Agree with serai--if this "cartoon," as you call it, isn't the best Hollywood film of the year, what is? Tropic Thunder? Hulk? This hasn't exactly been a stand-out year in cinema, and I don't think "best of the year" is terribly hyperbolic in this context. Best of the century, maybe, or best animated film ever, but I haven't been hearing those.

You've largely missed the point on this film. It was artsy, cute, and beautiful at the same time while delivering a powerful but mostly non-preachy (show don't tell) message on the environment, consumption, and overpopulation, the last two being topics that are pretty much off-limits in the American media as a whole, to say nothing of animated films.

But pat yourself on the back Andy, you're better than all that cartoony stuff.

Of course the people on the spaceship didn't mind the idea of hard work. They didn't know what hard work was, and indeed the novelty of walking was pretty fun.

Did it suck later? Probably.

Did lots of people wish they had stayed in space? No doubt.

But we don't see those parts. That doesn't mean they wouldn't have happened, though.

But yeah, what we do see, people who have been told they are going home relishing the first few minutes stepping on to earth, was more realistic than a lot of other things about the movie.

So many of the posters here are discussing whether WALL-E is a good film. It IS a good kid's film. It may even have a certain appeal for adults. But when are we going to get a truly ADULT animated film? Not XXX, but truly adult oriented. The technology is there. There is no reason why we couldn't have an H.P. Lovecraft film or any of the Samuel Delany SF epics, or even a space opera like E.E. Smith's Lensman series. What we need is a true PG-13 or NC-17 computer-animated film that appeals to actual adults. I think Pixar toyed with that idea with WALL-E and chickened out at the last minute and "cuted-up" the ending.

C'mon Pixar, where is CGI's Bergman, Fellini, or Coppola?

I heard so many good things about this flick. Mistake! When Star Wars, Raiders and E.T. came out I heard the same thing. Awful movies... Speilberg's parents should have found a different way to fuck! Jaws sucks too! The Steven King of film. Yuck!

I enjoyed Wall-E fine, but I agree with Andrew that it has been way over-hyped. Plus, I have had it right up to here with stories of robots that turn out to have feelings "just like us". I still live in hope that somebody will eventually make a mainstream movie about robots where they simply let the machines be machines. I suppose HAL in 2001 is about as close as we have come so far.

it's just that it's too abrupt. it's almost like hundreds of years of human sloth are turned off with the flick of a switch. it's not the optimism i have a problem with -- just the execution. like a few more scenes of struggle were needed to earn that ending.

but i think what also hurts is the pretty rote action climax between the evil ship and wall-e & co. at the end. regardless of whether you think the ending should've been upbeat or a downer, it does seem like the movie deserved something a little more interesting than a generic race-against-the-clock action sequence.

still liked it a lot -- my second favorite pixar after finding nemo, and my second favorite of the year after the gritty croatian heroin addict prostitutes on a road trip movie andrew's been recommending

Is the difference between Wall-E and "300" or "Sin City", themselves approaching 95% content made on a computer? 5 years, tops and 'movies' with photorealistic 'actors' even famous ones already in the business, will not have any actual humans in them.

What's ever behind mass merchandising and marketing? money.

I have an 11-year-old and have seen every Pixar film more times than I can count....

First - these are kids movies so don't expect a real downer ending.

Second - the schmaltz of Cars was annoying and the storyline predictable. I thought the whole conceit really didn't work.

Just my opinion.

Third - Wall-E - we saw it opening night and they gave us a free Wall-E watch - a crappy piece of plastic watch. My son wanted to play with it - I wanted to save it. It was the single most ironic thing that I have ever seen - throw-away crap for a movie about the dangers of throw-away crap.....

All that being said - I was also able to use the movie as a starting point to talk about consumerism and media saturation with my son....

How did a photsynthetic plant grow *inside a refrigerator*? Or did I mis-see that scene.

(By the way, for earlier commentators, that wasn't the only plant; we see large fields of them when we pull out at the end. *They* weren't in refrigerators. ;-) )

A good animation to compare with is "The Triplets of Belleville". They have similar pathos, with Triplets being even more taciturn. Additionally, Triplets choose a better resolution for a dark comedy -- let it degenerate into a satirical farce. On the other hand, I don't think Triplets had the constrain of appealing to kids.

Another Pixar production that reminded me of Triplets is "Ratatouille", simply for the French connection. Once again, the superiority of Triplets made Ratatouille a bit of disappointment for me.

All in all I think that Ratatouille is probably the best Pixar film, although I love The Incredibles.

That said, WALL-E was the only Pixar film--and the first of any film in many years--that caused me to say to myself the second the credits ended, "I HAVE to see that again!".

The fact is that the silent first half of the film is flat-out one of the most beautiful, moving things I've ever seen on screen. The gorgeous agony of WALL-E's tedious daily grind, the beauty he recognizes in discarded objects dutifully added to his beloved 'shrine o' stuff, the endless repeats of Hello Dolly... JesusChrist! I was completely obliterated by that film within the film.

But then the ending happens. Oh well. Still, the impact of the beginning has never left me, and I hold no grudges for the safe close. Pixar rules!

Oh, my 7 and 10 year old loved it just fine.