WALL-E

This is the most extraordinary animated film I've seen in years. And the most extraordinary film of any kind I've seen this year. It is eerie, cutting, sly, traumatic, hopeful, funny, and an indictment of our ideas about progress, technology, and our ability to solve problems.

And it's fun for the whole family.

There's a scene at the end that ranks pretty high on the Bambis-mom-ometer in terms of childhood film sadness. I was trying -- and mostly succeeding -- to keep my shit together until a plaintive cry went out from one of my fellow audience members (no older than 6, my guess) asking "what's wrong with WALL-E?" Oh lord did I lose it.

I wonder if the legacy of expensive processor time makes Pixar more economical with it's animation than other firms? I lost count of the number of scenes in this movie that spoke volumes in a few seconds. Intro shot: we zoom past a dead, dry, abandoned landscape as wind turbines sit still around mountain valleys of trash. Volumes about the futile efforts to address symtoms, not causes. We pan across the portraits of ship captains that get fatter and live shorter with every passing generation. Volumes. We see the latest captain engage in a herculean struggle to press the off button on the cherished technology. Volumes.

It is also a movie that is largely dialogue-free, leading to some incredible characterization by the animators and voice actors. Oscars for all involved with this picture, or I burn shit down.

Go see it.