Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver (kinda…)

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Walt Disney Pictures

The Official Site of Wall-E

Discuss Wall-E on the boards!

If you're a regular listener of The Triple Feature then you know I wasn't particularly excited about Pixar's latest offering Wall-E. Nothing against the movie itself, but after being burned by Pixar with Cars I've become a little cautious about what's up next. I'm no longer willing to believe the Pixar hype and I refuse to get wrapped up in it. Wall-E was being heralded as the best thing since cupcakes (totally better than sliced bread) and it wasn't even released yet. As frustrated as I get with people that assume a movie sucks without actually seeing them, I get similarly upset when people praise a movie blindly. Just see it before you start building that shrine.

Well I could smell the incense and I wanted no part of it. The movie looked good, great even! An hour and a half of R2-D2 saving the world - what's not the like!? But it doesn't mean the movie is any good.

I of course was a victim of my own stereotype and I realized the only way to squash it was to see the movie for myself. It was Yeo actually that pushed me to see it. I'd been gone for a week at a comic con and we were settling back into married cuddle mode. We'd just seen a movie and I think she thought I'd like to see a second. She was right, and Wall-E was the best choice.

In the face of my unwillingness to be there, surrounded by a crowd of late night theater hoppers and children sleepwalking well past their bed time, Wall-E ended up being a force of animated perfection worthy of all that sightless praise. I've got no problem admitting that… now that I've seen it.

EDIT: (Warning: A reader told me that I give a little too much of the plot away in the review. In the context of things I would call it "light spoilers" that only scratch the surface, but I don't want to take anything away from the viewer. Proceed causiously.)

Wall-E takes place 700 years in the future where mankind has abandoned Earth for the greener pastures of space. They've left behind mountains of garbage and a bunch of little robots to clean it up, so that'll be nice and clean upon their inevitable return. Those trash-compacting robots are Wall-E units and they themselves have all but died out under the battery strain of an impossible task and 700 years of maintenance free labor. All except one, our hero, who soldiers on with his task, sifting through the remains of humanity collecting treasures of his own.

Even with a cockroach companion, this Wall-E unit is very lonely and longs for the kind of companionship he sees in the history of man that he's pieced together in his little junkyard. Enter Eve, a futuristic robot in search of life on Earth. Eve is an iPod to Wall-E's 8-track. Sleek, polished, dangerous and determined. It would take someone with the natural charm of Earth's last garbage-bot to melt the icy-exterior of this professional woman of today.

As today's comic hints though, once Eve find's what she's looking for, she shuts down and awaits her return to space. Back to the humans awaiting a sign of hope that Earth is inhabitable once again. Or are they?

When Wall-E and his comatose beauty reach the Axium, a floating space ark where humans have fattened up and dumbed down in a society where robots do the chores and every meal comes in a Big Gulp cup. We find a society of humans 700 years removed from life on Earth, accustomed to convenience and comfort. It would take someone with the heart of Earth's last junk slut to wake humanity from its fog and appreciate something they didn't know they were missing.

This is where the movie gets a little preachy, something that didn't bother me so much but has been mentioned more than once online. The message of taking care of our planet is a little heavy handed but not overbearing. I thought it was just enough to propel us through what otherwise would have been an empty adventure from the human side of things. I mean, if Eve was looking for soup mix on Earth, it still would have gotten Wall-E into space, but his time there would have been a lot less eventful. He probably would have spent some of it making soup. I like the movie as is.

With a starry setting and unique cast of characters an opportunity is created for Wall-E to take the scenic route. To flex its muscles visually. Extended scenes of Wall-E scraping the atmosphere or his euphoric space dance with Eve as they take a moment to reconnect amidst the chaos awaiting them back on the ship feel a little like Pixar bragging. You know what though? Pixar has earned the opportunity to show off a little, to crow via cartoon, so I say let them dance.

This may seem obvious but I think this is an amazing movie for kids. Great imagination and visuals with tons of cute characters, a solid message and, as odd as it may seem, no real villain. At least not in a traditional sense. There is a character to overcome but there's no snarling beast under the bed and I really appreciated that. Pixar easily created tension and danger without resorting to a monster lurking around the corner. It's a testament to their skill how well that was handled.

And that's the story of the whole movie. Wall-E is Pixar at its best turning in a beautiful and entertaining piece of art on par with their top work from the past. But don't take my word for it. Go decide for yourself.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 - Wall-E is easily the strongest children's film of the year in a year that's got more than a few really well done children's films in it. Kung Fu Panda was a delicious appetizer for this perfectly cooked main course.

A common reaction I’ve noticed around the web is that people cannot wait to see Wall-E again. Repeat business didn’t exactly electrify its 50% drop to second place behind Hancock in its second week of release, but I get the impression from a fair amount of people I’ve talked to about the film that Wall-E will be a quick addition to most of their DVD collections. I’m not sure I’m ready to make the same commitment just yet. Wall-E has so much going for it but it’s a simple story. A second viewing probably wouldn’t shed any light or reveal something beyond what we already know. Truthfully it would just be a second walkthrough to enjoy the craftsmanship of the animation and storytelling. I can do that through Netflix.

That’s just me though. Wall-E would fit in fine with you’re collection if you’re a child or a child at heart. But before you dash another $17.99 off to big Disney let me ask you this – When’s the last time you watched Ratatouille? Or even Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc. or Toy Story 2 for that matter? Spend a little time with those movies you thought you couldn’t live without.

If you haven’t seen Wall-E then you also haven’t seen Presto, a digital Pixar short before the film that is just as dazzling and memorable as the feature itself. It’s a brilliant example of how well a talented writing team can re-examine the same joke. They take a very simple idea and run it into the ground leaving you laughing out loud and loving this magician and his pet after only 5 minutes of footage. It’s Pixar’s top talents working at their best. Check out this 30-second clip to get a taste and then rummage through the internet looking for a copy of the full version or just suck it up, break out 12 bucks and head to the theater.

I sincerely believe sometimes Yeo would sell one of my fingers for a fresh bag of popcorn. Okay, I don’t actually believe that, but I could see myself loosing a finger if I miss-timed grabbing some popcorn for myself. That’s actually not true either, but the woman loves her popcorn. She loves it so much that I decided to do a special drawing of her to celebrate their magical connection. I’m using it as my return to incentive images!

Those of you that have been reading JLCM for a while or who have ventured reading through the backlog are aware of something called the incentive image – an extra drawing attached to the comic accessed via voting on one of those top 100 Webcomic sites. Tom and I were talking in Chicago about returning to the top 100 lists. I’m not so sure I like everything that comes along with the lists themselves but I really miss doing the incentive images. I miss the extra touch and the extra connection to you guys that comes along with it.

So, for now I’m going to start working voting incentive images back into JLCM. If I get tired of the top 100 lists I’ll just remove them from there and post the images directly in the reviews. In the meanwhile I appreciate the support you give by voting towards something that could eventually help JLCM grow and get better. We’ll take it slow though. See how it goes.

Vote now to see the special Yeo Loves Popcorn image!

Bolt - Wasn't there a live action movie in the alst couple years a bout a celebrity dog that thought he was really as tough as his character on TV? I wanna say Firehouse Dog… but I could be just imagining it. Regardless, that version didn't feature a dog with a cool lightning bolt patch, John Travolta's voice and the back of Disney to market it to the masses. Actually it might have been a Disney movie but everyone knows you can only reach so many people with live action animal movies.

Disney's Bolt takes the lost dog/road trip formula and adds a nice super dog twist to it. The film looks predictable but dependable. Truthfully it's the crazy hamster in the ball that sold me on this movie. Ignorance of your true capabilities is one thing, but that fuzzy bastard is crazy.

Be sure to watch the trailer in hi-definition at Yahoo.com

Did my rant at the top of the review about not praising a movie before you actually see it connect with you, or even rub you the wrong way? Well then you've got to hear Gordon talk about The Dark Knight on last night's show. Dude is ANGRY about it for the same reasons I was bothered about the early praise of Wall-E. It's ok to be excited about a movie but that doesn't mean that it'll be good or that you'll even like it. Same thing in reveres - a movie may look like it's going to really suck but… you never know.

Thanks for reading! Now go get ready for Hellboy 2 and don't forget to VOTE!