I hadn’t paid any attention to the Wall-E advertising blitz as I don’t have any children and I don’t normally watch animated features at the theater (in fact I can’t remember the last time I did.) I only remember seeing a cardboard cutout of Wall-E at a theater a few months ago and thinking “wow, he looks just like the robot from Short Circuit.” Short Circuit was one of my favorite films as a kid and I thought they were just going to be rehashing that old story. I thought “just Hollywood rehashing another old idea, ho hum.”
So needless to say I didn’t have any plans on seeing the movie, all of that changed when I started hearing what other people were saying about it. It was getting glowing reviews from a lot of people whose opinion I trust. I then decided to go to Rotten Tomatoes to check out what the critics were saying. I have never read such positive reviews for a movie before. I decided that I had to see this for myself.
So I went to a theater in New York City to see Wall-E yesterday. The theater was packed which I wasn’t too surprised by. What I was surprised by was that the audience was about 95% adult and I am not exaggerating when I say that. In fact I only saw 4 children in the entire theater. I figured they must have read the same reviews I did and wanted to check out for themselves.
I do not want to give away a lot of plot or talk a lot about specific things that happen in the movie as I think it’s best experienced how I experienced it, not really knowing much about it except that a lot of people are really enjoying it.
Is it a rehash of Short Circuit? No. Not even close. It has nothing to do with that movie except that the lead character robot has a similar look. It actually has a lot more in common with 2001: A Space Oddyssy. Yes, you read that correctly. In fact the movie is quite clearly inspired by 2001. And I do mean “inspired,” it’s not a “rip-off” in anyway.
This is not your average cartoon movie. It is something special. I believe it’s the type of movie that people will remember many years from now. It’s truly incredible how it can manage to entertain people from ages 5 to age 100. And yes, this is a G-rated movie. There are no lame attempts at “adult” humor. This film is not adult in that way, it’s adult in a much deeper way. I actually think the movie is something of a spiritual film. It’s a movie that makes you feel wonder about the world. While it’s a warning of sorts, I feel that it’s actually an awakening. It’s not too late. You can begin now.
It’s a wonderful thing that a movie this intelligent and with this much integrity is being made in 2008. It’s a wonderful thing that children of today have a masterpiece to call their own. And that’s what Wall-E is, it’s a true masterpiece. I believe it deserves to be considered for the Oscar for best picture. And no I don’t mean best animated movie, I mean best picture overall. It’s definitely the best new movie I’ve seen this year.
