MOVIE REVIEW: WALL-E

Saw the movie WALL-E last week and it has taken me awhile to think about my review. It is definitely another hit in Pixar's amazingly long list of consecutive succesful films, both artistically and commercially. Wall-E is the ninth film in a row from the computer anination geniuses who brought the world Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Ratatouille.

As many other critics have said, the first half of the film is quite extra-ordinary--practically a silent film with almost no dialogue for 45 minutes. It really can't be emphasized enough how unusual and effective this bit of film making is.

The message of the film has started to get attention from both liberal and conservative commentators.

The film depicts a future for the earth in which the planet has been abandoned due to a complete depletion of natural resources and uncontrolled dumping of trash which resulted in piles of garbage taller than most skyscrapers. WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is left behind on Earth for 700 years to clean up the mess. Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, came up with the idea of the lonely robot left behind all alone on Earth for hundreds of years cleaning up after them. WALL-E falls in love with another robot, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) and eventually follows her off-planet when EVE leaves to return to the former inhabitants of Earth who have been cruising around in space in cosseted comfort for centuries.

When we finally see the humans they are morbidly obese, mainly white and spend all their time being catered to be robots while gliding around in motorized comfy chairs with personalized video screens in a zero gravity atmosphere. This portrayal of humans (apparently Americans) as fat, pampered, oblivious creatures wasting away their lives consuming whatever the mega-corporation Buy-N-Large puts in front of them has been recognized by other reviewers as an unsubtle critical commentary on contemporary American living.

Overall, the movie is sad but also entertaining, and it makes you think about your own circumstance, just like great art should, because that's what it is.

GRADE: A-.