A much better movie...

Maren and Chase and I went to see "Wall-E" today - I think the first time I've ever seen a movie the day that it's opened. I'm not one to go to the movie theater in general (think "no captioning"), but the critics were raving about "Wall-E." And they are absolutely right. "Wall-E" is a FANTASTIC movie. Admittedly, its message was way over Chase's head, and Maren needed quite a bit of explanation to understand the story line, but... wow. Pixar really did itself proud.

The movie takes place in the future. Wall-E and his cockroach friend are the only inhabitants of a trash filled earth, where Wall-E patiently compacts the endless detritus and occasionally picks out an item to take home at the end of the day. When a droid is dropped off by a spaceship one day, he falls in love with her and offers her numerous items from his treasures. One of these treasures is a single, small plant he found, the only one apparently growing on the face of the earth. The droid immediately takes the plant back to the space station where humans are currently living, Wall-E tagging along. The rest of the story is about how Wall-E and his droid-friend bring about a revolution among the overwight, passive humans who can't function outside of their computerized, technology-filled environment.

Although "Wall-E" is essentially a love story, it's also much more than that. There are multiple themes: We are slowly destroying our planet by overloading it with waste. We are becoming fat, lazy beings who will eventually be unable to pull ourselves out of a reclining position due to our apathy and over-indulgence. We are becoming too dependent on technology to do our work for us. But the movie isn't preachy. It just tells a story and lets the audience draw its own conclusions.

When I leave a movie teary-eyed about a robot, well... maybe I'm sentimental. Or maybe it was just that a good of a movie.