Wall-E: A Movie With a Full Heart, or A Tribute to Justin
Posted July 10th, 2008 by Daneen Akers
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I went to see Wall-E, the new film from the animation powerhouse, Pixar, not because I like animated films (although I usually do) and not because I like stories about robots (although I usually don’t). I went because my life briefly touched one of the story artists behind the film, one of the hundreds of names in the credits that often scroll by without me giving them much thought. This time was different. This time, while I scanned the credits for the familiar name, I was sobbing. I was sobbing because a few months before Wall-E was released, the heart belonging to this particular name stopped beating.
About a year ago, I agreed to write a profile on Justin Wright, a storyboard artist at Pixar who had attended Pacific Union College, my alma mater for the school's alumni website. I had never met Justin, but from the first moments of our phone call, we connected. While we did talk plenty about the specifics of his education and how he ended up with the job he considered the dream job of a lifetime, we spent much more time talking about God, spirituality, and our struggles with the church we had both grown up in and were still figuring out what to do with as adults. (And dogs—when fellow dog lovers meet, there often seems to be an instant, karmic understanding of life’s priorities.) His passion for life and love and the depth of his questions impressed me as belonging to someone far older than his 27 years.
That sense of maturity beyond his years might have stemmed from the fact that Justin was living with a heart that was 18 years older than the rest of him. When Justin was born, his heart had all sorts of complications: cardiomyopathy, a complete block, a hole between the upper two chambers, a hole in the mitral valve —the list goes on. Finally, when Justin was 12, his heart had been through too many surgeries and procedures to be of much use, not to mention that it was the size of a deflated soccer ball inside his slight 70-pound body. It was time for a transplant. Justin had a 30-year-old’s heart put inside his chest, where it made its home until it suddenly and unexpectedly stopped beating forever this past March 18.
The constant brush with mortality as a child forced Justin to grow up quickly. He seemed to always know that life was fleeting, ephemeral. Maybe this is why he spoke about God, the meaning of life, and the Big Questions with both the grace and humor of a learned mystic who has repeatedly brushed shoulders with divinity and the mysteries of eternity.
It also allowed him the courage to chase his dream through several seemingly endless dead-ends that ended up with the dream job at Pixar where he worked on the story team, turning the vision of the director into storyboards and images. When I interviewed him, his excitement about Wall-E burst through the phone line with palpable energy. Of course he couldn’t really tell me anything about the film—Pixar’s story lines are kept more secret than Dick Cheney’s undisclosed location—but he told me just to wait; it was gonna be good.
It is good, exceedingly good. Even without my desire to love the film for Justin’s sake, my husband and I both have dubbed it our favorite film of the year so far. The summary doesn’t do it justice. As Frank Rich noted in his review of the film in the New York Times, Wall-E for President, “Almost any description of this beautiful film makes it sound juvenile or didactic, and it is neither.”
He goes on to summarizes the film in one sentence, “Wall-E is a robot-meets-robot love story, as simple (and often as silent) as a Keaton or Chaplin fable, set largely in a smoldering and abandoned Earth, circa 2700, where the only remaining signs of life are a cockroach and a single green sprout.”
From this simple plot comes a story that is both astoundingly moving and timely—for a film that surely was written several years ago, how does it manage to be spot-on for our current crisis of consumerism, complacency, and self-obsession? It’s a story about love, rebirth, and having the courage to stand up to our own greed. But it’s especially about love.
And how did they manage to make the emotional connection of robots speak such truth about the universal yearning we all feel to love and be loved? All I know is that there must have been a lot of people who knew their own hearts and heartaches behind this film. People with hearts like Justin’s, fragile and breakable with the scars of surgery still clearly visible, but also pulsating with a deep love and appreciation for life.
The last thing Justin told me as we concluded our interview was that he knew he had to be more careful with his heart than most, but that wasn’t keeping him from exploring the full dimensions of the human heart. He said with smile that I could quite literally see over the phone, “Right now I’m very happy. Right now my heart is doing great.”
Go see the film and you’ll know in your heart just how true that statement was—and is. Go and be moved by a powerful story of love and new beginnings. Make sure you look for Justin’s name, just after the cast under “Story Artists.” And then keep watching until you see that Pixar decided to dedicate this story to Justin. It’s fitting, ever so fitting, that a story bursting with such heart would be dedicated to someone with a heart as full as Justin’s.
Daneen Akers is the Spectrum Online reviews editor. You can read more about Justin here, and you can view his art blog here.
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Comments
I teared up when Daneen read this article to me. Even though I did not know Justin personally, I feel like I was able to better understand him by watching this film. His enthusiasm, vigor, and hope for life was infectious and his tragic loss just makes life seem unfair.
I hope you will take the time to go see this movie. There is an honest tenderness to it that is hard to describe, but must be experienced to appreciate. One of my favorite scenes is when Wall-e is dancing through space using a fire extinguisher for propulsion (it's actually very sweet and funny) and there are "sparks" flying as he spins through the "air". It is a moment of pure childlike joy and adulation. I can only imagine that some day this will be Justin when we are all united again and given new hearts that will never fail.
Wow, Daneen. Thanks for sharing some of the back story to this film.
My wife and I went to go see this film last week and enjoyed it immensely. We especially loved the PC/Mac innuendos between WALL-E and Eve. Love can bridge all differences. =)
I second Stephen and Zane's comments about how good this film was. It's really a beautiful and moving story that's well worth seeing on the big screen. I love that it's something that kids, parents, and grandparents can all enjoy together.
I really appreciate knowing more about one of the people behind the film too. I think he'd be proud of the finished product. It's a story worth our time.
You're so right, Zane, about the PC/Mac cross-cultural love affair! I love that Wall-E makes the Mac start-up sound when he solar charges.
I'm glad you mentioned that amazing space dance sequence, Stephen--it really is so beautiful. Like Frank Rich mentioned in his review, there is much of this film that plays like a silent film. It's really the art of film storytelling at it's best when words aren't even needed.
I also wanted to mention that I love the art/poster for Wall-E on this thread. It captures the yearning and longing that the story portrays so well, and it also captures the sense of yearning and even aching that I feel when I wonder how the world works when a life like Justin's can be gone so soon. Sometimes all I can do is look up at the night sky.
Thanks for posting this. I loved the movie (though it was disturbing to me in many ways, but also inspiring, and disturbing isn't necessarily a bad thing in a film). Since the artwork during the credits was so good, we stayed through them and I noticed the dedication to Justin. Knowing nothing about who Justin was (certainly didn't know there was any SDA connection!) or how he died, I just noticed the dates of birth and death as I always do on these sorts of things and thought, "Oh, he was so young -- how tragic! And how nice that they dedicated the film to him, whoever he was." Thanks for telling the rest of the story.
Like TrudyJ, I remember sitting through the credits and seeing his name. I distinctly remember pausing in my happy thoughts after such a great a movie and wondering about this anonymous person's family and friends.
Thanks Daneen for sharing.
Wall-E totally looks like the robot from "Short Circuit"... minus the cheesy 80's style of course
Thanks Daneen,
I'm one of Justin's friends from work and school. Your article is a very touching tribute to Justin and his art, he was certainly proud of working not only on Wall-E but also Presto, the short film that precedes it.
Thanks so much for your comment, Austin. It truly surprised me how deeply the news of Justin's death affected me, since our lives had only crossed paths for such a short while (it reminds me that we often have no idea of the impact we're having every day in the lives of people around us). I can only imagine how difficult it would be to lose a close friend and colleague.
I hate to admit that I got to my seat just as the film was starting (I'm afraid tardiness is a character flaw of mine), so I missed seeing Presto. I actually always look forward to these shorts with Pixar films--another reason to see Wall-E again.
Daneen, Thanks for this touching review. I haven't seen the film, but now will make an effort to go. It's inspiring to hear about someone who accomplished so much and got to do exactly what he wanted to do, though his life was cut short.
The paradox of the movie: WALL-E, who has no heart, is all heart; whereas those with beating hearts have forgotten how to live. Justin now falls into the former category in that through the mechanized medium of the cinema his heart lives on. May this serve as a reminder of the things in life that are of eternal value.
Thank you so much Daneen,
I am Justin's Dad. I really appreciate your review of
Wall-E and you sharing your insight into how Justin viewed life. Justin has always been a very optimistic and cheerful person and always lived life in the "PRESENT". Justin felt blessed by God every day and so thrilled that he had achieved his life long goal of becoming a "Disney Animator" which culminated with him becoming a "Pixar Story Artist". He really was living his dream at Pixar and knew he was unconditionally loved by God, his family and his friends. We are very proud of Justin for being the loving and kind person he has always been and I look forward to an "eternity" of being able to tell him how much he is loved.
Thank you so much for commenting, Mr. Lloyd. As I watched the credits of the film, crying, I kept wondering what it was like for Justin's family to see the film and that dedication. I think one of the reasons I felt so connected to Justin was that his exuberance and passion for life just burst through--he did indeed seem to know he was living his dream and just loved his life and the people in it. Watching Wall-E was a profoundly spiritual experience for me, I'm sure in no small part because I knew Justin's passion for life, love, and God was woven into the very frames of the film.
Justin by all accounts was my cousin, though not blood related we grew up together. I can't even put into words exactly how I feel when I watched Wall-e for the first time. I was so excited and remembered how several years back in the exact same theater we all watched Monsters,Inc. together and jumped up and down and screamed when we saw Justin's name at the very end of the credits. He sunk down in his seat mortified by the hoopla. Now, a very different scenario. I saw his name after the hilarious Presto and I initially started to jump up and screech, but stopped myself and just raised my hands as if to say, it's all you dude! Then a quiet came about me, the lump in my throat came back and I realized that we were about to see his movie. I watched the movie and as my 2 year old was sitting in my lap laughing and talking (Uncle Justin would've been so proud to know his nephew saw his very first movie and it was a Pixar film) I saw how deep the message of this movie was. It hit hard as Peter Gabriel sang through the credits and Justin's name came up on the first page of credits. Justin's life was such a light in this world and I realized his light is now shining TO this world. He isn't here, but his light isn't lost. He was the little green plant in the boot for many people. True, delicate, beautiful, and rooted. He was rooted in the Lord, in his family, friends, and in his work. We love him so much and miss him dearly and know without a doubt that we will see him again and for that we're so grateful!
Now I have another reason to go see it again. *wipes away tear*
I loved this movie - thanks for the article.
jen*
The Adventist Caricaturist has a tribute post up on Justin Wright.
http://sdacaricatures.blogspot.com/2008/07/justin-wright-1981-2008.html
I saw the movie before finding this article. I was indeed moved by the story. When I saw the end credits and saw that the film was dedicated to a certain Justin Wright, I immediately encoded his name on my phone because I guess I wanted to know why he passed away so young. His story is an inspiration. Most of us are usually discouraged by limitations in our lives but here is one person, a fighter, who knew what he wanted to do in life and never for a moment, got discouraged by his limitations. What an inspiration to us all. Thank you Daneen.
Rex
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