WALL-E 10th anniversary: It may be a movie of few words, but this timeless love story still speaks volumes
It's been ten years since Pixar's lovable creation WALL-E hit the screens and slided straight into our hearts, without any technical glitches. I'm almost certain that each one of us who have watched the film has this little garbage cleaning robot's innocent lopsided eyes etched into a tiny corner of our tickers. The film that came out in 2008, was something of an anomaly - it featured a machine with a heart. It can easily be called one of Pixar's greatest work simply because it is such a timeless love story. Even after a decade of its release, the post-apocalyptic robot tale is still brilliant and never fails to stir the right emotions.
One of the best things about the film is the fact that in spite of having bare minimum dialogues, it makes you hella emotional.
Pixar manages to hit you in the feels with just some brilliant animation as EVE and WALL-E watch the sunset together. Not to mention when she switches off and he takes care of her - rain or shine. WALL-E turns a mechanical premise into something very humane, in fact, more human than most humans. He clutches on to life like a precious thing and holds hope that humanity would come home after all.
All of this, with barely any words spoken. How many films can claim to have actually pulled this off? And the best part is, you hardly notice the silence. WALL-E proves that its true...his actions speak so much louder than words.
WALL-E is directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, produced by Jim Morris, and co-written by Jim Reardon. It stars the voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver, and the MacInTalk system, and was the overall ninth feature film produced by the company. Considered one of the best films of the 21st century, WALL-E grossed $533.3 million worldwide and won multiple awards and accolades. Made with a comparatively small budget of $180 million, it won a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2008, the Hugo Award for Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation in 2009, the final Nebula Award for Best Script, the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature with five nominations. The film also topped Time's list of the 'Best Movies of the Decade".
Relevance is another feature that the film gets on point. Considering the waste that we are dumping on the planet in the present scenario, unlivable conditions aren't such a far-off fantasy. It may not be 2805, but the world is almost covered with garbage and most of the greenery that we know is slowly fading away. As commercialization takes us over and greed overflows, would our future still look any different? WALL-E's extraordinary story shows us a mirror to the possible future while rewarding us with a brilliant ray of hope.
The soundtrack from the film is extremely apt, especially the track from 'Hello Dolly!'. 'It Only Takes a Moment' keeps the adorable robot company as he spends his days on an abandoned planet. The lyrics go, "Out there/There’s a world outside of Yonkers/Way out there beyond this hick town, Barnaby/There’s a slick town, Barnaby Out there/Full of shine and full of sparkle/Close your eyes and see it glisten, Barnaby/Listen, Barnaby". WALL-E dreams on about the world out there or rather the world that was before the destruction began. In ways, the song also reflects his own personality. If his innocent eyes didn't give it away, his attachment to this track certainly does.
Andrew Stanton's work has really taken the cake with this one. While it would be extremely unfair to pit any of his films - 'A Bug’s Life', 'Finding Nemo', and its sequel 'Finding Dory', against each other, 'WALL-E' definitely stands out. While it features all the key elements that his films have - they are very simple to get and have deeper-than-the-sea characters, WALL-E's tale still remains his most out of this world work. We demand a a sequel.