current anxiety: violent and melodramatic movies
solution: wall-e
it’s difficult these days not only to find a movie that isn’t horrifically violent or stupid, but also one that is well-made and not melodramatic or corny. it may seem a little sad that i was forced to turn to a G-rated pixar/disney movie to actually find something of quality…but then again, is it?
besides, i’m a little kid at heart. i am still periodically gripped with the urge to buy a cute stuffed animal that i notice in a store. some of my favorite movies are kid’s movies (my all time favorite being my neighbor totoro). pixar has often done a great job with kid’s movies, particularly films like toy story and finding nemo. but i have to say that they really outdid themselves with wall-e.
the first 40 or so minutes of the film have almost no dialogue. the soundtrack is a little overdone to compensate, but for the most part it faded into the background for me. wall-e is not your typical kid movie robot. he’s rusty and broken down, yet adorable and endearing just the same (without being too human-like). the robots don’t really talk in the movie, which is a welcome relief. they communicate in other, more subtle ways. when i saw the film, the movie theater was packed with kids (and adults) of all ages. surprisingly, even without unnecessary action and dialogue, none of the kids seemed restless or bored. they were captivated with the remarkable graphic design and fascinated by the simple day to day rituals of a lone robot inhabiting a deserted Earth, overrun by trash.
in the second half of the movie, things heat up and wall-e becomes more like a kid’s action movie. however, it has a hint of a moral and societal message under the surface about what will happen if we don’t start cleaning up our act as humans. it may go over the younger kid’s heads, but the adults in the audience will most likely pick up on the not so subtle jabs at where our society is headed. the film addresses both our reliance on technology and our disregard for the environment without being preachy or contrived.
overall, i loved the film. it was fun to watch a movie that didn’t make me anxious, overly emotional, or disgusted. wall-e made me laugh and was touching (without being cheesy). i wish all kid’s movies these days (or hell, all movies in general) could possess the qualities and characteristics that makes wall-e such a great film.
I loved wall-e, it really tugged on my heartstrings!