Friday September 19, 2008

WALL·E and the APPL·E Connection

by Ashwin on September 19, 2008

WALL·E First it was rats and now it’s the turn of cockroaches. And even though they give me the creeps, these Pixar people have managed to make them look cute.

I saw the movie ‘WALL·E’ a few days ago (released here on Aug. 31st) and I’ve got to say it was brilliant. I always look forward to the short film that is aired before the start of the movie. I had a chance to see one of these gems last year at Disney Movie Festival in Dubai, where I watched Knick Knack (screened before Cars). I then went on to see One Man Band & Boundin’ (before Finding Nemo & Ratatouille respectively). Presto was the short released with this movie.

The movie has got romance, humour, and good screenplay. You get a feel of the brilliance during the sequence where WALL·E & EVE have their little space adventure and we hear the definition of dance. EVE can express emotions with just her eyes (and she’s a robot). The animation is top notch (didn’t I mention it was a Pixar movie?) and I got the feeling that I was watching a live action movie.

WALL·E and the Apple Connection

There are so many references that you might be led to believe that the movie was directed by Jobs himself. WALL·E’s video tapes are played on an iPod Classic. He watches his favourite movie every day (one of which happens to be Hello Dolly). Whenever he boots up, he does so with the familiar chime you hear every time your turn your Mac on. EVE was designed in consultation with Apple’s top product designer, Jonathan Ive (the guy responsible for the design of the iPod, the iMac, the iPhone, and the rest of Apple’s products). EVE’s sleek design was touted to be an evolution of the iMac’s design—it looks like Automator’s icon, doesn’t it? The autopilot’s voice (Ralph’s) is provided by Apple’s text-to-speech system, MacinTalk. And, of course, Steve Jobs is the largest single shareholder of Disney and ex-CEO and founder of Pixar.

Did you know that WALL·E made his debut even before this movie? He was the driver of a van in a short Your Friend the Rat released with the DVD of Ratatouille. Here’s a good article listing the easter eggs in WALL·E.

9/10. Awesom·e, and for everyon·e!

[Ed note: Wait, when did we turn into a movie review website? Someone ought to keep me in the loop around these parts.]

Tags: disney, iPod, Jonathan Ive, mac references, movies, pixar, Steve Jobs | Retweet

Reader Comments

Milind Alvares goobimama.blogspot.com: @Ed: This Ashwin cannot resist reviewing movies. Thank god Pixar makes em once every two years.
Ashwin Ravindran ashwinr.com: ^^
I wrote a bigger review but had to cut it down keeping the niche of SA in mind.
Manan beingmanan.com: I found the movie to be slow and boring, honestly. The animation was kick ass. But, the movie was very girly. My friends now shut me up when I recommend movies. All because I took them for WALL·E
yash itsmeyash.blogspot.com: You said, “Whenever he boots up,” but the chime sounds every time he recharges himself (Using solar power).
Peter: Actually, my favorite Apple reference is from “Cars” and it’s blatant–if you have a quick enough eye! Grab your DVDs and check it out.

(Slight spoiler below)

During the race at the beginning, after the big accident, when McQueen has stayed on the track and is now a lap ahead of everyone, they have a montage of The King and Chick Hicks trying to catch up. In one shot, The King passes a white car with a black Apple logo on it’s hood. It’s car #84.
siva: Funny a poster above said the movie was girly. I am a man and loved the movie. My wife hated it.
Aayush Arya aayush.me: Well, that guy also luuurves Windows, so there… :p

@Peter,
Yes, that was an awesome easter egg. I didn’t notice it in the movie but I read about it on TUAW later. Those who didn’t get it, BTW, the number 84 was in reference to 1984, the Macintosh year.
Milind Alvares goobimama.blogspot.com: Never did like that movie Cars. I think Ratatouille was their best movie so far. Haven’t watched Wall e yet though…
Ashwin Ravindran ashwinr.com: Manan –
Why girly?

Milind –
Cars was good man! Incredibles and Bug’s life were their weakest link and even that I’ll rate 7.5/10. Their best (IMO) is Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, WALL·E and Ratatouille in that order.
Michael Teuber: WALL•E was art.
Manan beingmanan.com: @Ashwin for some reason it had a cute-mushy feeling to it. You know the kind when girls go “cho-chweeet” and highly irritating words like that.

Definitely not for watching with a bunch of work-less, booze drinking, good for nothing, frustrated with life engineering friends. It’s a movie for which you can take a girl to and just play on your phone or tweet while the movie is on.
tanner: Wow! I watched the movie but didn’t notice all that. Nice post mate. And nice blog as well. Just stumbled here from macsurfer.
Ashwin Ravindran ashwinr.com: @ Manan –
No way I’ll be with playing with my phone. In fact, I would’ve missed my calls while being engrossed with the movie. How much Tarantino or bad ass movies will you watch? You’ll run out of movies, mate.

@ tanner –
Thanks.
Azeem: Me waiting for Wall-E 720p. Cars, Ratatouille were kickass.
I love and I mean love like hell the Quentin Tarantino ’s bad ass moives. I watched Pulp Fiction like 30 times, Death Proof…. lost the count!!

@Ashwin

Why didn’t you write full review man, geeks love and live movies so SA rules shouldn’t be any problem as long as you dont forget to eat Apples.
amarnath: Haha! I never knew Pixar and Apple were associated with each other. No wonder the movies are good. Compared to that Dreamworks animations sucks!
Ashwin Ravindran ashwinr.com: amarnath –
I liked Madagascar, Bee Movie, Shrek (all 3), Over the Hedge, Antz. They might not be in the same league as Pixar movies but there’re good nevertheless.
amarnath: Oooh. Forgot about Madagascar. That is truly amazing. But Bee Movie, Over the Hedge and some other crap are basically just crap. Pixar’s Ratatouille would put any of those movies to shame (animation as well as script)
Aayush Arya aayush.me: Dude, you’re directly comparing them to one of the best animation movies ever made. Of course Ratatouille will put them to shame. Ratatouille will put most animation movies to shame.

And did you guys like Madagascar? It had comedy but, unlike Pixar movies, it wasn’t intelligent comedy. It was just slapstick. Well, to each his own, I guess.
Azeem: Oh c’mn lets spare the movies from this bias… I like the movie because its Pixar or Dreamworks stuff. I’ve seen many animation movies, all of the ones discussed above and I think Ratatouille is the best and next best will be Shrek series. But now I think Kung Fu Panda might beat Ratatouille, I am waiting for its 720p too. Lets see which takes the best spot Ratatouille, Wall E, or Kung Fu Panda !!
Ashwin ashwinr.com: I forgot Kung Fu Panda! I haven’t seen the movie but it got high ratings at IMDb and RT. Not to mention the record box office collection. Dreamworks has made clay naimation movies like Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run (I Loved this movie) as well.

The point is Pixar is very good and a notch higher than any other studios but Dreamworks (though made some bad movies like Flushed Away, Shark Tale and their web site sucks) aren’t bad either.

Monsters Inc. is the best animated movie ever to hit cinemas. Finding Nemo comes second. Bronze goes to WALL·E.