Wall*E

I saw Wall*E today and I still can't stop thinking about it.
In a good way.

Wall*E, as I'm sure you know, is the latest movie from Disney's Pixar studio. It's the story of a lonely robot left on Earth after humans departed her after rendering the atmosphere completely toxic (I'll give you three guesses how we did that).

For over 700 years, Wall*E goes about dutifully cleaning up after us and discovering artifacts of our "throw-away society". Then, one day, a huge spaceship lands on top of him and the and adventure ensues.

This movie should be required viewing for anybody espousing to be even remotely interested in either movies, science-fiction or science-fiction movies.

Wall*E contains several messages. Obviously the "Green" message is front and center. But so much more is going on here. And to it's credit, the none of the messages are being pounded into you.

Of particular interest to me were the story elements about machine sentience. Many of the machines throughout the movie seem to be divided into two distinct types. Awake and asleep. Awake machines (like our protagonist) exhibit curiosity, affection, and reasoning. Asleep machines, of course, show themselves to be adept automatons, going about their business as they were programmed. They make a perfect analog of human beings.

Overall this is a grand addition to the Pixar hat full of feathers. Even in the nonpareil collection of films that Pixar has produced, this one stands out.

Do yourself a favor. Go to the movie theater, get in out of the heat, and watch this film. Then find people around you and go see it again.