I'd heard such good things about Wall E, that I made an effort to catch it before it left the big screen.

Quite unique, in that, the entire first half of the production is dialogue-free. With images, sound effects and music of the forties, Pixar tells the story of a lone trash compacting robot merrily making the best of a bad situation -- apparently all life on Earth had long since ended (save for a friendly cockroach). Despite the melancholy cityscape populated only with garbage, the art direction and timing make this first half particularly moving and beautiful.

Unfortunately, eventually humans interrupt the bittersweet solitude and steer the picture in a more mechanical direction. Despite an intriguing story idea, at some point the picture falls from the realm of Art to the realm of kiddy-film fare. It could be that the story itself simply wasn't feature material. It probably would have made an excellent hour-long short, though. I'd have loved to see Pixar limit the dialogue to two words: "Eva" and "Wall E." What a juicy challenge that would have been! What a potentially impactful film it could have been! Pictures, great timing, and a very beefy sound track -- do you think family audiences would have been able to handle that?

Grading? First half -- A, Second half - B. This should average to a strong B+, but because of drop in entertainment value as the film proceeds, I was left with an overall feeling of disappointment, so I’m giving this a very low B+.

-- Books by Author/Illustrator/Speaker Ross Anthony --