Wall-E

Okay, I was the kid watching ET in the theater and bawling my eyes out. And had I not been so horribly embarrassed to be watching this movie without a child in my company, I would probably have been doing the very same thing while watching Wall-E. Forget that it's animation, forget that it's about a robot, forget that for the first half of the movie, Wall-E's only interaction is with a cockroach.

This movie is about the basic need for people (and robots, in this case) to have companionship. Working with the public, I will freely admit that I sometimes wish I could live in total solitude, but the bottom line is, at the end of the day, just like Wall-E, we all want someone, sometime, to hold our hand.

He's sweet, he's expressive, and it is all too easy to forget, while watching this movie, that you can't give him the hug he so clearly needs. There are subtle messages in the movie, and not so subtle messages. There is, of course, the broader message of how we are polluting our planet and our insatiable need for consumption of everything is addressed with the deserted wholesale store. The people in the film are slaves to technology. They do nothing for themselves, and have grown fatter and lazier with each passing generation. They ride about their starliner in little hover chairs, with a holographic screen in front of their faces, and have little or no real contact with the anyone else. It's an uncomfortable analogy as I sit here in my comfy office chair on my own over sized behind staring at a screen. They are as isolated as Wall-e, but are distracted enough, and complacent enough not to care until he brings it to their attention.

Bottom line, see the movie, even if you don't have a kid to camouflage your presence there. It's worth it.