Hit – Starring Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
The year is 2700 and the humans have left earth but have forgotten to turn off a robot named WALL*E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class). WALL*E spends every day collecting knick-knacks and doing what he was made for. With the help of space robot EVE, he will soon discover what he was meant for.
Wall*E is a cute digital animated film for the summer that has children around the world calling his name. It is important for screenwriters to remember that this is a children’s film as the theme of the story is way too complex for children to grasp. The main thing that little ones will take away from this film is a love story between Wall*E and Eve. They will also take away the fact that it is important for Wall*E to ensure the safe transfer of a particular Earth particle, to a nearby space ship (where the humans live).
Most children will not be able to pick up on the post-apocalyptic themes, the idea of being “green,” (not in the Kermit sense), and the fact that when robots do everything for humans and humans do not have to do anything for themselves (they don’t even have to walk); the effect is that they become morbidly obese.
Children will like the visual stimulation that this movie provides but will find themselves ready to leave the film 20 minutes before the credits roll. While this movie is cute, it could have been more interesting as a short film.
Speaking of short film, Disney / Pixar placed a short film before the feature which turned out to be a highlight of the theatre experience. The short film is called Presto and it is about the shenanigans that happen with Presto (a clever magician) forgets to feed his magic show co-star Alec (his rabbit). This film was brilliantly pieced together into a five minute short which was delightful. I believe it is the best short film to come out of Pixar.
Animation
Rated G
Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes
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