I am no movie critic but I am a huge fan of Pixar movies and 3D animation in general. I have to say, after seeing every Pixar movie multiple times over, that Wall-E ranks #1 out of them all, in front of Andrew Stanton’s last Pixar film: “Finding Nemo”. I was extremely impressed and pleasantly surprised by the the depth and emotion that was packed into a movie with such a seemingly simple “sci-fi” love story that had relatively, very little dialogue. I have not seen an animated movie to date that exudes such powerful emotion and incredible character development purely through meticulously executed animation.

From very shortly into the movie you know, understand, and have immediate sympathy for Wall-E. Pixar took the challenge of limited dialogue and turned it into the movies overwhelming strength, and an element of the movie that was irreplaceable. At no point in the movie did I think: “I wish the characters talked more”. The limited dialog in Wall-E has the same effect of reading a book, then seeing the movie for that same book afterward. The movie is never as good as the book because when reading a book your imagination creates the story the way you want it to be told and how you think it should look. The same is true in Wall-E with regard to the character’s dialogue. You were able to make up your own version of the story using any internal dialogue you wanted with the support of the incredible amount of detail and subtleties in the animation. Thinking about it now, I wish there was less dialogue!

Wall-E provided some of the best Pixar scenes to date

Wall-E’s character was a lovable, insecure and clumsy robot which provided for the seamless combination of comic relief and sympathy to create some of the greatest Pixar movie scene’s yet:

A couple Memorable Wall-E moments:

• The shots that combined to make the scene when EVE enters into “shutdown mode” waiting to be picked up by the Axiom after finding life on earth were very emotional and combined extremely well to simultaneously establish the amount love and extreme loneliness Wall-E had in him. If you didn’t feel bad for Wall-E at this point in the movie, you had no heart. Wall-E getting struck by lightening multiple times while shielding EVE from the storm was hilarious and filled in any voids left, if, while watching you still didn’t understand the depths of Wall-E’s desire for a loving relationship.
• The Scene when EVE and Wall-E are flying around in space after Wall-E ejected himself from the self-destructing pod using a fire extinguisher was visually stunning and beautifully done to capture the joy Wall-E and EVE provided each other. It also was a very well thought out visual demonstration of the differences in the two characters personalities. It further enhanced the power of their on-screen relationship and, as with most scenes it has some well placed comic relief.

Wall-E is more than a love story…

In addition to a nice simple love story with mis-haps and adventure, Wall-E presents a powerful, and hilarious social commentary as to the future of human existence that is far fetched but definitely opens your eyes to the sad possibilities of life and technology in 800 years. Pixar presents this commentary in a way that is used primarily to enhance the importance and power of Wall-E and Eve’s love for one another. the social commentary does not get in the way of the fun of movie and Pixar makes sure you don’t leave the theater feeling like “one of those terrible human creatures”.

For all the good there was one disappointment…

One thing that I was disappointed in, and surprised with in Wall-E was the use of actual human actors in the movie. As I can recall it was the first time this has been done in a Pixar movie and it didn’t seem necessary in this context. I’m sure there was a reason for it, as there usually is a reason for everything in the creation of a Pixar movie, but I really didn’t understand it. I thought the movie would have been just as good, if not better without the presence of human actors, especially the very recognizable Fred Willard. The combination of about 99% 3D animation and 1% actual human characters seemed to cheapen the movie a bit. I felt the same way about happy feet.

There are many places out there where the use of a cell phone works very effectively in pointing out a pompous, low class asshole. These are all places that, by default, you should NOT talk on a cell phone.
Here’s a list of 10 of those places (in no specific order)…

1. The Gym

If you have ever even picked up a cell phone to make or take a call at the gym you are a self centered tool with a small “male extremity”. No excuses, it’s just a fact. Those steroids probably aren’t helping the situation either because now, not only is your “third leg” small but your testes are shrinking rapidly. If you are a girl, and are talking on the phone at the gym, then you are just lazy, and not even worth talking about. Chances are, if you even have a cell phone at the gym you are actually using it to sneak photos of girls, or guys you wish you could attract by pretending to talk on your cell phone at the gym. Save your time, save your money, stop going to the gym… you’re not working out, and you look like a fool that no one wants to associate with. I hope those “skull crushers” you are doing live up to their name!

2. In a Business Meeting

This one is just sad… It’s been done to me on various occasions. The disrespect and amazing rudeness that goes into answering a cell phone call in a business meeting is beyond comprehension. I don’t understand how someone can even start to consider this to be OK. Here I am, in a stupid meeting YOU called to order, wasting my time, while you are answering nonsense phone calls for the sake of looking more important than you really are. Get off the phone and listen, or I’ll take that blackberry of yours, run it under the water cooler and spike your freshly poured water with a laxative so you can have sometime alone in the bathroom and talk on the phone all you want without wasting my time.

3. The Dinner Table

If a pending conversation with your “buddy” or your “bro” or your “bff” is more important than eating, family, and your survival, then OK, take that call at the dinner table, otherwise, save it for after you eat, asshole. There are millions of hungry children in this world who would LOVE to take your spot at that table then stab you in the chest with a spear they made from sticks off the foundation of their shanty when you try to sit back down. With blood pouring out of your spear wound, at least then you might start thinking about the important things in life.

4. A Restaurant

If you don’t have anyone to talk to while sitting down to eat at a restaurant, do the rest of us a favor and stop trying to make it seem like you do. And stop trying to make it seem like you have a purpose. Go home to your lonely pathetic life. Maybe then a phone call will be warranted if anyone is willing to go through the pain of talking to you. No one cares about you, or your phone. Your disrupting everyone’s dinner and making an ass out of yourself. You are probably the type of person who doesn’t tip and complains about how cold your food is even if it’s fresh out of the oven. Hopefully you get third degree burns on your tongue from that burning hot soup that you just had warmed up for no reason. You won’t be talking much on the phone then.

5. During the Checkout process at a store

OK, you’ve talked on your cell phone in the line… FINE, that’s somewhat acceptable, But when you get to the checkout counter, PUT THE PHONE DOWN! You are annoying everyone around you with your arrogance and failed attempt at demonstrating self importance. Everyone now just hates you even more than they did when they first noticed your arrogant strut through the isles of the Dollar Store. You’re not kidding us. We all know your real story: You don’t talk to your mother anymore because she called you a bad name once and your father hates the fact that he created a pompous asshole so he has chosen not to talk to you.

By the way, that conversation you are having with your whore girlfriend about her latest STD (that you now have), or your felon brother in prison can wait until after you finish buying that YO YO for one of your 8 children from a previous marriage.

Meanwhile, on the receiving end of your arrogance, your cashier would have loved to stab you in the eye with the pen she gave you to sign for your overcharged credit card, you minimum paying bastard.

6. Anywhere in public while using a Bluetooth device

OK… You look like schizophrenic from outer space. Hold the phone with your hands (You are not driving and that’s what hands were made for) and take that stupid little futuristic laser looking device off your ear. You are flashing, and everyone is worried about your health because you’re talking to yourself. NO, it doesn’t make you look cool… just weird. I hope that stupid little device is attracting radio waves that cause a terminal form of a fast growing cancer.

7. Crowded Public Transportation

No one wants to hear you, or your “partner” on the other end of the line talk intimately to each other, and especially, no one wants your fat elbows in their face while your doing so. You smell like you just ran through a sewer and it’s obvious a swamp is in your pants. Put the phone, and your arms down. It’s too crowded for that. No one likes you. No one likes your significant other on the line. No one thinks you look “cool”, and if we weren’t living in a civil society you would be the first pushed off this train onto the rails.

8. A Car

This one deserves a little explanation… we all talk on the phones in the car and for the most part that is fine. It is HOW you talk on the phone in your car ,and what types of conversations you have in a car that make you look like a ass. The people I’m talking about are the people who ONLY talk on their cell phone while in their car and go out of their way to make the most important phone calls in their car. We see it all the time. Over animated assholes “driving, while talking on their cell”. Most of the time they have glossy black hair and if you look long enough at them you will see they often times check if anyone one is watching their disgusting display of self importance. Hey you! get out of the left-center lane, stop flailing your arms around in your car and pay attention to the fact a semi is about to merge into you and push you off the bridge that you deserve to die on. If your cell phone conversation is that important, wait until you get off the damn road and help save a life… your own.

9. A Place of worship

Come on! Have a little faith! Kneel, stand, sit, sit then stand, kneel then stand… do whatever you gotta do to be accepted in your faith, just don’t sit, then stand up to answer your phone. It’s unholy. God should send a lighting bolt though your spine because you so rudely interrupted his or her speech for no good reason.

10. A movie theater

These phone conversation although often times brief and quiet are just unnecessary and rude performed by low class individuals. There can be no other reason for having such phone conversations than to promote the fact that you are having such phone conversations. That or you want people to see you as a wild rebel who blatantly disregards the rules… No, actually the truth is that your just seen as an ass to everyone. It amazes me that someone would think that answering his or her phone in the theater is appropriate regardless of how short or brief the conversation is. These are also the people that are constantly whispering to each other or snickering at nothing related to the movie. I hope they fall down the stairs and break a leg the next time they go to the bathroom because they were looking at their cell phone screen for too long.

In defense, some will say…

But what if it’s an emergency!?!? If an emergency happened elsewhere in any of these situations you shouldn’t know about it because you shouldn’t be talking on your phone. If there is an emergency that you are waiting for an update on, you shouldn’t be in any of these places or situations in the first place. Last, if an emergency just happened in one of these places, you shouldn’t and wouldn’t be the one to respond to it because you suck and you are selfish. So no, it doesn’t matter if there is an emergency.