Wall-E

This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I keep half expecting Pixar to release something that does not stand up to the measurement of their catalog. This was not the one. With almost no true dialogue, Wall-E was already setting a fairly high mark to try to keep kids and adults engaged for the 100 minute running time. But what this movie came down to, at the core, was a story about the quest for companionship and someone to share your life with. As a testament to the animators skill, and the skill of Ben Burtt in creating life like sounds for the title character, this movie is a better love story than anything since Field of Dreams. Not only that, but Wall-E is also a broadside against several different areas of society today. From big box retailers, to crass consumerism, to 'social' networks and beyond, Wall-E holds up a mirror to our culture and doesn't skimp on the reflection. But that is all in the sub-text. The driving force of the movie is the relationship that one robot forms with another, and the lengths to which he will go to find that happiness and that joy that comes from sharing your life with someone else. Wall-E does all of this with precious little traditional dialogue and without the need for 'clever' catch phrases or juvenile humor. Wall-E is a great accomplishment for Pixar and Andrew Stanton, it tells a neat story and gives us great characters, all of this in a movie that is made for kids.