Director: Andrew Stanton
Producer:
Jim Morris
Screenplay by: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton (original story),
Pete Docter (original story),
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver, MacInTalk.
Music by:
Thomas Newman
Studio:
Pixar
Distributed by:
Walt Disney Pictures
| Release date(s) | June 23, 2008 (Los Angeles) June 27, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $180 million |
| Box office | $521,311,860 |
Storyline
In a distant, but not so unrealistic future, where mankind has abandoned earth because it has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation, WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. Mesmerized with trinkets of Earth's history and show tunes, WALL-E is alone on Earth except for a sprightly pet cockroach. One day, EVE, a sleek (and dangerous) reconnaissance robot, is sent to Earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with EVE. WALL-E rescues EVE from a dust storm and shows her a living plant he found amongst the rubble. Consistent with her "directive" EVE takes the plant and automatically enters a deactivated state except for a blinking green beacon. WALL-E, doesn't understand what has happened to his new friend, but true to his love, he protects her from wind...
Movie Plot:
The film is set in 2805, with Earth an abandoned planet covered in trash as the result of decades of mass consumerism facilitated by the megacorporation Buy 'N Large (BnL). Giving up on restoring the ecosystem, BnL evacuated Earth's population in fully automated starliners in 2105, leaving behind an army of trash compactor robots called "WALL-E" (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class) to clean the planet for an intended five-year period. By 2110, however, the planet became too toxic to sustain life, forcing humanity to remain in space. At the start of the film, one WALL-E unit has managed to remain active beyond its designed operational lifespan by learning how to salvage and repair itself using parts from other broken down WALL-E units. This particular unit has developed sentience after 700 years, displaying curiosity about the artifacts of human civilization by collecting various items salvaged from the trash in addition to his regular duties.
One day, WALL-E discovers a seedling plant growing among the trash and brings it home to his storage truck. Later, a spaceship lands and deploys EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), an advanced robot sent from the BnL starliner Axiom with the directive to search for signs of vegetation on Earth. WALL-E falls in love with the initially cold and hostile EVE, who gradually softens and befriends him. When WALL-E brings EVE to his truck to show her the plant, she automatically stores it, goes into standby mode, and sends a retrieval signal for her ship, which returns to collect her. WALL-E clings to the hull of EVE's ship as it returns to the Axiom.
On the Axiom, the ship's original human passengers and their descendants have suffered from severe bone loss and become morbidly obese after centuries of living in microgravity and relying on the ship's automated systems. The commanding officer in charge of the ship, Captain BL. McCrea, does little, leaving control of the Axiom to its robotic autopilot, Auto. WALL-E follows EVE to the bridge of the Axiom where Captain McCrea learns that by scanning EVE's plant sample with the ship's holo-detector to verify that Earth is habitable again, the Axiom will make a hyperjump back to Earth so its passengers can recolonize. However, Auto orders McCrea's robotic assistant GO-4 to steal the plant as part of a secret "no return" directive, codenamed A113 and secretly issued to autopilots after BnL incorrectly concluded in 2110 that the planet could not be saved and humanity would be better off in space.
With the plant now missing, EVE is considered defective and taken to the repair ward along with WALL-E for cleanup. WALL-E mistakes the maintenance and diagnostic processes being performed on EVE for torture and tries to save her, accidentally releasing a horde of malfunctioning robots. EVE and WALL-E are designated as rogue robots by the security systems in the process. Angry with WALL-E's disruptions, EVE brings him to the escape pod bay to send him home. There they witness GO-4 attempting to dispose of the missing plant by placing it inside a pod set to self-destruct. WALL-E enters the pod before it launches, but then the pod is jettisoned into space. Inside the pod, WALL-E retrieves the plant and escapes unharmed before the pod explodes. He then reconciles with EVE, celebrating with a dance outside the Axiom. Meanwhile, the captain learns from the ship's virtual dictionary about the Earth as it was before BnL, sparking a fascination with the planet.
The plant is brought to the captain, who surveys EVE's recordings of the damaged Earth and concludes that mankind must return to restore it; having become intrigued by the biology on Earth from the virtual dictionary, he realizes that BnL has severely damaged humanity by polluting the Earth and escaping into space 700 years previously. However, Auto reveals his A113 directive and stages a mutiny, tasering WALL-E as he attempts to protect the plant. EVE realizes the only parts for repairing WALL-E are in his truck on Earth, so she helps him bring the plant to the holo-detector to activate the Axiom's hyperjump. Captain McCrea opens the holo-detector while fighting with Auto, but Auto partially crushes and destroys WALL-E by closing the holo-detector on him. After McCrea disables Auto and takes back control of the ship, EVE places the plant in the holo-detector, freeing the severely damaged WALL-E and setting the Axiom on an instant hyperspace jump to Earth. The Axiom, overdue by 700 years and many generations of passengers later, finally lands back on Earth.
EVE brings WALL-E's body back to his home where she successfully repairs and reactivates him, though his memory has been erased and he reverts to his original programming as an unfeeling waste compactor. Heartbroken, EVE gives WALL-E a farewell "kiss" that brings back WALL-E's memory and personality. WALL-E and EVE happily reunite as the humans and robots of the Axiom begin to restore Earth's environment as depicted through a series of artworks during the end credits, making Earth and humanity healthy again.
