton's favorite musicians. Afterwards, Newman rescored some of the film to include the song's composition, so it would not sound intrusive when played.[ ]Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
's rendition of " La Vie en rose" was used for a montage where WALL-E attempts to impress EVE on Earth. The script also specified using Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
's " Stardust" for when the two robots dance around the ''Axiom'', but Newman asked if he could score the scene himself. A similar switch occurred for the sequence in which WALL-E attempts to wake EVE up through various means; originally, the montage would play with the instrumental version of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 film ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realizing that "it w ...
", but Newman wanted to challenge himself and scored an original piece for the sequence.Andrew Stanton
Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's ''A Bug's Life'' (1998), directing '' Finding Nemo'' (2003) ...
's Blu-ray and DVD audio commentary, 2008, Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Themes
The film is recognized as social criticism
Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in particular with respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general.
Social criticism of the Enlightenment
The or ...
. Katherine Ellison asserts that "Americans produce nearly 400 million tons of solid waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...
per year but recycle less than a third of it, according to a recent Columbia University study." Landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
s were filling up very rapidly worldwide, and predictions were made that the UK could run out of landfill space by 2017.
Environment, waste, and nostalgia
In the DVD commentary, Stanton said that he has been asked if it was his intention to make a movie about consumerism. His answer was it was not; it was a way to answer the question of how would the Earth get to the state where one robot would be left to continue the cleanup by itself. Nevertheless, some critics have noted an incongruity between the perceived pro-environmental and anti-consumerist messaging of the film, and the environmental impacts in the production and merchandising of the film.
In "WALL-E: from environmental adaption to sentimental nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
," Robin Murray and Joseph Heumann explain the important theme of nostalgia in this film. Nostalgia is clearly represented by human artifacts, left behind, that WALL-E collects and cherishes, for example Zippo
A Zippo lighter is a reusable metal lighter produced by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made in the nine decades since their introduction, including milita ...
lighters, hubcaps, and plastic sporks. These modern items that are used out of necessity are made sentimental through the lens of the bleak future of Earth. Nostalgia is also expressed through the musical score, as the film opens with a camera shot of outer space that slowly zooms into a waste filled Earth while playing "Put on Your Sunday Clothes", reflecting on simpler and happier times in human history. This film also expresses nostalgia through the longing of nature and the natural world, as it is the sight and feeling of soil, and the plant brought back to the space ship by EVE, that make the captain decide it is time for humans to move back to Earth. WALL-E expresses nostalgia also, by reflecting on romantic themes of older Disney and silent films.
Stanton describes the theme of the film as "irrational love defeats life's programming":[
]I realized the point I was trying to push with these two programmed robots was the desire for them to try and figure out what the point of living was ... It took these really irrational acts of love to sort of discover them against how they were built ... I realized that that's a perfect metaphor for real life. We all fall into our habits, our routines and our ruts, consciously or unconsciously to avoid living. To avoid having to do the messy part. To avoid having relationships with other people or dealing with the person next to us. That's why we can all get on our cell phones and not have to deal with one another. I thought, 'That's a perfect amplification of the whole point of the movie.' I wanted to run with science in a way that would sort of logically project that.
Technology
Stanton noted many commentators placed emphasis on the environmental aspect of humanity's complacency in the film, because "that disconnection is going to be the cause, indirectly, of anything that happens in life that's bad for humanity or the planet". Stanton said that by taking away effort to work, the robots also take away humanity's need to put effort into relationships.[ Christian journalist ]Rod Dreher
Raymond Oliver Dreher Jr. (born February 14, 1967), known as Rod Dreher, is an American writer and editor living in Budapest, Hungary. He is a senior editor and blogger at ''The American Conservative'' and author of several books, including ''H ...
saw technology as the complicated villain of the film. The humans' artificial lifestyle on the ''Axiom'' has separated them from nature, making them "slaves of both technology and their own base appetites, and have lost what makes them human". Dreher contrasted the hardworking, dirt covered WALL-E with the sleek clean robots on the ship. However, it is the humans and not the robots who make themselves redundant. Humans on the ship and on Earth have overused robots and the ultra-modern technology. During the end credits, humans and robots are shown working alongside each other to renew the Earth. "''WALL·E'' is not a Luddite
The Luddites were a secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. The group is believed to have taken its name from Ned Ludd, a legendary weaver s ...
film," he said. "It doesn't demonize technology. It only argues that technology is properly used to help humans cultivate their true nature—that it must be subordinate to human flourishing, and help move that along."[
]
Religion
Stanton, who is a Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, named EVE after the Biblical figure because WALL-E's loneliness reminded him of Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
, before God created his wife. Dreher noted EVE's biblical namesake and saw her directive as an inversion of that story; EVE uses the plant to tell humanity to return to Earth and move away from the "false god
The phrase ''false god'' is a derogatory term used in Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) to indicate cult images or deities of non-Abrahamic Pagan religions, as well as other competin ...
" of BnL and the lazy lifestyle it offers. In cohesion with the classical Christian viewpoint, WALL-E shows that work is what makes humans human. Whereas other sources would say that laziness and pleasure is paradise, WALL-E tries to show that that is not true. Dreher emphasized the false god parallels to BnL in a scene where a robot teaches infants "B is for Buy n Large, your very best friend", which he compared to modern corporations such as McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
creating brand loyalty in children. Megan Basham of ''World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
'' magazine felt the film criticizes the pursuit of leisure, whereas WALL-E in his stewardship learns to truly appreciate God's creation.[
During writing, a Pixar employee noted to ]Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an American animator, storyboard artist, television writer, television director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the animated TV series ''The Simpsons''. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series and was cr ...
that EVE was reminiscent of the dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
with the olive branch
The olive branch is a symbol of peace and victory associated with customs of ancient Greece and connected with supplication to gods and persons in power. It is found in most cultures of the Mediterranean basin and became associated with peace ...
from the story of Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...
, and the story was reworked with EVE finding a plant to return humanity from its voyage. WALL-E himself has been compared to Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
,[ ]Sisyphus
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense bo ...
,[ and ]Butades
Butades of Sicyon ( grc, Βουτάδης ''Boutades''), sometimes mistakenly called Dibutades, was the reputed inventor of the art of modelling clay in relief, which an accident first led him to practise, in conjunction with his daughter, at Cor ...
: in an essay discussing WALL-E as representative of the artistic strive of Pixar itself, Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian ( hy, Հրակ Վարդանեան)(born ) is an Armenian-American arts writer, art critic, and art curator. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of the arts online magazine, '' Hyperallergic''.
Life and work
Vartanian was born ...
compared WALL-E to Butades in a scene where the robot expresses his love for EVE by making a sculpture of her from spare parts. "The Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
tradition associates the birth of art with a Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...
ian maiden who longing to preserve her lover's shadow traces it on the wall before he departed for war. The myth reminds us that art was born out of longing and often means more for the creator than the muse. In the same way Stanton and his Pixar team have told us a deeply personal story about their love of cinema and their vision for animation through the prism of all types of relationships."
Release
''WALL-E'' premiered at the Greek Theatre
Ancient Greek theatre was a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, was its centre, where the theatre was ...
in Los Angeles on June 23, 2008. Continuing a Pixar tradition, the film was paired with a short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
for its theatrical release, '' Presto''. The film is dedicated to Justin Wright (1981–2008), a Pixar animator who had worked on ''Ratatouille
Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
'' and died of a heart attack before ''WALL-E''s release.[
]Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...
(WDI) built animatronic WALL-Es to promote the picture, which made appearances at Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (Di ...
, the Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...
, the Miami Science Museum
The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (formerly known as the Miami Science Museum or Miami Science Museum and Space Transit Planetarium) is a science museum, planetarium, and aquarium located in Miami, Florida, United States. The museum ...
, the Seattle Center
Seattle Center is an arts, educational, tourism and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, United States. Spanning an area of 74 acres (30 ha), it was originally built for the 1962 World's Fair. Its landmark feature is the tall Space Needle ...
, and the Tokyo International Film Festival
The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...
.[ Due to safety concerns, the 318 kg robots were always strictly controlled and WDI always needed to know exactly what they were required to interact with. For this reason, they generally refused to have their puppets meet and greet children at the theme parks in case a WALL-E trod on a child's foot. Those who wanted to take a photograph with the character had to make do with a cardboard cutout.
The film was denied a theatrical release in ]China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
In 2016, Jim Morris noted that the studio has no plans for a sequel, as they consider ''WALL-E'' a finished story with no need for continuation.
Merchandise
Small quantities of merchandise were sold for ''WALL-E'', as ''Cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
'' items were still popular, and many manufacturers were more interested in ''Speed Racer
''Speed Racer'', also known as , is a Japanese media franchise about Auto racing, automobile racing. ''Mach GoGoGo'' was originally serialized in print in Shueisha's 1966 ''Shōnen Book''. It was released in tankōbon book form by Sun W ...
'', which was a successful product line despite the film's failure at the box office. Thinkway, which created the ''WALL·E'' toys, had previously made ''Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'' dolls when other toy producers had not shown an interest. Among Thinkway's items were a WALL-E that danced when connected to a music player, a toy that could be taken apart and reassembled, and a groundbreaking remote control toy of him and EVE that had motion sensors that allowed them to interact with players. There were even plushies. The "Ultimate WALL-E" figures were not in stores until the film's home release in November 2008,[ at a retail price of almost $200, leading ''The Patriot-News'' to deem it an item for "hard-core fans and collectors only".][ On February 4, 2015, ]Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
announced that a WALL-E custom built by lead animator Angus MacLane
Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American animator, storyboard artist, character designer, screenwriter, film director, and voice actor currently working at Pixar. He co-directed the film ''Finding Dory'' (2016) and made his solo feature ...
was the latest design approved for mass production and release as part of Lego Ideas.
Home media
The film was released on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
Disc and DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
on November 18, 2008. Various editions include the short film '' Presto'', another short film '' BURN-E'', the Leslie Iwerks
Leslie Iwerks () is an American producer, director, and writer. She is daughter of Disney Legend Don Iwerks and granddaughter of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks, the animator and co-creator of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. She has directe ...
documentary film ''The Pixar Story'', shorts about the history of Buy n Large, behind-the-scenes special features, and a digital copy of the film that can be played through iTunes or Windows Media Player-compatible devices. This release sold 9,042,054 DVD units ($142,633,974) in total becoming the second-best-selling animated DVD among those released in 2008 in units sold (behind ''Kung Fu Panda (film), Kung Fu Panda''), the best-selling animated feature in sales revenue, and the third-best-selling among all 2008 DVDs.
''WALL-E'' was released in Japan in a limited edition Blu-ray box set, which included a book featuring artwork from the film, a framed print, and a remote control version of Wall-E. This edition is now discontinued.
''WALL-E'' was released by Disney on Ultra HD Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray on March 3, 2020.
At the request of Stanton, Disney licensed ''WALL-E'' to The Criterion Collection in 2022, who created a special Ultra HD Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray-Blu-ray combo edition of the film that was released on November 22, 2022, featuring the same 4K digital master used for Disney’s original 4K Blu-ray release, but now presented in Dolby Vision and HDR10+ as approved by Stanton, along with additional special features. This makes it the first Pixar feature, and Disney's eighth feature to be released under the Criterion umbrella.
Reception
Box office
''WALL-E'' grossed $223.8 million in the United States and Canada and $297.5 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $521.3 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2008.
In the US and Canada, ''WALL-E'' opened in 3,992 theaters on June 27, 2008. The film grossed $23.1 million on its opening day, the highest of all nine Pixar titles to date. During its opening weekend, it topped the box office with $63,087,526.[ This was the third-best opening weekend for a Pixar film after '']Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...
'' and ''The Incredibles'', and the second-best opening weekend among films released in June, behind ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''.[ The film grossed $38 million the following weekend, losing its first place to ''Hancock (film), Hancock''. ''WALL-E'' crossed the $200 million mark by August 3, during its sixth weekend.
''WALL-E'' grossed over $10 million in Japan ($44,005,222), UK, Ireland and Malta ($41,215,600), France and the Maghreb region ($27,984,103), Germany ($24,130,400), Mexico ($17,679,805), Spain ($14,973,097), Australia ($14,165,390), Italy ($12,210,993), and Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS ($11,694,482).
]
Critical response
The American Film Institute named ''WALL-E'' as one of the best films of 2008; the jury rationale states:
''WALL•E'' proves to this generation and beyond that the film medium's only true boundaries are the human imagination. Writer/director Andrew Stanton and his team have created a classic screen character from a metal trash compactor who rides to the rescue of a planet buried in the debris that embodies the broken promise of American life. Not since Chaplin's "The Tramp, Little Tramp" has so much story—so much emotion—been conveyed without words. When hope arrives in the form of a seedling, the film blossoms into one of the great screen romances as two robots remind audiences of the beating heart in all of us that yearns for humanity—and love—in the darkest of landscapes.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Wall-E''s stellar visuals testify once again to Pixar's ingenuity, while its charming star will captivate younger viewers—and its timely story offers thought-provoking subtext." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has an weighted mean, average score of 95 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
''IndieWire'' named ''WALL-E'' the third-best film of the year based on their annual survey of 100 film critics, while Movie City News shows that ''WALL-E'' appeared in 162 different top 10 lists, out of 286 different critics lists surveyed, the most mentions on a top 10 list of any film released in 2008.
Richard Corliss of ''Time (magazine), Time'' named ''WALL-E'' his favorite film of 2008 (and later of the decade), noting the film succeeded in "connect ngwith a huge audience" despite the main characters' lack of speech and "emotional signifiers like a mouth, eyebrows, shoulders, ndelbows". It "evoke[d] the splendor of the movie past" and he also compared WALL-E and EVE's relationship to the chemistry of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Other critics who named ''WALL-E'' their favorite film of 2008 included Tom Charity of CNN, Michael Phillips of the ''Chicago Tribune'', Lisa Schwarzbaum of ''Entertainment Weekly'', A. O. Scott of ''The New York Times'', Christopher Orr (film critic), Christopher Orr of ''The New Republic'', Ty Burr and Wesley Morris of ''The Boston Globe'', Joe Morgenstern of ''The Wall Street Journal'', and Anthony Lane of ''The New Yorker''.
Todd McCarthy of ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' called the film "Pixar's ninth consecutive wonder", saying it was imaginative yet straightforward. He said it pushed the boundaries of animation by balancing esoteric ideas with more immediately accessible ones, and that the main difference between the film and other science fiction projects rooted in an apocalypse was its optimism. Kirk Honeycutt of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' declared that ''WALL-E'' surpassed the achievements of Pixar's previous eight features and probably their most original film to date. He said it had the "heart, soul, spirit and romance" of the best silent films. Honeycutt said the film's definitive stroke of brilliance was in using a mix of archive film footage and computer graphics to trigger WALL·E's romantic leanings. He praised Burtt's sound design, saying "If there is such a thing as an aural sleight of hand, this is it."
Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' named ''WALL-E'' "an enthralling animated film, a visual wonderment, and a decent science-fiction story" and said the scarcity of dialogue would allow it to "cross language barriers" in a manner appropriate to the global theme, and noted it would appeal to adults and children. He praised the animation, describing the color palette as "bright and cheerful ... and a little bit realistic", and that Pixar managed to generate a "curious" regard for the WALL·E, comparing his "rusty and hard-working and plucky" design favorably to more obvious attempts at creating "lovable" lead characters. He said ''WALL-E'' was concerned with ideas rather than spectacle, saying it would trigger stimulating "little thoughts for the younger viewers." He named it as one of his twenty favorite films of 2008 and argued it was "the best science-fiction movie in years".
The film was interpreted as tackling a topical, ecologically-minded agenda, though McCarthy said it did so with a lightness of touch that granted the viewer the ability to accept or ignore the message. Kyle Smith (critic), Kyle Smith of the ''New York Post'', wrote that by depicting future humans as "a flabby mass of peabrained idiots who are literally too fat to walk", ''WALL-E'' was darker and more cynical than any major Disney feature film he could recall. He compared the humans to the patrons of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Disney's theme parks and resorts, adding, "I'm also not sure I've ever seen a major corporation spend so much money to issue an insult to its customers." Maura Judkis of ''U.S. News & World Report'' questioned whether this depiction of "frighteningly obese humans" would resonate with children and make them prefer to "play outside rather than in front of the computer, to avoid a similar fate". The interpretation led to criticism of the film by Conservatism in the United States, conservative commentators such as Glenn Beck, and contributors to ''National Review, National Review Online'' including Shannen W. Coffin and Jonah Goldberg (although he admitted it was a "fascinating" and occasionally "brilliant" production).
A few notable critics have argued that the film is vastly overrated, claiming it failed to "live up to such blinding, high-wattage enthusiasm", and that there were "chasms of boredom watching it", in particular "the second and third acts spiraled into the expected". Other labels included "preachy" and "too long". Child reviews sent into CBBC (TV channel), CBBC were mixed, some citing boredom and an inadequate storyline.
Patrick J. Ford of ''The American Conservative'' said ''WALL-E''s conservative critics missed lessons in the film that he felt appealed to traditional conservatism. He argued that the mass consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
in the film was not shown to be a product of big business, but of too close a tie between big business and big government: "The government unilaterally provided its citizens with everything they needed, and this lack of variety led to Earth's downfall." Responding to Coffin's claim that the film points out the evils of mankind, Ford argued the only evils depicted were those that resulted from losing touch with our own humanity and that fundamental conservative representations such as the farm, the family unit, and wholesome entertainment were in the end held aloft by the human characters. He concluded, "By steering conservative families away from ''WALL-E'', these commentators are doing their readers a great disservice."
Director Terry Gilliam praised the film as "A stunning bit of work. The scenes on what was left of planet Earth are just so beautiful: one of the great silent movies. And the most stunning artwork! It says more about ecology and society than any live-action film—all the people on their loungers floating around, brilliant stuff. Their social comment was so smart and right on the button."
Archaeologists have commented on the themes of human evolution that the film explores. Ben Marwick has written how the character of WALL-E resembles an archaeologist with his methodical collection and classification of quotidian human artefacts. He is shown facing a typological dilemma of classifying a spork as either a fork or spoon, and his nostalgic interest in the human past further demonstrated by his attachment to repeated viewings of the 1969 film Hello, Dolly! (film), ''Hello, Dolly!''. Marwick notes that the film features major human evolutionary transitions such as obligate bipedalism (captain of the spaceship struggles with the autopilot to gain control of the vessel) and the invention of agriculture, as part of watershed moments in the story of the film. According to Marwick, one prominent message of the film "appears to be that the envelopment by technology that the humans in ''Wall-E'' experience paradoxically results in physical and cultural devolution." Scholars such as Ian Tattersall and Steve Jones (biologist), Steve Jones have similarly discussed scenarios where elements of modern technology (such as medicine) may have caused human evolution to slow or stop.
In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
by the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Accolades
''WALL-E'' won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Original Score, Best Original Score, Academy Award for Best Original Song, Best Original Song, Academy Award for Sound Editing, Sound Editing, and Academy Award for Best Sound, Sound Mixing at the 81st Academy Awards, which it lost to ''Slumdog Millionaire'' (Original Score, Original Song, Sound Mixing), ''The Dark Knight (film), The Dark Knight'' (Sound Editing), and ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (Original Screenplay). Walt Disney Pictures also pushed for an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination, but it was not nominated, sparking controversy over whether the Academy deliberately restricted ''WALL-E'' to the Best Animated Feature category. Film critic Peter Travers remarked, "If there was ever a time where an animated feature deserved to be nominated for best picture it's Wall-E." Only three animated films, 1991's ''Beauty and the Beast (1991 film), Beauty and the Beast'' and Pixar's next two films, 2009's ''Up (2009 film), Up'' and 2010's ''Toy Story 3'', have ever been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. A reflective Stanton stated he was not disappointed the film was restricted to the Best Animated Film nomination because he was overwhelmed by the film's positive reception, and eventually "The line [between live-action and animation] is just getting so blurry that I think with each proceeding year, it's going to be tougher and tougher to say what's an animated movie and what's not an animated movie."[
''WALL-E'' made a healthy appearance at the various 2008 end-of-the-year awards circles, particularly in the Best Picture category, where animated films are often overlooked. It has won the award, or the equivalent of it, from the Boston Society of Film Critics (tied with ''Slumdog Millionaire''), the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Central Ohio Film Critics awards, the Online Film Critics Society, and most notably the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, where it became the first animated feature to win the prestigious award. It was named as one of 2008's ten best films by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
It won Best Animated Feature Film at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, 81st Academy Awards, and the 14th Critics' Choice Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2008. It was nominated for several awards at the 2009 Annie Awards, including Best Feature Film, Animated Effects, Character Animation, Direction, Production design, Storyboarding and Voice acting (for Ben Burtt); but was beaten out by ''Kung Fu Panda (film), Kung Fu Panda'' in every category. It won Best Animated Feature at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards and was also nominated there for Best Music and Sound. ]Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...
and Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
won two 51st Annual Grammy Awards, Grammy Awards for " Down to Earth" and "Define Dancing". It won all three awards it was nominated for by the Visual Effects Society: Best Animation, Best Character Animation (for WALL-E and EVE in the truck) and Best Effects in the Animated Motion Picture categories. It became the first animated film to win Best Editing for a Comedy or Musical from the American Cinema Editors. In 2009, Stanton, Reardon, and Docter won the Nebula Award, beating ''The Dark Knight (film), The Dark Knight'' and the ''Stargate Atlantis'' episode "The Shrine (Stargate Atlantis), The Shrine". It won Best Animated Film and was nominated for Best Director at the Saturn Awards.
At the British National Movie Awards, which is voted for by the public, it won Best Family Film. It was also voted Best Feature Film at the British Academy Children's Awards. WALL-E was listed at #63 on ''Empire''s online poll of the 100 greatest movie characters, conducted in 2008. In early 2010, ''Time'' ranked ''WALL-E'' #1 in "Best Movies of the Decade". In ''Sight & Sound'' magazine's 2012 poll of the greatest films of all time, ''WALL-E'' is the second-highest-ranking animated film behind ''My Neighbor Totoro'' (1988), while tying with the film ''Spirited Away'' (2001) at 202nd overall. In a 2016 BBC poll of international critics, it was voted the 29th-greatest film since 2000.
Robotic recreations
In 2012, Mike McMaster, an American robotics hobbyist, began working on his own model of WALL·E. The final product was built with more moving parts than the WALL·E which roams around Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
. McMaster's four-foot robot made an appearance at the Walt Disney Family Museum and was featured during the opening week of Tested.com a project headed up by Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of ''MythBusters''. Since WALL-E's creation, Mike and the popular robot have made dozens of appearances at various events.
In the same year, Mike Senna completed his own WALL·E build. He also created an EVE. They were present at a photo op at Disney's D23 Expo 2015.
See also
* Robots (2005 film), ''Robots'' (2005 film)
* Mars Cube One, consisting of two nanospacecraft, MarCO-A and MarCO-B, which are nicknamed WALL-E and EVE
References
Further reading
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External links
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