Along with various other domestic appliances, the plucky little bread browner went on a mission to find his owner. Think of it as a skewed version of Toy Story.
While most of you may not remember this particular cinematic masterpiece, it proves a pertinent point: everybody loves an inanimate object with a personality, and it’s nothing new.
By coincidence, a number of those clever chaps at Pixar were involved with The Brave Little Toaster, and with WALL * E, the latest offering from Disney and Pixar, they’re at it again.
This time round, instead of a rather implausibly chatty piece of kitchenware in the lead role, it’s a futuristic cleaning robot, who has developed a personality after being left behind on Earth to tidy up all the mess left by us filthy humans (there’s a valuable ‘save the planet’ lesson there folks, in case you missed it).
Nowadays, Pixar is a mark of quality – great looking, brilliantly put together animated pictures that often cater to both kids and adults alike and are usually home to some great storylines that warm the cockles of even the coldest of cold hearts.
With that in mind, it’s clear that WALL * E is going to be huge this summer. It’s an interesting one as well: although ticking off familiar Pixar hallmarks – the aforementioned inanimate object springing to life, the heart-rending tale of bravery – it also features communication between robots that isn’t quite English, rather a collection of R2-D2-esque blips and beeps. It sounds odd, but it works, and be in no doubt that WALL * E is going to be extremely popular amongst the offspring of our nation’s procreators.
To put the story in context, our intrepid cleaner ‘bot is the last one left on Earth, and doesn’t know he can stop tidying up. When a robot called Eve visits Earth to retrieve the last plant on the planet, he falls in love with her, and the story swings along at pace.
The game, developed by THQ alongside Disney, sees players take up the role of both WALL * E and Eve, the object of his affections, as they relive the movie across ten worlds, exploring the environment and saving Earth into the bargain, with a dollop of humour thrown in to help proceedings along.
With multiplayer challenges and mini-games sprinkled liberally throughout the game, alongside new storylines not seen in the film and huge environments waiting to be explored, there’s plenty to get involved with here.
Voice talent from the film is present too, and there is the official Disney air of authenticity – Ben Burtt is the voice of all robots, and he knows what he’s doing as he was the sound designer on all six Star Wars films, where he put bluster into R2’s beeps, as well as making ET phone home – with the sounds reflecting the impressive visuals.
With such a huge film release, marketing is almost by the by, especially with a movie so loved by its creators – WALL * E was conceived well before the first Toy Story film and has been waiting to be bought to life for some time – but regardless there will be a huge push around the title. Cinema advertising around the film release will hit an awful lot of potential players, whilst online tagging from the official movie site to the game site will catch web users.
A PR campaign has been in full swing since January, whilst the heavyweight marketing assault will make it impossible for the key demographics to miss the game. A five-week TV advertising campaign will be backed up by a Heart FM radio promotion on the breakfast show. A full range of POS is also available for retail, while giant WALL * E standees will be at selected retailers, with PC demos.
Elsewhere, a four week online campaign targeting channels such as Neopets, CiTV, Toonattack, Action Stations and AOL Kids should mop up anyone who managed to miss it, so there can be no doubt that once the film’s popularity starts spreading like wildfire, game sales should follow.
There can be no real uncertainty that a Pixar film set in space and featuring loveable robots will be anything other than a huge success and another addition to the animated movie hall of fame. Interest will be high and sustained, and be in no doubt about the nagging power of children when it comes to snapping up WALL * E product.
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