I rarely go  to theaters.  It’s not the prices necessarily, though 5 bucks for popcorn is still shocking.  It is more that I enjoy being comfortable at home watching it.  So usually when a big hit comes out, my particular take on it is about six months late when the DVD releases.

And occasionally the movie in question has generated a stir of complaints and controversies that I hear about in depth before I even have a chance to see for myself what the fuss was all about.

Such was the case with Disney/Pixar’s Wall*E.

I heard in nauseating detail about the leftist indoctrinations, the insults and insensitivity to the obese and a few other complaints.

I was prepared to not like it, as I tend to dislike paying money to be preached at.

I was wrong.  I loved it.

First, the actual story.  The setting:  Earth in the 29th century.  The world has become overtaken by a global corporation (BnL or Buy n Large) and for 700 years has been completely depopulated.  The world has become a scrap heap of trash, with only clean up robots left to perform a seemingly endless task of providing trash compacted order out of chaos.  Life is apparently limited to a bug, who is our hero’s pet. 

(Keep in mind this is Disney no matter how slick and amazing the CGI is.  Disney has always been the master of projecting humanity to non human subjects, be it animals, cars or plants.  And now robots.)

Our Hero is WALL*E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class) a self aware clean up bot reminiscent of a cross between Short Circuit’s Johnny 5 and ET.  Our story is limited to the one unidentified city, but the implication is that he is alone after centuries of tireless toiling.

Wall*E is a collector of Humanities oddities:  A spork, a Rubiks cube, a Zippo lighter and even a dented hub cap are fascinating.  He toils the day away, watches show tunes at home and then turns in to restart his Herculean task all over again, after a morning’s breakfast (solar charge).  He is dented, rusted, living on spare parts but loveable and appealing.

Two things rock his world.  He finds a living plant, and he is joined by a probe, the lovely Eve (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) who is dropped off and begins a search which we learn is for plant life, an evaluation of the living conditions on the drear earth.  The lovely Eve is a sleek and modern contrast to the cute in an ugly way Wall*E.

Naturally they become friends.  When he shows Eve the plant, Wall*E is shocked when she takes it, stores it inside her body, and then goes dormant, waiting to be picked up by the probe ship.  Her mission, her secret directive has been fulfilled.  The ship returns to collect her, and Wall*E hitches a ride, refusing to abandon his dream girl.

And Wall*E’s wild journey begins, the classical tale of dopey hapless hero trying to find his dream girl among the stars. 

We find the human race aboard a galactic cruise ship.  They are obese, self absorbed and all of their care is managed by service bots.  No walking, they are carried by hover chairs that they never leave, even to sleep, their entire world is contained in a holographic HUD.

The rest of the movie is a lesson in dedication, perseverance, obedience and duty.  The plot is very much Disney, with humour, friendship and an adorable ensemble cast.  The well meaning Hal 9000-like auto pilot becomes the story’s chief proantagonist.

The story was laugh out loud fun, imaginative and engaging.  The film relies on scant conversation, requiring the viewer to make the connections from visual cues and body language, yet has no trouble telling that tale and the viewer is able to keep up.  The characters are well crafted to convey their emotions.

So, about the controversy.  Did it have leftist indoctrination.  Perhaps, depending on how you parse it.

First all, it is unsurprising that a movie might have a partisan agenda.  Hollywood is famous for it.  But at the same time, sometimes we project our own agenda into the film, and allow our own preconceptions to create the problem.  I think many of the people complaining went there looking for something to complain about.

The left friendly lessons are there of course:  Lack of environmental stewardship has despoiled the earth.   Evil corporations have taken over the earth.  There was even a nice jab at Bush (”Stay the course”).

But was it overwhelming in its pushiness?  Not really.  The scenario presented is plausible.  A lack of planning and stewardship could indeed lead us to a scrap heap existence.  I think everyone believes it.  Before you pass that off as liberal indulgence, remember that environmentalism is not a liberal only specialty, nor is responsible stewardship.  Environmental extremism is where I see the problem.  Conservatives rarely disagree with the need for recycling and waste management, they just refuse to be ruled by the left’s overreactions and band wagon campaigns, like the global warming panic and the DDT debacle.  Conservatives accept the need when there is a rational need, but the eco nannies rarely stoop to that much reason.

Of course, to be fair, there are those conservatives who have a knee jerk partisan negativity to eco awareness that hinders their abilities to see reason, so perhaps the movie might trouble them. They see the eco boogie man and run away.

What about the Corporate greed aspect?  Sure, that’s a popular leftist mantra, but since the left is preparing to bail out the US auto makers, it is hard to say that the left is really all that cautious about corporations.  The left loves corporations when it is convenient to them.

This is more about what happens when our culture allows the government to become its convenience store.  As I see it, the left is more determined to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sugar who provides all your needs and wants, just as the Ship provided all the people’s daily needs.  If anything the corporate aspect of it is also an indictment on reliance on any government to provide *all* our needs, and is a reminder to engage in self reliance and self restraint.  Sorry, that to me points just as heavily to the socialism friendly left as it does to the mythical corporation loving right.  The recent bailout package is exhibit A in the case of how our Government is seeking to become all things to all people.

The last aspect was the fat aspect, and they do play the fat card very clearly here.  No skinny people anywhere, the Captain’s portrait gallery shows 700 years of progressive weight gain from generation to generation.  So is that insulting?

No.  It is reality.  The complaint from fat activists is that the film implies fat people are lazy and will despoil the earth to feed their laziness.

Hardly.  It is just the reverse.  The people left the earth healthy and fit, and the earth was already deep in its trash pile.  They became fat after ten generations of complete reliance on machines.

The logical conclusion is that if people are overdependent on machines to do everything for them, eventually they will suffer gradual atrophy and eventual obesity.  It makes sense.

If anything the tale’s most ‘preachy’ commentary is the lesson that humanity’s gradually increasing reliance on machines is making us soft and lazy, and our increasing reliance on the government removes our initiative and will to achieve.

And sadly those lessons are all to close to home.  I have seen numerous articles written on obesity in children that validate this point, that improper diet and lack of daily exercise have created a culture of plumpness.

I have to admit, I am no exception.  My being over weight is totally correctable and completely my fault.

So speaking as a fat guy, sorry people, get over it.  Yes, the picture of the future was grim and frightening.  It should be, since as a culture we are already well on our way.

In summary, history shows that in struggle we achieve greatness, and in apathy, we achieve nothing.  This film carries that to an extreme, but it is a logical one.  Even the movie bears that out as several humans are easily broken out of their complacency to become lost in wonder at the world revealed beyond their HUD, and even his gross obesity does not prevent the Captain from achieving a final physical victory over Auto. 

Humanity has not lost its spirit, it just took a 700 year vacation.

All in all, Wall*E is easily one of the best CGI movies I have seen, and a very good movie overall.  A fun movie that made you care about the characters, and at the same time wasn’t afraid to make you think. 

Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Random Yak, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Cao’s Blog, Democrat=Socialist, , Political Byline, Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, third world county, Wake Up America, The World According to Carl, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, CORSARI D’ITALIA, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.