What can be said about "Wall-E" that hasn't been said about all other Disney movies? Not much. Sure Wall-E is cute and there is a seemingly impossibly love interest. The one thing that makes this a little more unique is that it is told from a machine's point of view. Wall-E is a disposal unit who remains on earth long after the humans left to form their new life on a spaceship. Earthbound Wall-E is infatuated with all-things human. He collects human objects, much like Ariel did in "The Little Mermaid." And true to the Pixar creed, John Ratzenberger is in this movie too (I don't think they can make one without him.) Another slightly unique item is that Sigorney Weaver is the voice of the spaceship. She was also the secondary spaceship voice in "Galaxy Quest" - which was much more fun than this movie. Last but not least was Fred Willard's human hologram as the CEO of the company. That man is comic gold. He was the funniest thing about this movie to me. Wish I'd been a fly on the wall while taping his scenes.As you might have guessed, "Wall-E" is about the earth's environment, being eco-friendly, having an apocalyptic trash overload and human redemption.
What made the movie a little more special to me was that one of the robots, Eve, had the ability to show a lot of emotion with her computer-generated eyes. I liked that feature. I also liked that Wall-E was able to mess up some of the machines so that the humans could really take a look at what they had been living in rather than what was on their personal screens (difficult to explain).
What I didn't like was that the Disney aspect showed through. There were no parents in the movie. There were cross-dressing scenes with Wall-E (once with a bra over his eyes and another with makeup on his eyes). I'm afraid Disney showed through much more than Pixar did on this one. I was hoping for more imaginative scenes, but then, I'm a mom - not a 6 year old. There just wasn't that much to laugh about in this movie compared to other recent hits, like "Madagascar 2." What I was hoping for was more fun and laughs.
Despite this, I'd say it was a decent movie and one that most preschoolers up would like. I would not recommend buying it until you've seen it because it just didn't live up to the hype to me. Cute, yes - but no "Nemo."

2 comments:
10,000 times better than Nemo, and much more than a "pre-schoolers +" movie. The film won multiple best picture awards (not just best animated) and is already widely considered one of the best animated films *for adults* and children alike.
Midgard Dragon -
Thanks so much for commenting. I really appreciate it and would love to hear more from you.
I'm aware of the awards this movie garnished. It deserved something. However, the best animated film should have gone to Persepolis, not this one. Even Waltzing with Bashier (I've only seen a snippet) might have been better. But as Disney is in control of a lot of Hollywood, the rules were set to make sure that no movie but a Disney or Pixar could win those awards.
I have a 4 year old and rented it for him. He'd already seen it so much from daycare that he was bored with it and wanted to do something else.
If it had not had the eco component, I doubt as many adults would be so interested.
Did you like the music? I would have enjoyed a much more sprite-like tune.
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