Ranking Pixar: Number 11

So before we talk about Wall-E, we’re first going to have to talk about Full Metal Jacket. Now stay with me, because I promise that I’m going somewhere with this. So, going into Full Metal Jacket, most people sat through the gripping, funny, horrifying, and tragic boot camp part of the movie that took up the first half of the movie and were blown away. So when the movie cut away from that and out of the blue turned into a really average war movie for the second half, I was somewhat dumbfounded at what I had just watched. From that point on, I started calling the idea of a movie that has a first half that far outshines the second half “Full Metal Jacket Syndrome.” Now, Full Metal Jacket is obviously far from the first movie with this problem, but it’s probably one of the most famous, which is why I most commonly associate it with this problem.

If you haven’t already figured this out, Wall-E suffers from Full Metal Jacket Syndrome. Its biggest problem isn’t that the second half is bad, but more that the first half was so good that the second half was doomed before it even started.

Wall-E follows the story of a small, trash collecting robot named Wall-E (Ben Burtt). He spends his days mostly in isolation on a post-apocalyptic Earth where he goes about his job of cleaning up trash and collecting unique treasures for his collection, such as rubix cubes and VHS tapes. One day, a sleek looking robot appears from the sky. It doesn’t seem to do much other than float around scanning stuff and blows a few things up out of frustration sometimes. This robot is named EVE (Elissa Knight), and Wall-E soon forms a friendship with her. Who he begins to show her his treasures, however, when she scans a small plant that he had found, EVE seems to freak out before storing the plant inside of herself and going into a dormant state. Shortly thereafter, the rocket that dropped her off returns to pick her up, and Wall-E, not willing to see his new friend go, hitches a ride in it back to a ship full of humans called the Axiom. Captained by Captain B. McCrea (Jeff Garlin) and his artificial intelligence auto pilot named AUTO (err… MacInTalk?), they lead the humans who have lived aboard the ship for seven hundred years now, many of whom have long since given up returning to Earth, allowing their bodies to become fat and unhealthy in the process. EVE’s plant, however, offers a once in a lifetime opportunity for humanity to return to Earth. Not everyone is particularly excited about this prospect, however, and hunt is on to get the plant back to Earth and jump start a new future for Humanity.

So let’s talk about the first half of the movie. Seems only appropriate to start there. Like I said, this is far and away the best part of the movie. With so few characters presented in such a unique way, Pixar basically has to tell this story with little to no dialogue. It does a wonderful job of painting this grim picture of Earth’s future, while giving us a sense of Wall-E’s sense of monotony, but also some hope and the fact that he’s very curious and a bit of a hopeless romantic. So once EVE shows up, we know he’s finally not alone anymore as their friendship begins to blossom. Despite the drab color pallet, it’s still a very visually stimulating sequence, it’s funny, it’s charming, and going into the second half, I had little to no complaints.

Now for the second half. Let’s be clear here, the second half is still good, but it has a lot of major problems. A lot of the charm, mystique, and artistic value is lost as the movie starts throwing dialogue at us, and after so many quiet moments and a relatively tame landscape, the movie’s visual and audio overload aboard the Axium is rather startling. We suddenly have a ton of color, movement, and dialogue where there was none. Again, it’s all pretty decent, but none of it is anywhere near as interesting or unique as the first half.

The characters on display are pretty interesting. Wall-E and EVE are, of course, the standout stars. They’ve got unique characteristics, designs, and great character arcs to follow. The supporting cast is okay, but like everything else, it just kind of pales compared to what we saw initially. AUTO does his job admirably, though just comes off as a poor 2001: A Space Odyssey reference, and ends up just being a very average villain. The supporting cast of robots can be goofy and funny but don’t really have any depth to them, and the very few humans that we get to meet, while a bit deeper than the robots, still don’t have much to them.

The comedy is okay here. Pretty middle of the road for Pixar. Some jokes hit, hard, some don’t, but again, it’s mostly lopsided towards the beginning of the movie.

The musical score is excellent here, with both some great songs associated with as well as the OST in general. The ambiance is set perfectly for most scenes, and it just really makes everything click where it needs to. Doesn’t save the second half, but it definitely tries to.

The ending is… okay, but raises several very large questions, and while overall pretty hopeful, isn’t really as feel-good, shocking, or impactful as I would expect from these writers.

There’s not really a whole lot else to say without really picking apart this movie in detail. I chose this movie to bridge the gap between the “good” and “great” Pixar movies because that’s what it is. Half good, half great. It’s a real shame, because there was a ton of potential in that first half, and the second half bobble the hand-off. They didn’t completely botch it, but the two halves just don’t meld, and the movie ends up lopsided with one half fairing so much better than the other. And for that, Wall-E takes my Number 11 spot.