WALL-E thoughts...Compacted (heh heh heh)

[update: on further review, I was still a little disappointed, but I didn't mean to spend so much time on the soap box below :) ]

****WARNING: If you're determined to see it and don't want anything spoiled, skip the post entirely*****


**********SPOILER ALERT*************
(don't say I didn't warn you)



We took Caleb to see his second movie in a theater yesterday. His first was the VeggieTales movie about those adorable but lowly Pirates. It was GREAT!

For his second, we chose WALL-E by Disney/Pixar. Admittedly, we didn't know much about the plot except for the vague inference of the boy Wall-E making friends with a new-fangled girl robot. We left the movie with mixed reviews. Caleb would say it was fun (but not overly enthused). Scott was very impressed with the computer animation, and rightly so! I was somewhere between non-plussed and irritated.

The characters of the movie were great: the diligent, nostalgic, and very endearingly expressive trash compacting Wall-E; the cool, determined, and sleek Eve; the petite and tenacious cleaner-bot; and steadfast, hale, and strangely charming little cockroach. The animation was truly stellar (pun intended: much takes place in space). All in all, I had no problem with the general story line: robot is lonely, meets girl robot, desires innocent companionship and romance like he has seen on film clips of Hello Dolly.

My problem lies with the premise. Enter the hero, doing this daily job faithfully: compacting trash into efficient little cubes. The problem is that he's stacking cubes into huge skyscrapers that dwarf the actual skyscrapers of the big American city he occupies. This city has long been abandoned and the other WALL-E robots have broken down, but still Wall-E remains resourceful and even finds time to glean sentimental items from the trash heaps (a light bulb, a Rubik's Cube, Christmas lights). See, the earth has been abandoned after the all-controlling BigBox store has taken over every aspect of society, society has over-consumed and trashed the world, and thus society has been relocated to a giant space cruise ship. The hope is that once the robots get everything cleaned up, everyone can return. There's just one thing (OK, maybe several): Wall-E is all that remains after 700 years, and the space cruisers have become (all of them) morbidly obese and technological hermits.

Seriously, must we brainwash our kids with hyperbole? I've taught Caleb about being a good steward since he was 2, and I'm ready to start with Anna. I want to teach them to take care of their toys, others' belongings, and why litter is bad. They need to know that having stuff is not what makes a person happy. I want them to realize that all we have is from God, and He wants us to practice stewardship and simplicity for the time that we're here on Earth.

But, good grief! I'm getting a little agitated by the current trend of promoting Eco-issues to the point that we're worshiping the environment instead of the Creator. I won't even start on what I think about Global Warming, mercury-filled halogen light bulbs, and carbon footprints. It's time that being Green takes a permanent backseat to being Godly.

Should you go see Wall-E? Use your discernment. At the age of 5, Caleb was a little oblivious to the propaganda, but I will still work to make sure he understands what the truth is. Had Wall-E been built on a different premise, it would have been GREAT. If I had it to do over again, though, I'd skip it and see that VeggieTales film again on video.