What’s is WALL-E’s turning point?
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We keep on arguing about this over at my place and I decided I would bring it to my pals at Pixar Planet.
What is the turning point in WALL-E?
Like in Bug’s Life, it’s the part when Dot is telling Flik, “Pretend it’s a seed, okay?” and in Monsters Inc., the part when Mike tells Sulley, “You be my guest, 'cause you’re on your own.”.
So what’s WALL-E’s?
I have a few…
“I am the Captain of the Axiom. And I say, we are going home today!”
“Auto, you are relieved of duty!”
Like you said, EVE holding out her hand and saying “Directive”.
The Axiom’s return.
That’s all I can think of. 
The answer is: both. Those are actually the two climaxes of the movie, where the two main story threads are resolved.
First with the plant solving the problem with earth and the Axiom. Eve here also realizes that she is meant for Wall-E. The Captain realizes that he must show leadership and pilot to earth.
Second with Eve’s proposal to Wall-E in the garbage scowl. The hand holding. Wall-E understands that for his own survival, earth’s survival, the people aboard the Axiom to have a real life, and he and Eve to continue their relationship: the plant must get back to earth.
I mentioned this a year and a half ago in the Wall-E 101 thread. These are the two main threads of the movie’s storyline, and they are resolved in these two separate situations.
There can only be one turning point. If you have two, then you’re back where you started before you had the first one.
In my opinion it is definitely “Define Dancing.” I think that this is the case because 1) EVE discovers that she does love WALL-E and 2) the captain is waking up and realizes that there is more out there.
StrawberryAvalanche96: It is not the scene where EVE hold out her hand and tells WALL-E that he is her directive. That is between WALL-E and EVE, it doesn’t have as much to do with the people on the AXIOM. On “Define Dancing,” you see that EVE really does love WALL-E (which you hadn’t seen at first) and that the captain and the people are waking up to see their surroundings (remember Mary and John!). Disagree all you want, but that’s my opinion.
I like to think of one ‘realization point’ and a ‘action point’ for each character. For Eve, the ‘realization point’ is during Define Dancing, but she doesn’t act on those feelings until the ‘garbage dump’ when she finally throws the shoe away. For the Captain, the possibility of returning to Earth dawns on him during Define Dancing, but he doesn’t act on that idea until his confrontation with Auto during the “I want to live!” scene.
It’s the same with any movie, really.
Jake Sully from Avatar
Realization point → ‘[spoil]Learn or Die’ training montage[/spoil]
Action point → [spoil]Willow Glade Destruction[/spoil]
Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon
Realization point → [spoil]“Everything we thought about them was wrong”[/spoil]
Action point → [spoil]‘Killing’ his first dragon[/spoil]
Lightning McQueen - Cars
Realization point → McQueen and Sally drive
Action point → Giving up the race to help The King
The only exception I can think of is Anton Ego and Carl, where both ‘realization’ and ‘action’ point happen almost simultaneously.
If I had to pick, I would say that EVE watching her security camera is the turning point. She realizes then how much WALL-E loves her and she loves him, and after that, she will risk her life to help him. This is what leads her to hold out her little hand to him in the trash room.
My second pick would be “Define Dancing”. But I prefer the other scene as the turning point.
The turning points of mine…
Pretty much the same as JSWC’s list. 
I went with Define Dancing but after reading through these I agree that both options are almost like Part A and Part B. They kinda go together. One leads to the other. I guess I’d still stick with Define Dancing since that was the scene that got the ball rolling.
After watching WALL-E, studying the story, and wiping my eyes for the millionth time, I have concluded that there are FOUR turning points in the film:
1) WALL-E FINDS THE PLANT One of the most important and critical points of the film is when WALL-E’s sweet curiousity leads him to explore the fridge and thus, he finds the one piece of hope for the human beings up in space…which is what EVE is looking for. EVE probably would never have found the plant if WALL-E had not given it to her. Her spaceship would have returned before she could find it, and thus, she would be empty handed. But thanks to WALL-E, she wasn’t!
2) EVE SEES HER SECURITY CAMERA - As EVE and the Captain both watch her security camera, EVE preforms the motion of holding hands - making a connection to what WALL-E was trying to do with her all along. Then, her camera shows all of the touching scenes of just how much WALL-E cared for her when she didn’t even know. That is one of the most beautiful love stories ever told - how one of us finally realizes how much the other loved us, and we literally were “blind” and didn’t see. EVE is touched and it is the true genuine moment where she longs for him and loves him.
3) WALL-E AND EVE DECIDE TO RETURN TO EARTH - Here is an interesting thing that I think nobody realizes - EVE and WALL-E could have thought of using one of the escape pods to return to earth in order to fix WALL-E. But they didn’t. Why? Because they realized that they weren’t the only ones to return to earth…but the humans need to as well. Sometimes helping others is the surest way to help yourself. As Andrew Stanton explains in the commentary for the film, EVE is of course going to put the plant in the holo-detector…but it’s not because of her directive…it’s because she wants to help WALL-E.
4) EVE KISSES WALL-E AT THE END - There is something that goes deeper than WALL-E’s metal parts…it is his heart, and it was that last spark of love that was needed to finally revive WALL-E after his “fall”. EVE, broken-hearted and full of love for her loyal robot, sadly kisses him in a farwell…but instead, WALL-E’s circuts are revived through her last touch of love.
WALL-E is absolutley FILLED with messages of love, friendship, loyalty, and life…and these four moments I believe are what capture the crucial moments of all of them.
At least, that’s my opinion.
Because there are so many characters with various motivations, I think there are turning points for each character.
For example, for the Captain when he realizes that he is capable of much more and that humanity needs to return to Earth (I am the Captain of the Axiom, we are going home today!)
For EVE it would be when she saves WALL-E from the airlock and throws the plant aside. That’s her turning point where she realizes her priorities have changed from the plant to her relationship.
You know, you may be right…
You…just might be right…
I think you’re right…
Yeah, you’re right.
Are you going to argue with your bro again, Straw? That argument was classic in a ridiculous way… 
Fight with my brother. Any day. He’s bad. Awful bad. Cracks my fingers…all the time. And pops me with a towel!
Heh, only in the following situations:
You’re almost doing both all the time, so I do both all the time.
Oh yeah?
Well, I will find a way to get you…
Steal your iPod touch…
Cheat in Sonic games…
And when your get your WALL-E toy, I get you good. Steal him away. He shall be my WALL-E unit 2 and I shall get 2 EVEs, EVE 1 and EVE 2.
I squish little boogers that drain my life supply of boredom, and YOU’RE ONE!!!
Everyone hears distant screaming in the background
Got you!
You meanie.
You two are so funny XD
Welcome to our humble little forum, Blessed Light. I’ve thought that EVE’s kiss at the beginning of the space dancing was an important shift in the storyline, rather than the last kiss.
Anyways, the plant was Wall-E’s. EVE arrogantly absconded it. It was clearly one of his most prized possessions. Why she was so mad at him… well, it’s odd too that she had to scan an image of her security camera and didn’t seem to have direct access to its contents. But reliving those events caused EVE to fall in love with Wall-E, her seeing his dedication.
That wasn’t her original directive. It was shown to be finding the plant (Mission: Accomplished) then getting the plant to the ‘Axiom supervisor’, presumably the Captain and not Auto. That was the Captain’s responsibility to decide what to do with the plant once it had been positively ID’d by the ships computer scanner. He found this information in the Operations Manual. EVE later examined her directive while in the garbage scowl, and since she had already gone up to the Captain with it, and failed, she gave up! Remember this was the 2nd time she had gone up there, why try a 3rd time. She had done her duty. When she tried to hold Wall-E’s hand then was she overriding her directive with a new one that she had concocted? This is debatable, but I think when Wall-E convinces her to take the plant back and get to Earth, she becomes very assertive (because she wants to help Wall-E, but also because it has crystallized that helping him will also fulfill the somewhat incomplete directive). She still might be confused as to how to go about it after the previous failures. Then the Captain orders EVE to put it in the holo-detector. Now the movie clearly refocuses on this interrupted chain of events and EVE knows exactly where to go*. This had never been her responsibility until the Captain orders it.
That is the moment the two threads in the storyline come together: (1)Wall-E’s/EVE’s need for hand holding and (2)the plant saving the earth / people getting back to the earth / Wall-E getting the spare parts he needs to repair himself. You can think of it as two vines coming together or two pieces of uranium fusing with a bright light.
*Remember too, there are lots of little kiddies and spoonfed adults in the audience who need reminding of what is going on. If a 5 year old kid gets too squirmy, mom might just pick up the whole crew and ask for a refund. Horrors!
Turning Point vs. Point of No Return: hmm, just thought that when Wall-E does a tune on the Repair Ward, it sets in motion a cascade of events.
I can understand what you’re trying to say, although I have to confess that I still disagree on some points, though not all.
When they finally did go back inside the Axiom, WALL-E tried to “propose” to EVE and ask her to hold his hand (obviously touched and moved by EVE’s kiss and their dancing in space)…but still, EVE hadn’t learnt to love WALL-E yet in the same degree that he did. She was still focused and directive-driven to complete her mission. Their dancing in space and her kiss to him wasn’t that special or meaningful enough to her yet to affect a change on her part.
That’s why I believe that at the end, when WALL-E is fixed although his memory is erased, the kiss EVE gives him then is the kiss that changes everything for them finally. EVE is truly heartbroken that WALL-E has “gone” because now she truly loves him. The kiss she gave him not only gave his circuits that one last-needed spark to boot back into life, but, this time, it was because of true love…and, little did she know, that was exactly what WALL-E needed just at that moment!
I don’t think EVE gave up her directive to deliver the plant to the Captain just for no reason. I don’t think she was thinking, “I’ve already done that; I don’t need to do it again.” In the scene where WALL-E gives the plant back to her, EVE thinks and remembers just how far she and WALL-E have come on her mission because of this plant. She knows it is her purpose, her function, and her directive to follow orders and deliver the plant to the Captain…no matter how many times possible. Although she is a robot, she understands common logic that the plant needs to be returned to the Captain because Auto has just declared munity.
But EVE finally realizes in the garbage hold of the Axiom just how much WALL-E truly loves her (after witnessing her security camera footage) and knows that there is a deeper, more important directive to life that WALL-E has been trying to teach her all along. So, she tosses the plant aside (what an action for her, after being so focused on the little thing!) and holds out her hand to WALL-E, showing him that she understands now…that she has chosen a different directive this time.
I will agree here, though, when you said that EVE’s old directive was “crystallized” by her new directive – to save WALL-E. I think that’s just a perfect term for the phase of the movie.
When I spoke of EVE putting the plant in the holo-detector for the reason that she wants to save WALL-E (and not just for the reason of saving the humans and accomplishing her original directive), I was actually quoting Andrew Stanton’s words himself. In the audio commentary for the movie, he explains just how determined EVE is now to save WALL-E by “using” her old directive with the plant.
When EVE picks up WALL-E (and M-O) and blasts out of the garbage hold, she is set on returning the plant to the Captain, just like before…but of course, she’s doing it now because she wants to save WALL-E and not fulfill her directive. That’s when the Captain contacts them and tells them not to take it to him, but to change plans: “Bring the plant to the Lido Deck! I’ll activate the holo-detector!” And so, EVE does so. If you listen to the audio commentary for this part of the movie as well, Andrew Stanton describes how he wanted this phase to join the humans and the robots together on a single mission – fighting against Auto by putting the plant in the holo-detector. EVE wants to do it now because of WALL-E, and the Captain wants to do it for his fellow humans. Both humans and robots have one destination and goal in mind – TO GET TO EARTH – and that’s what Mr. Stanton wanted to create for this part of the film, the sense of comradeship and cooperation.
Andrew Stanton explains in the commentary that holding hands in public is a sign of a declaration of love. And so, I agree with you in saying that WALL-E had a need to hold EVE’s hand, because it would be a declaration of her love and his love. WALL-E knew (in his simple, humble, innocent heart) that holding hands meant something…meant something wonderful and beautiful. He knew it was love, and that’s what he wanted.
And, in the end, that’s what he got! 
What a beautiful story… I love Pixar!