At this point, I realize I have grown so enchanted with the story and the visual invention that I forgot to mention this is supposed to be a family film, too. It is just that it is a family film made with the imagination of a true dreamer and the patience of a skilled storyteller.
What is most ennobling is the way Stanton and the animators refuse to cater to the ADD-styled mindset of children these days and really challenge and engage the young viewers with bigger and even starker ideas. Besides being a moving love story between robots, the movie presents a highly effective cautionary warning not only for children but also for adults on not letting the world reach the state where an apathetic consumerist culture has led everything to be turned into trash and the humans to become a slothful culture (although I guess the WALL·E tie-in toys will still sell big time).
While digital animation has now presently become so commercially ingrained that the other studios have produced more mediocre, less imaginative efforts, the original innovators of Pixar have continued to provide great family films that entertain children as well as encouraging adults to tapping into their own childhood selves.
Last year’s Ratatouille showed how curiosity can transcend the label of “an animated family film” and explore more mature themes. Now, by even following the great tradition of classical science fiction of creating fantastical worlds to comment on the human condition, WALL·E brings to the forefront what all the other previous Pixar movies have hinted at: that curiosity must remain an unalienable human trait because, without it, we will lose our ability to look beyond ourselves like WALL·E does.
Bottom line: What are you waiting for? Go see it!
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Article comments
1 - Tracy
This movie was absolutely HORRIBLE. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it only got worse. The worst $35 I ever spent on a movie
2 - andythesaint
Tracy is nuts. But, hey, the fact that other people don't get WALL-E is probably what makes it so great.
3 - JOHN
I WANT THAT HOUR AND A HALF OF MY LIFE BACK! KEPT WAITING FOR IT TO GET GOOD. AND A "G" RATING? THINGS KEPT BLOWING UP, THEY PLAYED WITH CIGARETTE LIGHTERS AND JUMPER CABLES, FAT PEOPLE AND BABIES SLIDING DOWN THE SHIP TITANIC STYLE, SCREAMING AND BOUNCING INTO EACH OTHER!! PLEASE!!