Wall•E

And the award for the cutest doggone little animated robot that crept into my life and stole my heart goes to...

Wall•E, of course.

Wall•E is as grand, epic, and moving as the very best parts of E.T. The parallels between the two characters are many, actually. Both are lost and lonely, a little clumsy, speaking primarily through body language and remarkably human eyes...the list goes on.

The brief synopsis, if you haven't seen it, is thus: 700 years into the future, mankind has abandoned Planet Earth for a perennial cruise about the galaxy in a giant megastore of a spaceship, sipping their comestibles through a straw, inflating in their tubbiness, and losing touch with their humanity. Meanwhile, the clean-up work on a trash-ravaged Earth is left to a brand of robots. Wall•E, that adorable little roving computer, is the only one still functioning. A probe sent by the Axiom (that floating Sam's Club) sends the sleek EVE, and Wall•E is instantly smitten. An unlikely love story (talk about a cliché phrase) develops, and leads the unrelentingly loyal Wall•E across the stars and on a mission to retrieve EVE and bring man back to his home turf.

Simple enough. And it is a very simple story, but one pregnant with metaphors and meaning. At its heart it is essentially about the love cultivated between the girl who's fixed to her programming, and a hapless boy who refuses to be limited by his.

Love is simple, yes. But it is a subject ripe with stories, imagery, emotions, and inspiration. Wall•E taps into the innocent, pure bliss of love. There is no innuendo, no crude jokes, no jealous boyfriends or love triangles. The purity of this relationship is encapsulated by the image of holding hands - a seemingly juvenile idea, but here so potently and magnanimously presented.

More than holding hands, though, this love is about loyalty. It's about self-sacrifice. It's about risking all, giving up all, fighting through adversity, and in a sense giving up your very life for the one you love. But rather than being a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet, it crescendos with rebirth - new life, new hope, and reunion.

Besides the love story, there's the whole science-fiction proposition of man trashing the earth beyond livability, abandoning it for guiltless laziness and enslavement to mind-numbing technology, then being confronted with themselves and finally choosing to do the right thing and go back home. People have complained that this movie is just an environmentalist propaganda piece. It's just not so. I know the climate in which we live predisposes us to be extra sensitive about whatever political buzz topics are flying around; it's easy, when we see a flashing green sign with a treeleaf on it, to cry out "TREE HUGGERS!"

But this movie is not about the sanctity of plant life, nor is it an indictment of big corporations and capitalism. The backdrop of the main story, the love story, is simply a sci-fi hypothesis - what if we trashed the world so bad we had to get off of it, and what if technology became so convenient and so powerful that we grew completely lazy and dependent? First of all, it's not an unthinkable future, considering how lazy and wasteful we are tempted to be in a materialistic, technocratic society. The message about taking care of our home (you might use the word "stewardship") is not a bad one, nor an irrelevant one. Believe me, I despise the environmental religion and Al Gore's little global warming edition of Triumph of the Will. But Wall•E is simply not touting an agenda, only a simple little morality tale.

The animation is breathtaking. The worlds created - both the bleak, post-apocalyptic earth, and the Axiom with its celestial surroundings - are incredibly detailed and gorgeous. The character animation is phenomenal, capturing such nuanced human emotions and expressions that Wall•E and EVE are far more interesting and believable than a ton of actors around. The music, though slightly underwhelming, still has a transporting power.

The real miracle is in telling this story with almost no dialogue. Only body language, and robotic beeps and elemental simulations of the human voice. There's no mistaking Wall•E's initial loneliness, his captivation by EVE, his awkward attempts at getting her attention, his sacrificial service to her, her eventual realization of his kindness, and their ultimate union. It's all there, and it's all told in such a tender, sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking - always genuine way.

Warnings
None. Are you kidding me? This movie is so pure. And it whistles like a Jiminy Cricket conscience on the shoulders of all the other CGI "kids" films out there that are convinced they need to make subtle dirty jokes and drop pop cultural references in order to entertain. When you have a quality story, quality characters, and quality animation, those cheap parlor tricks of selling tickets and getting a wider demographic inside the theater are exposed as frauds.

Redeeming Value
As if you haven't already figured out, I'm madly in love with this film. It is visual poetry. It is a groundbreaking feat in wordless storytelling. It has romance, comedy, drama, and science-fiction. It weaves a timeless yarn, and it does so in a spellbinding, flat-out gorgeous vehicle.

Purity. True love. Kindness. Sacrifice. And cute little robot voices. I'm sorry if my unabashed love for this film and its values has the smackings of Peter Pan syndrome. But these elements, told well as they are here, do much more good for the heart and the soul than any Oscar-winning story about corruption, wickedness, compromise, intrigue, adultery, or whatever else usually gets recognition.

I'm metaphorically here at the proverbial theater, patting the open seat next to me...hoping you'll join me in watching this incredible film.