MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Wall●E Rated G

Directed by Andrew Stanton.  Animated Feature.

Photo © Disney Studios
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

For about the last forty years (since 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, approximately) the future has been depicted on screen as a rather depressing place.  Wall●E’s future world is no less traumatic, but perhaps a bit more hopeful than some scenarios, due to the creativity of Pixar Animation Studio.  The film begins (as did last year’s I Am Legend), with one lone individual roaming across a devastated American landscape.  This time around, however, it is not a man but a robot who is the solitary figure.  His name is Wall●E and he has been left behind after a mass evacuation from Planet Earth.  He is programmed to pick up garbage and to compact it into solid blocks of matter, which he dutifully stacks in tall columns resembling ghostly skyscrapers. Along the way, he selects items that interest him (a Rubik’s Cube, plastic eating utensils, etc.) to create a pop culture museum within his living quarters.  So goes the first 20 minutes of the film, an almost-dialogue-free meditation on life, loss and forsaken possibilities.  But this is a family film, after all, and the feeling of melancholy will be soon replaced with the possibilities of adventure. A spaceship lands, bringing with it a beautifully sleek robot named EVE.  Wall●E is smitten and leaves with the departing ship to chase after the girl of his dreams.  This film is an ambitious and remarkable accomplishment, which works as solid science fiction, a satire on our technological, consumer, and corporate follies, and a simple love story, with a little slapstick tossed in, besides.  The childlike qualities are playful and fun, and I suspect that younger children may miss about 90% of what’s going on with their first viewings, only to discover  new insights year later when they sit down to watch the film with their little brothers and sisters. The artists seem to be inspired by a number of science fiction films (as well as Looney Tunes), and the film is visually rich and rewarding.  I left the theater with a smile on my face and much to ponder about how we act as stewards of the world that God has given us.

Pitchfork Rating: Three halos. (An inventive and thought-provoking adventure.)  One halo. (For the systematic trashing of the planet.)

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