Wall•E is the answer to that question. It's really more than that -- a lot more -- but that question came into my head in the first 5 minutes of the film. Wall•E, the new Disney/Pixar film, happens to also be the first Disney movie that scares the parents more than the kids. I don't think there was much in this special film to scare the target demographic -- the villain is one that adults will identify with much more than kids. Fortunately, there is plenty of excitement, as in all good animated features, and adventure. And for a movie that has very little dialog, even from the humans who eventually appear, it is remarkably deep. Everyone should see it with our without kids. If you go without kids, I recommend going in the evening though if you want to minimize the interruptions. See Roger Ebert's review for a good idea of the overall story.
My wife, Abi, made the great point that the sleek white probe robot EVE is like the dove in the flood story retrieving the sign of renewed life. In fact, Wall•E is a modern day flood story. When I said that she suggested that this had the opposite of a flood as there seems to be no water in the future. What if our greatest threat, the one thing that would not easily recede or evaporate, is the waste that we generate? The deluge that drives these inhabitants onto their ark is that of trash. And what a deluge it is! There are not mountains of trash, but skyscrapers of it. If this is a flood story, and I think it is among other things, it raises may questions. I don't like thinking of questions much when watching these kinds of films. Really what's the point? Why didn't the people at the Wal Mart-like Buy N Large want to take animals on their ark, the Axiom? What happened to the people in the rest of the world? The answers might have been answered if this were a story by Phillip K. Dick or a film in the vein of 28 Days Later, but they're too gruesome and depressing for a film like this. However, I think it's clear now why this movie is much scarier for adults than for kids. We're asking these questions even as we're enjoying the movie.
Evidently, the co-writer/director Andrew Stanton wasn't intending this to be a polemic piece. Or that's the talking point. In any case, it's a solid pro-green message. With some jabs at the Bush administration, too. The green part is self-evident and brilliant -- I cringed at the sight of the overflowing theater trash cans spilling out oversized cups and uneaten pop corn. So are the jabs. First of all, corporations don't just get incentives and apparent tax breaks they get to take over the world. The winning corporation, which acts as a benevolent dictatorship (who the dictator is is the surprise), with it's first CEO being a GWB-like guy who says things like "stay the course" and does a lot of smirking. On a level that isn't so far below the surface, this is kind of like a Michael Moore film for the kiddies. There's plenty of entertainment and messaging to go around. I almost wrote preaching, but I'd be the proverbial "choir".
All of Pixar's movies are chock full of great details. This one has plenty. Along with some of the messagey stuff I just mentioned with borrowed lines and so forth, there are some sight gags that offer a moment of recognition or even a quiet chuckle. There's plenty in the first act as we get to know Wall•E and see what his life is like, then as we get to know EVE and her capabilities and watch a romance blossom. My favorite, though, comes as Wall•E is hanging on to the side of a space ship and they leave Earth's orbit, which has become it's own sort of landfill of satellites. All of Pixar's movies also have incredible closing credits, since they take the place of the more typical opening credits. Wall•E's credits are brilliant and grow right out of the ending. As a onetime student of art history, I just loved them. That's all I'll write -- they're brilliant and need to be seen first hand.
Go see it. Take a kid. Don't take a kid. Pixar is cool enough so you don't have to look like you belong there.
One last thing, there's some talk about how this would be a good Sci Fi film if it were only live action. Roger Ebert mentions this, too, but he allows that it might just be anyway. Since it took him 30 years to recognize Blade Runner as a Great Movie, I'm going go ahead and put it out there this is already a great Sci Fi movie.
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