WALL-E is a small robot that is the last working model left on Earth to clean up the toxic, trash-filled mess left behind by humans. While he was once one in millions, over the 700 years he and his kind have been left to clean up, all but he have broken down. Now, he goes about his routine cleaning up trash all on his own (well, he does have a little cockroach friend), and collecting various curious items that he brings back to his truck.
One day, a ship lands near his home, and the massive white vehicle deposits a sleek shiny robot named EVE. While she doesn't say much herself, she is obviously looking for something. WALL-E is immediately smitten with her and can't help but follow this strange robot wherever she goes. Eventually, the female bot with a single-minded directive warms up to our hero, and it's then that she finds a small plant in WALL-E's care - the very thing she has been searching for.
Too bad for WALL-E this immediately puts her into a stasis mode and starts to send a signal back to her ship, where she (and the plant) are eventually transported back into space. Though WALL-E doesn't give up that easily; he hitches a ride on the ship and travels with it back to the human mother ship known as Axiom.
It is on this ship that we find humans have gotten more and more lazy, allowing robots to do all of their work and humans have become little more than fat people who simply sit around all day talking on the phone. Even the ship's captain (Jeff Garlin) leaves most of the work to Auto (voiced by the old MacInTalk program). What is interesting is how WALL-E affects the sterile environment that is The Axiom.
From the second he hits the landing bay floor and angers a cleaning robot with his messiness, to the accidental releasing of "malfunctioning" robots, to the eventual fulfillment of EVE's directive - WALL-E introduces just the right amount of chaos into everyone's life to make them realize just what's happened to them and make them want to go back to Earth so they can clean up the mess.
As I said earlier, there is very little dialogue in the movie. Besides some background chatter, and the lines by Garlin, John Ratzenberger and Kathy Najimy (who both play humans that WALL-E "wakes up"), all dialogue is portrayed through semi-English computer sounds. Ben Burtt playes WALL-E (as well as the cleaning robot M-O), while Elissa Knight does EVE, but again, they are very distorted. The other voice of note is Sigourney Weaver as the ship's computer.
As you would expect from a Pixar film on Blu-ray, both the visuals and audio are superb. Not only does the CG simply shine in high definition, but everything from the creepy sounding Hello Dolly soundtrack while on Earth, to the hustle and bustle of the Axiom comes through great in surround sound.
Special features aren't lacking on this three-disc package either (mind you though, one of the discs is the Digital Copy DVD). Not only does it come with the original Pixar short from theaters, "Presto" (which features a magician and his rabbit), but a second one called "BURN-E" that follows a welding robot who is constantly plagued by WALL-E on The Axiom.
Cine-Explorer and Geek Track are two different commentary tracks, while "3D Set Fly-Throughs" gives you detailed view of different parts of The Axiom and Earth. The other Blu-ray exclusive special feature is a collection of 8-bit styled games found under The Axiom Arcade. While each one feels like very particular classic games, they each have their own twists and only have the occasional problems as far as input is concerned.
The special features that can also be found on the DVD version include deleted scenes, making-of featurettes and the ability to read details about the many robots found in WALL-E.
While WALL-E has a very definite environmental message that is sometimes beaten over your head a bit too bluntly, it is still a fun movie. I highly recommend it, and of course, in this case in particular, Blu-ray is better if you have the means to watch it.
