Toon Talk: Wall-E 3-Disc Special Edition DVD - Nov 19, 2008

Toon Talk: Wall-E 3-Disc Special Edition DVD
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WALL-E director Andrew Stanton (who should clear some room next to his Finding Nemo Academy Award for all the trophies this one will surely bring him in the coming months) is, somewhat surprisingly, the sole voice on the feature-length audio commentary, which provides you with �

The Top 10 Things We Learn from this Commentary:

  1. Trash Planet was the actual working title of the film for some time.
  2. WALL-E�s eyes, which were inspired by binoculars, give him a Buster Keaton �sad-eye� visage.
  3. In addition to Keaton�s, the silent comedies of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were also used as inspiration.
  4. He originally planned to use Burt Bacharach�s �Raindrops Keep Fallin� on My Head� during the �WALL-E and EVE on a date� sequence.
  5. Stanton clarifies that the theme of the film was not politically motivated, but that �irrational love defeats life's programming�.
  6. In reference to her most famous role, his words to Sigourney Weaver (who provided the voice of the Axiom�s computer) were �You get to be Mother now�.
  7. The melody of the Peter Gabriel end-title song �Down to Earth� can be heard during the EVE flight scenes.
  8. The ubiquitous Toy Story Pizza Planet truck can be seen when EVE is going about her mission in the early part of the film.
  9. The images of all the captains of the Axiom were of Pixar employees.
  10. The end credit sequence was inspired by the evolution of art.

Stanton is also on hand to introduce and explain the first disc�s two deleted scenes, both of which are almost fully completed, a rarity for animated films. Both sequences seen here (the garbage dumpster scene and EVE and WALL-E�s return to the ship after rescuing the plant) were re-worked for the final film, so these give you a chance to really see what the movie might have been.

The final disc 1 bonus, �Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds from the Sound Up�, salutes WALL-E�s MVP, Academy Award-winning sound designer Ben Burtt, the man behind such indelible sound effects as the light saber�s hum and R2-D2�s chirps and whistles. A great primer on not only how all the sounds in WALL-E were created (from the dust storms and lightning strikes to the voices of our hero and heroine) but also on why sound is so important for motion pictures, usually inaccurately thought of as strictly a visual medium. Like Stanton, Burtt should make room on his mantle for another Oscar.

On to disc 2, which is themed to the Axiom just as disc 1 was themed to Earth. The features here are divided into two sections: �Humans� (for film fans) and �Robots� (for kids and families). Pleasantly surprising, the kids� section is actually enjoyable for all, especially a collection of all those TV and internet gag shorts (WALL-E with a hula hoop, WALL-E with a vacuum cleaner) under the heading �WALL-E�s Treasures and Trinkets�.

The interactive �Bot Files� allows you to browse a gallery of all the various and sundry robots that make up the cast of WALL-E, and allows you to catch some of the pun-ish names you may have missed (for example, GO-4, the �Gopher� of this love boat). Even the �Lots of Bots� read- and/or play-along storybook (narrated by lovebirds John and Mary) is enjoyable, especially if you�re into Seussian rhymes.