Wall-E

This film was by far my favorite of the marathon trip to Universal Studios Theater, which included Wanted, Get Smart and Hancock. What stands out the most is just how human Wall-E was with his child-like wonder. He was fascinated with the world and so the audience was fascinated with him (much like Daniele and Hagen's description of the enraptured cat on-stage stealing all the attention from the actors). Also the level of detail in each frame of the animation was riveting. I could not look away. I know I caught a glimpse of the Dinosaur from Toy Story in there and I am sure I will see something new every time I watch it.

The political commentary was blatant, and really aimed at making sure kids got it. I was OK with this because the focus on the movie was on the robots and not the humans and the fact that the robots were more human than the humans (who acted like robots completely immersed in their technology) was a bit more subtle. The Buy'N'Large company was obvious in what it stated about our waste and consumption driven society (aka capitalism) and how advertising tells you what to think and want. The chairs that walk for you was a warning against our over-reliance on technology and the computer screens in your face were a clear parallel to cell phones and our recent obsession with being constantly connected to people through technology without actually connecting to real people and the world around us. Primarily it was a warning against our ever-increasing technology mediated existence. Will humans forget what it means to be human and become machines of the system, capitalism and technology? We will forget how to connect with people as people? Clearly the answer is no. Wall-E represented an extreme that our society will never reach because we are so diverse and different as people, but extreme and blatant as it was, I think it will still present a mirror for self-reflection as to where our society is headed, especially for children who I think will really connect with the commentary about waste that the film represents. Obviously, something like 1984 is much more profound as an extreme representation of our future and had Wall-E been more subtle it would have had more potential to connect with adults, but it was a delightful film with an important message about our immersion in technology and capitalism, which isn't usually a message delivered to kids.