It is the 29th century. Earth has grown into a desolate wasteland, with humanity
having evacuated long ago. Many robots were left behind by the notorious Buy n Large corporation
to clean up the planet, but only one remains. That robot's name is WALL-E, and after he falls in love
with an unfamiliar robot, a story unfolds that will change the course of humanity forever! That,
ladies and gentlemen, is the basic plot of the movie we’ll be looking at today,
“WALL-E”. The ninth film from Pixar, “WALL-E” is another classic in the studio’s catalog of
animated features. While the film has all the usual charm and heart
one would expect from the company, “WALL-E” also managed to stand out in a few areas.
One of those is the film's lack of dialogue. The first act is nearly devoid of any dialogue,
and most of the roles in the film are that of robots with minimal speaking capabilities.
While they do “speak,” their body language really does most of the talking. Despite their
limitations, this cast of robots have all the character you’d expect from any Pixar character.
But of the crew, which ones do the best job serving mankind, and which are due for a firmware
update? Let’s take a trip aboard the Axiom and get to the bottom of this!
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is WALL-E: Good to Evil
Like always, we’ll be starting with the most good characters,
and then working down to those who are evil. These characters are good.
We’re starting things off by giving our Gold Medal of Good to WALL-E himself! The last of his kind,
WALL-E is a no-brainer for this spot on the list. As the movie begins, we learn that WALL-E is a
robot created by the Buy n Large corporation to help collect the waste that has piled up on Earth.
WALL-E is an extremely dedicated worker, even if he’s the only cleaner left on the planet. As such,
he doesn’t really get much accomplished, but we at least have to give him points for his diligence!
Beyond that, he’s an all-around friendly robot. He’s eager to make new friends,
which does make sense. After all, he’s been stuck on Earth for hundreds of years!
You can almost think of him as the “heart” of the movie. When he first meets EVE,
he quickly falls in love with her. He becomes very protective of her and helps her through
thick and thin. He gets along with the rest of the cast as well, including the captain of the Axiom,
McCrea. Even M-O, who hates WALL-E’s messiness, ends up coming around to like him. Beyond his
personality, however, we put him in first place because of the consequences his actions lead to.
Because of him, AUTO’S control over the ship comes to an end, and the people of Earth can return to
the planet. Pretty much everything he does on the Axiom affects AUTO’s plan. If it weren’t for him,
the humans would likely still be under AUTO’s thumb. WALL-E even manages to rub off on those
around him. Many of the robots who interact with him begin to go against their programming once
he enters their lives. They begin to show more personality, like how EVE grows less
attached to the mission and more to WALL-E. Overall, WALL-E is a robot that any person
would want at their side. He’s a well-meaning and kind robot that will do anything to protect
that which he cares about. With a role like that, how could we not put him at the top of the list?
The Silver Medal of Good goes to WALL-E’s love interest,
EVE! Otherwise known as an “Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator,” EVE’s prime directive
is to find life on Earth and help the human race come back to their home planet.
That objective puts her into direct contact with WALL-E, and the entire adventure the duo goes on
by extension. Much like WALL-E, EVE is dedicated to her work. However, she is far more dedicated to
the cause than WALL-E seems to be, as she shows little interest in WALL-E when they first meet.
She also has quite the trigger finger, as it doesn’t take much to get her to
activate her arm cannon. EVE is definitely a destructive character, even managing to destroy
an egg-beater after furiously spinning it. She doesn’t totally understand Earth and the items
WALL-E has collected either, which leads to a few comedic moments of her not understanding
ideas like dancing. Despite some chaotic tendencies, EVE is definitely one of the
most good-natured characters in the movie. As we mentioned prior, WALL-E’s kindness rubs onto her,
and she begins to show a softer side to her character. Much like how WALL-E protects her, EVE
will go to great lengths to keep WALL-E safe. The movie’s main focus is the relationship these two
characters form. You get a sense that she cares for him just as much as he does her. She dances
with him in space and is utterly heartbroken when it appears that WALL-E has “died.”
In the movie’s final act, she helps defeat AUTO and get the human race back to Earth. EVE has
several heroic feats during this finale, like when she prevents a train from falling onto a crowd of
people. She also uses her trusty arm cannon to get her and WALL-E out of a garbage hatch. Her weapons
and strength make her very helpful during this section of the movie, and it’s possible things
wouldn’t have worked out so well if WALL-E was all on his own. While it takes some time for her
to embrace her emotions, EVE is loyal through and through and a perfect candidate for second place.
Another spot, another robot! In this spot, we’re giving the Bronze Medal of Good to M-O!
Like the other robots in the film, M-O is motivated to do what exactly he was created for.
In his case, he is all about cleaning and tidiness. He’ll clean anyplace dirt occupies,
so you can imagine he has his hands pretty full when WALL-E boards the Axiom.
This leads to some tension between the two, as M-O is extremely frustrated to see how dirty WALL-E is
and how dirty he makes everything he comes into contact with.
M-O is the textbook definition of a neat freak. He’s also a germaphobe,
as evidenced by his reaction to WALL-E getting dirt on him. Despite his disdain for WALL-E,
M-O does help out a lot in the film’s climax. He ends up using his knack for sanitation for the
good of humanity! For instance, he helps prevent WALL-E and EVE from getting sucked out into space,
and all because he is trying to clean the dirt off of WALL-E. In addition, he distracts the security
robots that attempt to capture them by cleaning them. Thanks to his ability to find foreign
objects, he also manages to find the plant when it is lost amidst a sea of humans. M-O even starts to
become friendly with WALL-E, despite their earlier clashes. Beyond helping him stop AUTO’s rule,
he is noticeably upset during WALL-E’s apparent demise, going as far as to cry in the moment.
M-O might not have the character development that WALL-E and EVE have, but he shows that even the
most minor characters can make a big difference, and that’s why he gets this third spot!
Fourth place goes to the captain of the Axiom, McCrea! When we are introduced to him at the
start of the film, Captain McCrea doesn’t seem all that different from the thousands of other humans
aboard the ship. He spends much of his time in a chair, letting technology do all the work for him.
Whether it be getting dressed for duty or actually piloting the ship,
there’s little he does by himself. He’s also pretty clueless, a fact best evidenced by his
surprise at the revelation the ship is home to a track. McCrea even seems a tad cowardly,
as he reacts to anything new aboard the ship with a feeling of shock and surprise. However,
McCrea is living proof that you can’t always judge someone based on a first appearance. As the movie
progresses, we learn he is as dedicated to his ship and its passengers as any captain should
be. When AUTO’s true colors are finally revealed, McCrea is quick to try and stop him from assuming
control. He, quite literally, makes a stand against him. McCrea is no longer interested
in sitting around on a ship, doing nothing at all. As he puts it, he is ready to live. He wants the
human race to survive, showing that he really does care about his passengers. Captain McCrea is even
the one who gets the pleasure of taking down AUTO. He battles the robot in a fight and manages to get
the upper hand, deactivating him. The captain is also surprisingly capable at this moment as well,
managing to keep up with this dangerous machine. McCrea isn’t the sharpest character to be part
of the Axiom’s crew. Still, McCrea easily earns this spot thanks to his devotion to
his mission and his passengers, perfectly exemplifying how a captain should be.
Next up, it’s the Axiom’s engineer, BURN-E! Now, a lot of you are probably confused as to who this
character is! BURN-E is a robot that repairs the outside of the Axiom during the dance in space
between WALL-E and EVE. He definitely doesn’t have much screen time in the film, but he was the focus
of a short film released after the movie, titled “BURN-E.” If you’ve seen the original movie but
haven’t seen the short, then you really owe it to yourself to give it a look! With that history
lesson out of the way, BURN-E is the robot that exists to look at technical problems.
He takes care of any malfunctions or issues the ship is having, inside or out. Need a light
repaired? You’re in luck because BURN-E is your bot! He’s just as driven by his programming as
the other robots are, but he doesn’t have nearly the same luck as them. His short film is entirely
focused on his journey to fix a light aboard the ship, and it takes him about three attempts to get
it done. Even when the task seems completed, an escape pod smashes into it, completely undoing all
his hard work. Sure, WALL-E and his hijinks play a big role in his work not getting done, but that
didn’t stop characters like M-O from finishing their work. BURN-E also suffers from a lack of
legitimate heroic qualities. While other robots like M-O help out in the chaos on the Axiom,
BURN-E is pretty much absent from all of the major plot beats that occur in the movie. BURN-E
doesn’t have the heroic feats of other robots, but there’s one major reason we feel he is still worth
putting in the “good” list. Remember, he is the engineer of the entire Axiom ship. Sure,
it’s far from the most heroic role, but it is an extremely vital one. If you remove him from
the equation, who else is going to maintain the ship? While we don’t really think of it
in the film, he is absolutely as essential as any cleaner or security robot is! All in all,
it makes perfect sense for him to be on this spot, finishing up this part of the list!
That’s it for the good! Now,
let’s look at the characters who aren’t good, but they aren’t evil, either. This is the Grey Area!
We only have one character in this area, and it’s none other than the Buy n Large CEO,
Shelby Forthright! Forthright is a pretty interesting character in that he’s the only
instance of a Pixar character who is a live-action actor rather than an animated character. If his
voice sounds familiar to you, that’s because he is portrayed by the late Fred Willard. He has lent
his voice to countless animated shows, from “Billy & Mandy” to “The Loud House.” As a character,
it’s not hard to see why he’d be the lowest one on the list thus far. The actions of
his corporation were directly responsible for the Earth becoming the wasteland that it is.
It must also be noted that he was the one who gave AUTO the order to never return to Earth.
While his intentions were not evil in this instance, it did have the consequence of
creating the main conflict in the film's final act. Forthright’s destruction of the
planet alone could easily make him a candidate for the “evil” tier. Still, truth be told,
a few elements to his character made us put him in the grey area. While his corporation
did play a major role in creating the Earth we see in the film, Forthright is anything
but happy about it. He tried his best to keep the planet clean by using the WALL-E robots,
but it wasn’t enough. He is also responsible for getting humanity aboard the Axiom,
showing that he does ultimately care about the human race and its homeworld. There’s no doubt
he have learned the error of his ways. Shelby Forthright does some pretty heinous things with
what little time he has in the movie, but he also manages to atone for them. He’s a perfect blend
of good and bad, giving him the distinct honor of being the only character in the grey area.
We’re out of the grey area! Now,
we come to those you’d be better off avoiding! These characters are evil.
First up, we’re giving the Silver Medal of Evil to GO-4! Aboard the Axiom, GO-4 is programmed to be a
security robot. He makes sure things are going well and safe, so how could a robot like that
be this low on the list? Well, let’s just say that there is more to GO-4 than meets the eye.
As AUTO’s mutiny begins, GO-4 is revealed to be his right-hand man. AUTO quickly orders him
to capture the plant, and he is happy to oblige. GO-4 might not seem like the most dangerous robot,
but he’s definitely an angry one. He goes as far as to hiss at his enemies
in an attempt to intimidate him. GO-4 doesn’t care how small and puny he looks. If he’s after you,
he’ll make sure to keep you on your toes! He’s also outfitted with a suspension beam,
which proves to be a helpful asset in his mission to take the plant. Even EVE, the
most powerful robot of the cast, isn’t safe from getting caught in it! GO-4 is quickly defeated at
the end of the movie. Still, the brevity of his appearance doesn’t stop him from being one of
the nastiest characters in the film. There is but one character who outdoes him in that department!
In the final spot on our list, we present the Golden Medal of Evil
to AUTO! Realistically speaking, who else could it have been? The pilot of the Axiom,
this MacinTalk-voiced robot acts as the main antagonist of the film.
You can think of him as this film's equivalent to HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Much like
HAL, AUTO is devoid of feeling any human emotion, offering a stark contrast from most other robots
featured on this list. He is driven only by his programming and nothing else. Even if the captain
of the ship and its passengers feel differently, he will go against them and follow only his
programming. This is best seen when Captain McCrea tries to return to Earth, but AUTO prevents it,
as his orders were to not come back to Earth. McCrea tries his best to show that Earth can
sustain life now, but it does little to affect AUTO’s programming. The passengers could have
come to Earth for years at this point, but AUTO has prevented it all this time. As he stages
his mutiny, he tries his best to kill all who stand in his way, whether that be WALL-E, EVE,
or Captain McCrea. He ultimately fails, but he is just as devoted to this objective as someone like
WALL-E is to cleaning. Really, AUTO fits this spot perfectly because he is a perfect foil to WALL-E.
While WALL-E embraces his humanity, AUTO is as robotic as they come. WALL-E is warm and loving,
while AUTO is cold and calculating. And since we gave WALL-E the gold medal of good,
we think it only makes sense that AUTO gets its evil counterpart, wouldn’t you agree?
That does it for the list, but before we leave, how about we hand out
some medals to those who fit them best?
We’re giving the Lust Medal to WALL-E himself,
who finds himself infatuated with EVE from the moment she appears!
The Wrath Medal goes to AUTO! With his devotion to destroying all who
stand in the way of his programming, he seems like a perfect fit for the medal!
Although he changes as the film progresses,
we feel the Sloth Medal fits Captain McCrea best! If you aren’t even willing
to get dressed without technology helping you, can you really not get this medal?
Wrapping things up, we award the Greed Medal to the CEO Shelby Forthright! His
greed leads to the entire human race having to evacuate Earth. With that kind of outcome,
who else could honestly get this one?
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking. And tell us what we should
cover next. Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist,
where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows, and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked.