A Review of the Movie WALL-E

I recently went to see the movie "WALL-E" with my ten year old grandson. This Disney movie directed by Andrew Stanton (who also directed "Finding Nemo") is a computer animated film by Pixar Animation Studios.

The movie starts out with WALL-E, which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth,doing his everyday job of compacting trash on the planet Earth. Evidently trash has taken over the planet making it uninhabitable for humans. You get the impression nothing is left but the garbage and WALL-E. The planet is in total chaos with absolutely no sign of life.

WALL-E, however, does display some life-like qualities. For one, it is quite apparent that he is extremely lonely. His only source of companionship is a bug. WALL-E also collects things he finds interesting. Odd toys or old junk parts that look different go into his "lunch box" and go home with him to be put into a bin.

On one of his work days, WALL-E finds a little green plant growing in the ground. He's never seen anything like it before so he scoops it up and takes it home with him.

One day a space ship lands on the planet and a sleek white, ultra-modern robot disembarks. WALL-E is instantly captivated by the new arrival, following her around, but trying to stay out of sight since he is unsure of what her purpose is. But one thing you are sure of is that she is a female robot. That is obvious from the very beginning.

To make a long story short, WALL-E,while trying to impress his new friend, shows off his collection of odds and ends he has collected. EVE, the female robot, analyzes each object, and is unimpressed until WALL-E presents her with the little green plant. Then something strange happens; she seems to shut down. WALL-E is beside himself, not wanting to see the end of his new friendship. But no matter what he does, EVE seems to be unresponsive. When the space ship shows up and collects her, WALL-E is desperate to hold onto her. He attaches himself to the space ship and travels away from Earth.

When the space ship docks with a huge ship, EVE is quickly unloaded. The ship proves to be a holding station for humans. But they don't seem like humans. They float around on lounges and are controlled by headsets which dictates their lives. They are all extremely overweight from years of non-exercise and appear almost brainless.

But then the Captain of the ship finds out about the plant EVE has brought back from Earth and defies the computer of the ship. The Captain wants to return to Earth. The Earth that has not seen human occupants in hundreds of years. I'll stop here on the story line and leave the ending for you to see for yourself.

The movie is a funny and heartwarming story. It actually reminded me of the movie "Short Circuit" which came out in 1986. In that movie, the robot thought it was alive, proclaiming to anyone who would listen that "Number Five is alive!" The voices of that robot and WALL-E were remarkably similiar.

The story did carry a very strong and emotional message. My ten year old grandson picked up on the garbage issue immediately. We discussed the movie on the drive home and talked about the importance of recycling and reusing materials.

All in all, it was a good movie. However, I believe the movie missed it's audience range. By that I mean, it was too complicated for young kids to understand and didn't have the excitement of "Batman" or "Pirates of the Caribbean" for the middle age kids. Truthfully, I believed I enjoyed the movie more than my grandson did.