• Logout
  • Member Center

DVD SCANS

He's just a love machine -- and he'll break your heart

 
<em>Wall-E</em>
Wall-E

hcohen@MiamiHerald.com

Can a robot garbage compactor without a mouth in a movie without dialogue for its first 20 minutes -- except for the tinny background strains of a song from the old Hello, Dolly! movie -- break your bleepin' heart?

You betcha.

Wall-E, now available as a ''3-Disc Special Edition'' (Disney Pixar DVD; $39.99; G), is a wondrous work for kids and adults from the director and storytellers behind other Pixar projects, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo and Cars. Wall-E is a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class, i.e. a robotic trash can that scours Earth for the detritus we've left behind. That's all he does, for 700 years into the future, as humans, grown obese because robots do all the work for them, float about in a space station many miles above their discarded home. Wall-E packs and stuffs junk into his metal belly and pops it out into tidy piles that he stacks into skyscrapers of junk.

Wall-E only stops to take pleasure in a friendly cockroach who skitters alongside him for company and a VHS tape (remember those?) of the 1969 musical Hello, Dolly! which, for some reason, enraptures the device.

We know this because the animators at Pixar are so skilled, they manage to put as much expression into the oblong, metallic, blue eyes of this computer-created character as those found in a human actor.

As Michael Crawford's youthful voice sings on Dolly's musty old soundtrack -- ''Out there / There's a world outside of Yonkers / Way out there / Beyond this hick town'' -- Wall-E's spirit lifts even further when he meets the mysterious EVE, short for Extra-Terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, a sleek, white iPod-like robot sent to scour Earth for signs of life.

Disney festoons the standard three-disc DVD set with oodles of extras, including an animated short, Burn-E, about another industrious robot from tomorrow; a feature on The Pixar Story, deleted scenes and a comedic bit on Wall-E's ''treasures and trinkets.'' The best reason to opt for the pricier three-disc version is to obtain the digital copy disc and code inside that lets you download a free copy of the movie for your iPod or other portable device. A Blu-Ray two- or three-disc version ($40.99) links to the Disney BD-Live Network so you can interactively chat, video message or play games online while watching the movie. Cool for some, we bet, but as for us, we can't take our eyes off Wall-E.

TV ON DVD

If Miley Cyrus and her pop haven't worn out their welcome yet, fans might want to grab Hannah Montana -- The Complete First Season (Disney DVD; $39.99), a handy four-disc set featuring 26 episodes and a backstage visit with the show's star. Much better to have in one boxed set than scouring your playroom shelves to find the previous single-disc releases of select episodes Disney had released.

More TV on DVD Tuesday: The Odd Couple -- The Final Season (CBS DVD; $39.98) cobbles the last 22 episodes of the comedy that ran for five seasons with Jack Klugman and the late Tony Randall as leads. No extras on the DVD set. Also out: Hawaii Five-O: The Fifth Season (CBS DVD; $49.99) and the cast and crew of McHale's Navy get shipped to an American Naval base in Italy as the comedy wrapped its run in McHale's Navy: Season 4 (Shout! Factory; $39.99).

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

Comments (0)
  • Videos

  • Quick Job Search

Enter Keyword(s) Enter City Select a State Select a Category