So the missus and I spent a few hours of our free time this past weekend catching WALL•E at the local cineplex. I think this was our first movie at an actual theater in years but I just had to watch it what with all the hype and all. Typical Pixar fare, it was an enjoyable time. The environmental and social messages weren't particularly overbearing since it was covered in a humorous, and sometimes over-the-top manner. But because they appear somewhat light-hearted, those messages don't feel like they have much impact on my consciousness either. The best animated feature I've seen that makes you aware about man's impact on the land is Pom Poko by Studio Ghibli. It's quite a funny film yet never fails to bring a tear to my eye.
As for the romantic portion of WALL•E, let's see... (warning: spoilers ahead!) a short, puppy dog-eyed otaku who's only contact/knowledge of the opposite sex is through a screen finally meets a strong, confident, gorgeous, svelte career woman with an itchy trigger finger. After nearly vaporizing our otaku protaganist a couple of times, she falls into a coma after he gives her some nice herb, aka "plant." After more trials and tribulations, the woman finally develops warm and fuzzy feelings for the lil' geek after witnessing how devoted he was in taking care of her while she was in the coma. Struck by lightning twice yo! But by that time he's already three-quarters of the way towards the scrapheap of no return while attempting to help her achieve the all important "directive." Distraught, she desperately brings him back to life only to find out that he has amnesia! Curse you gods!!! But in the end, a little hand and forehead nookie is all that's needed to revive our plucky trashbot and they live happily ever after. To sum up it's a chick flick merged with a geek's wet dream.
Anyway, as I said before, it was an enjoyable film and I have no problems recommending it. It's cute and fun and what Pixar was able to achieve with minimal dialogue was pretty great. I'm not sure if it would be my favorite Pixar film to date (The Incredibles was pretty incredible) but it's up there.
