I <3 Wall-E

In general I'll take any excuse to go see a kid's movie. Aside from the fact that I'm currently at the stage in my life where I find six year-olds to be annoying, content created for them often seems to be extremely entertaining. Proving, once again, that since I'm a grown-up now...it's my turn to decide what that means.

Of course I was chomping at the bit to see it, basically anything from Pixar (except that disaster "Cars" yech) is guaranteed to be awesome. Wall-E is the little robot that everyone wants for their very own. He has personality, an almost painfully cute curiosity about his environment, and a tendency to be friendly to anyone and anything he comes across. The result, aside from a wonderful and humorous love story in which the robots seem considerably more human than humans, contains some interesting ideas about the environment and technology. Wall-E is truly green! He charges via solar panels in what seems like nothing flat. One of the more amusing scenes was Wall-E in the morning, his solar charge is winding down and the alarm goes off, acting as an alarm clock, and Wall-E sleepily gets himself ready for the day. SO CUTE!

I'll try not to give anything away, seeing as many people have yet to see it (it's having been released only Friday). Like many other Pixar films, the themes are not restricted to children. Wall-E deals with falling in love, loneliness, the basic need to do good, helping others, curiosity, and, of course, the future. Some have said that the film is essentially very dark or hopeless. And if you look for that message, Wall-E certainly provides that. But I think that, at its core, it is a story about hope. No one can deny that we're screwing things up. But, Wall-E, though he has not been a party to the destruction, does all he can to help in the reconstruction. And through it all manages to make us laugh at his discoveries and childlike sense of wonder. I will definitely be seeing this one again, and I encourage everyone else to as well. But bring a kleenex. If you have a heart at all, this one will touch it.