Burn-E

Like Wall-E, Burn-E has his flaws. Robots should be capable of repetitious acts that they do flawlessly, but they are also the product of human development. What is cool here is an almost human persistence as Burn-E continues to try and try again. I don't know that any new ground was covered. It was fine.

Burn-E is an eight-minute Disney Pixar short that spins off from Wall-E and follows the story of one of the background robots we briefly see in the main film. While Wall-E itself is a masterpiece, Burn-E gives us a fun side adventure that shows just how much care Pixar puts into even the smallest corners of its universe.

What makes this short so creative is how it blends comedy, world-building, and character focus all in such a tight runtime. Instead of giving us a direct sequel to Wall-E (which sadly we've never received, despite how beloved it is), Pixar expands the universe by exploring a single character's misadventures. Burn-E isn't a lead in the original film, but here he gets his moment to shine - and it's both hilarious and surprisingly charming.

The short follows Burn-E's attempt to complete a simple task, but in true Pixar fashion, every possible thing goes wrong. The storytelling is visual, witty, and perfectly timed, making it easy to connect with this little repair-bot despite the lack of dialogue. His frustration, determination, and resilience give him an almost human personality, which is part of the brilliance of Pixar's animation style.

I especially love how the short overlaps with events from Wall-E. While we see Burn-E struggling with his own problem, we catch glimpses of the larger story unfolding, almost like an Easter egg for fans. It's clever, it's immersive, and it reinforces the sense that this world is alive beyond just the main narrative.

Even though it's only eight minutes long, Burn-E gives us more of the magic from the Wall-E universe. It's a reminder of why Pixar stands apart: their ability to take even a minor character and give them depth, humor, and heart.

Verdict: Burn-E is short, sweet, and incredibly fun. It doesn't replace the longing many fans still have for a proper Wall-E sequel, but it gives us a little more time in that world, and that alone makes it worth revisiting again and again.

With seven and a half minutes of duration, "Burn-E" was directed by Angus Mac Lane, and tells the story of an unlucky robot who tries to change a light bulb on the Axiom ship. WALL-E pursuit of EVE causes problems for a welding repair robot (Angus Mac Lane)... Cute... If BURN-E, a robot welder, had known how much work he would have because of WALL-E and EVE, he would have taken the day off...

Despite remembering very little, almost nothing of the original Wall-e, I watched it a long time ago, however this cult is so nice to watch, that we are left with a taste of wanting more, I watched it at my goddaughter's company who also adopted... good, very good... Cute...

Having absolutely loved WALL-E, I was all for seeing the short film that came with it. Burn-E is just as good as the movie it featured with, and while not quite in the same league as Geri's Game, Knick Knack, Jack-Jack Attack, Presto and One Man Band, it is one of Pixar's better short films to me. The animation with beautiful colours and atmospheric backgrounds is amazing, the music is haunting and understated and the story has an enchanting atmosphere to it. Burn-E may be a one-joke short, but seeing as the joke itself is funny, it works brilliantly. Burn-E, like WALL-E, is not just endearing but there is a very human side to him which makes us identify with him all the more. In conclusion, beautifully animated and enchanting, this is a great short film and perhaps one of the better one-joke animations I've seen. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The next short, in the "Shorts" section on Disney Plus is "Burn-E", which was originally produced to be a DVD extra for "Wall-E" and that takes place on the same ship, at a parallel time to the events in that film.

Burn-E, a maintenance welding droid on board the Axiom Starship, is tasked with fixing an exterior sensor on the hull. Eager to please, he sets off but is distracted by Wall-E's actions further up the ship and is loses his replacement sensor overboard. His further attempts to complete this basic task and return to the ship are repeatedly but accidentally thwarted by the actions of Wall-E and Eve.

Some of the shorts in this section of Disney Plus have perhaps felt like deleted scenes that have been given a lick of paint, but this does give the impression that it was a specifically designed side story, written to interact with certain moments from the main film and in that regard, in every regard in fact, it's utterly charming. It's clever, how it weaves the problems of this little robot around the bigger narrative and funny, how the reactions of this machine can be so expressive and adorable.

As I say, this "shorts" section has been a mixed bag, but this was excellent stuff.