Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

WALL•E 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

This one goes to 11.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 31, 2022

Easily one of this decade's most surprising home video announcements, Criterion's three-disc 4K UHD set of Andrew Stanton's WALL-E was a release that pretty much no one saw coming. Bearing in mind the existence of both Disney's fully-loaded 2008 Blu-ray and their own solid 4K combo pack 12 years later-- not to mention Criterion's long-standing tradition of mostly avoiding animation -- and you've got something that probably didn't need to exist but I'm glad to have anyway. So besides for the prospect of future Disney/Pixar catalog titles from Criterion, what's the big deal here? Not too much... just Dolby Vision / HDR10+ enhancement for the main feature, plus seven new extras to complement almost all of the old ones. If you're the type to appreciate such changes, just pre-order this thing already.

For a synopsis and appreciation of the main feature, please refer to Ben Williams' 2008 Blu-ray review linked above. I've always considered WALL-E a terrific film; it's one of Pixar's best and a true crowd-pleaser, and my opinion of it has only grown since its theatrical release. The first 30 minutes are visually driven with almost no traditional dialogue; this formula sets an incredible tone and establishes its world in an unforgettable way. Once WALL-E and his unrequited love EVE venture into space, the film moves into more "traditional" search-and-rescue territory. Both halves are enjoyable for different reasons, and this exact structure -- as we learn during a brand-new interview with writer-director Andrew Stanton -- was purposely meant to fuse his lifelong admiration of arthouse/foreign films and big-studio Hollywood fare. WALL-E's outstanding technical merits tie everything together seamlessly, making it a true animated spectacle whose forward-thinking sentiments prove to be a surprisingly good fit for The Criterion Collection. But while a few more Pixar films could probably find a home there too, here's hoping that Criterion will be able to get their hands on Disney's pre-Little Mermaid output in the near future. In the meantime, this is a pretty damn good appetizer.

WALL•E 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Contrary to the notice on Criterion's original press release (which has long since been corrected on their own website), WALL-E's 2160p transfer uses the same director-approved 4K master as the one found on Disney's 4K combo pack. This is absolutely no cause for concern as it's still an outstanding effort that pushes WALL-E's 2K origins to their limit; Pixar has continued to evolve visually but this era still holds up in a way that most late-2000s CGI productions don't. They key difference here is the new addition of HDR10+/Dolby Vision enhancement for the main feature, both of which improve on the "regular" HDR10 application used for that earlier release. Is this a totally new experience? Not entirely, but it leads to a number of tangible improvements that thankfully don't dip anywhere close to "revisionist" territory: shadow detail and contrast are improved, whites and deep blacks reach new heights and depths, graphic displays are more distinct, and WALL-E's second half aboard the AXIOM exhibits more precise color saturation and improved depth due to colors standing out more strongly against dark backgrounds. Of course, most of these potential improvements are dependent on varying TV or projector capabilities including contrast level, color depth, local dimming, maximum brightness and more, but on a good-quality and properly calibrated display you'll be able to appreciate the differences. Overall, this is a very tasteful 4K presentation and one akin to a fresh coat of similarly-hued paint.

As implied by my above paragraph, the included Blu-ray's 1080p SDR transfer (the source of this review's screenshots) is more or less identical to its counterparts on both previous Disney discs. A few very minor shifts in overall brightness, as well as negligible encoding differences, can be spotted in direct side-by-side comparisons to the similar screenshots Martin Liebman used in his review linked above, but these will likely go unnoticed by most.

WALL•E 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although not advertised as a new version of the previous Atmos mix, Criterion's Dolby Atmos track -- which unfolds to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 if your receiver doesn't support the format -- doesn't sound to me like what Marty described in his linked review; I noticed similar dynamic range and volume levels during key comparisons with the secondary DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix. In any case, I consider the latter mix to be the "official" one anyway, so another perfect score it is. Also returning are a stereo track (still presented in Dolby Digital 2.0) and English Descriptive Audio.

Optional English subtitles are included during the main feature, but not the extras. This is not at all surprising but a disappointment nonetheless, since Disney's earlier releases offered subtitles for everything. Also gone are the French and Spanish subtitle options for the film, which again is standard operating procedure for Criterion discs.

WALL•E 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Spread across all three discs, we get quite a spread of bonus features here: some are new to this release but most are carried over from Disney's 2008 Blu-ray; please follow the link for full coverage of those older extras. As far as I know, the only missing one is an enjoyable short film, Presto, which was shown before WALL-E in theaters. No idea why this was left out, but it's available on earlier WALL-E releases and Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 2.

4K DISC (Movie)

• Audio Commentary #1 - A 2008 solo commentary with writer-director Andrew Stanton.

• Audio Commentary #2 - A 2008 group commentary with character supervisor Bill Wise, co-producer Lindsey Collins, story artist Derek Thompson, and lead animator Angus MacLane.

BLU-RAY DISC ONE (Movie)

• Audio Commentary #1

• Audio Commentary #2

• NEW! Where It Began: The Origins of WALL-E (23:34) - In this candid 2022 interview, director Andrew Stanton explores the films that inspired his approach to cinematic language in WALL-E. From his early days as an usher at a small local art house theater, one exposed to international fare like El Norte and The Tin Drum, to his weekend enjoyment of more mainstream fare like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tootsie, he learned to recognize the strengths of both worlds. Stanton also discusses his hidden talent for screenwriting discovered during the early days of Pixar which grew into the 2000s, and the films that inspired him in that regard.

• NEW! Anatomy of a Scene: The Plant (16:35) - Billed as a masterclass from writer-director Andrew Stanton, this scene breakdown -- which is explained from several perspectives and plays out like a scene-specific video commentary -- explores the sequence following EVE's discovery of the last remaining plant on Earth.

• NEW! Tour of the Pixar Living Archive (27:17) - This piece, created by LA-based filmmaker Daniel Raim for the Criterion Collection in 2002, offers a tour through the vaults of Pixar where shelves of carefully organized drawings, notebooks, and other items for each sequential film from the studio are housed. Once again Andrew Stanton is our host (who admits it's actually his first time in the ten year-old facility), and he grabs five boxes off the WALL-E shelves to unearth a few treasures including his personal sketchbook, early concept art, visual gag pitches, and more, all the while recounting stories from several decades of his life and career.

• The Pixar Story (88:31) - Leslie Iwerks' outstanding 2007 documentary. Watch it again already!

• Trailers - Three different promotional pieces, plus the Superbowl trailer.

BLU-RAY DISC TWO (Special Features)

This vault of extras is divided into four separate categories; there are four new and exclusive bonus features sprinkled throughout, but most are just odds and ends from Disney's 2008 Blu-ray in a different order.

Process

• NEW! RALPH-E: The Art of the Color Script (11:23) - This new piece, featuring Andrew Stanton and late production designer Ralph Eggleston -- who recently died on August 28 -- focuses on the color scripts he created to help bring WALL-E to life. Under the circumstances it doubles as a tribute to the talented Pixar mainstay, who also did similar work on Toy Story and Finding Nemo and gave Stanton one of his first jobs in the field.

• NEW! Directing Animation: Twelve Scenes (18:50) - This new short program offers a behind-the-scenes look at Pixar creative meetings over the years; these are bits and pieces of thousands of such gatherings and, as the title implies, the clips included here focus on 12 specific scenes from WALL-E.

• The Imperfect Lens (14:34) - Exploring WALL-E's unique use of documentary-style camerawork with a little help from famed cinematographer Roger Deakins.

• Building Worlds From the Sound Up (18:43) - A look at Ben Burtt's sound design.

• Trash Planet (4:23) - Building Earth of the future.

• WALL-E's Truck Tour (3:41) - WALL-E's museum of found objects.

• WALL-E and Eve (7:02) - Designing the lovebirds.

• Captain's Log: The Evolution of Humans (7:59) - Developing the captain of the AXIOM.

• Go Live (3:23) - Creating WALL-E's live-action scenes.

• Notes on a Score (10:42) - Footage of composer Thomas Newman rehearsing the score.

• Life of a Shot (5:09) - A breakdown of one of the film's first scenes.

• Robo-Everything (5:46) - Building the various robots on board the AXIOM.

• Deleted Scenes (5 clips, 23:06 total) - "Intro", "Garbage Airlock", "Docking", "Secret Files", and "Dumped 2", all with audio commentary from Andrew Stanton and a "Play All" option.

• Geek-O-Rama (4:48) - Pop culture Easter eggs during the film and other celebrations of geekdom.

Prophecies

• NEW! "WALL-E" A to Z (12:49) - This new piece, featuring Andrew Stanton and story supervisor and co-scriptwriter Jim Reardon, discusses the many ways that WALL-E foreshadowed the realities of our contemporary world, from the dominance of tablet computers to space tourism and climate devastation... all of course in an alphabetized format. Take offense if you want, but you're probably getting this from Amazon so zip it.

• BNL (5 clips, 8:49 total) - A series of public service announcements created for WALL-E's "Buy N Large" corporation, all of which satirize humankind's growing love of convenience in recent decades. Included here are "Captaining the AXIOM", "Operation Cleanup", "Meet the BNL Bots", "The History of Buy N Large", and "All About the AXIOM"... with a handy "Play All" option if you don't want to press as many buttons, LOL.

Robots

• Meet the Bots (8:47) - A quick look at several robotic background characters.

• WALL-E's Treasures and Trinkets (4:55) - WALL-E and EVE play with various found objects.

• "Lots of Bots" Read-Along Storybook (3:08) - You know, for kids!

Short Films

• NEW! A Story (6:48) - This little-seen short student film by Andrew Stanton, directed in 1987 during his senior year at California Institute of the Arts, is an irreverent commentary on Saturday morning cartoons. It looks to be in fantastic shape and is presented here with a newly-recorded introduction from Stanton.

• BURN-E (7:33) - Everyone's favorite repair robot gets his time in the spotlight during this extended scene-style short film directed by lead animator Angus MacLane. Also available in "Storyboard Mode".

WALL•E 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Andrew Stanton's WALL-E is, as advertised on Criterion's website, "a high-water mark of digital animation" and one of the studio's very best efforts. Available previously on both Disney's fully-loaded 2008 Blu-ray and their own solid 4K combo pack, Criterion ups the ante with a fresh coat of HDR10+/Dolby Vision paint and seven new director-focused bonus features. (The default Atmos audio may be better too, but the jury's still out on that one.) Aside for the missing foreign language options and subtitles from those earlier discs, as well as one missing short film, this is a definitive release and absolutely worth the upgrade for die-hard fans. As the beginning of what might be a long and exciting partnership between Disney/Pixar and Criterion, it's a hell of a start and comes Highly Recommended.