WALL•E (2008)

Over the past six months, my 5-year-old son absorbed everything Pixar offered in teasing their upcoming film, WALL•E: billboards, TV spots, online clips, you name it. So when the film finally came out this past weekend, my lovely and loving wife volunteered to stay home for our 2-year-old’s afternoon nap so I could take his big brother to the local multiplex.

And I’m glad she did. WALL•E is a great film — a triumph on multiple levels. It tells the story of a garbage-covered Earth 700 years in the future, where all humans have evacuated the planet and are living on luxury spaceships while Earth is cleaned up by WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class) units.

There’s only one WALL•E still operating, and life’s a bit lonely for him. Only a cockroach sidekick and an old videotape of Hello, Dolly! keep him company. Until one day, a rocket ship lands and deploys a robot named EVE, whose mission I’ll keep secret. Eventually, WALL•E and EVE form a bond, one which takes them to one of the spaceships containing the pampered, doughy, somewhat baby-shaped humans awaiting the chance to go home (or are they?).

WALL•E is yet another amazing entry in Pixar’s film oeuvre. A good story, great balance of action and cuteness, and animation so amazing you forget it’s not models or studio sets. It also carries a none-too-subtle message about consumerism, corporate culture, and our bloated human race as a whole.

(An observation: This is Pixar’s 9th consecutive creative and box office success. In the near-40 years I’ve been on this planet, not even Disney has had that kind of a hot streak.)

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5).

Will your kids like it?

My 5-year-old son was entranced with the film from beginning to end. There are a few intense scenes of action (EVE packs a laser gun she uses about a half dozen times) and spaceships loudly igniting and landing, but nothing I’d label scary or frightening. That being said, I think it was wise to keep our 2-year-old home.

Will your FilmMother like it?

Absolutely. Even if she’s not a sci-fi fan, she’ll get past it quickly once EVE shows up and the courtship between her and WALL•E begins.

WALL•E
* Director: Andrew Stanton
* Screenwriter: Andrew Stanton
* Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy
* MPAA Rating: G


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