Love and Hope - WallE review

I've been a loyal Pixar fan since the Toy Story I days. WallE was the first Pixar movie I wasn't looking forward to see. For some reasons the trailer just didn't have "it". Nonetheless for my bombarded-by-TV-commercials sons this movie was a summer must see. So out we went tonight.

My expectations were low. By the end of the night, I had to say this was so far the most brilliant Pixar work. The film starts with a little lonely rusty robot named WallE in a world hardly recognizable. Unlike the other Pixar movies with breathtakingly beautiful sceneries of the ocean, Paris or the Arizona canyons, the first half of "WallE" plays out in a brown, desolate, lifeless city (seems rather LA like). Other than a little cockroach WallE is the only being on the planet. He continues his old job of cleaning trash, with which the earth is covered, while finding objects to amuse himself such as an old video cassette, a magic cube or an IPod (cute tribute to Pixar founder Steve Jobs). One day, a beautiful robot girl named Eve blasts in from outer space. She's the opposite of WallE - clean, sleek and all powerful. WallE falls instantly in love with her.

To win Eve's love, WallE tries all kinds of tricks to please her. One day he finds a tiny plant, a ray of magnificent green in the sea of dirt and metals. Eve's reaction is anything but predictable. The story takes a new turn from here. To follow his heart, WallE ventures into Eve's world - a giant space ship with some human descended from people on a space cruise 700 years ago.

This movie is charming, witty and heartwarming. It is undeniably political though, even by the usually left leaning Hollywood standards. If the well served ever obese human crew is a subtle reference to the all consuming indulgent modern Americans, the evil B&L CEO's speech is directly quoted from the famous Bush "stay the course" ones.  While children are enjoying the stories and actions, their parents undoubtedly feel a chill down their spines. The most recent space pictures show mother earth is turning rapidly brown. If we keep hiding our heads like ostriches, the scenes in the movie aren't all that far fetched.

Still, this is a Disney movie for children. The ending gives us tremendous hope and satisfaction. The movie credits are meshed with pictures mimicking ancient Egypt, Rome and Van Gough paintings, reminding us that we've come a long way to build our civilization. Let's save it for our children.

As I walked out of the movie theater, I noticed much of the audience was adults without companies of children. This by itself was a very hopeful scene.

PS: My husband's take on WallE