In preparation for this installment of 40 MOVIES 40th BIRTHDAY YAY!, I wanted to try my best to simulate the experience of watching this movie for my readers. So I welcome you to stare at this gif below for 40 minutes. So please, start your timers…and stare…and contemplate your own extinction.
Great. Thanks for participating. So yeah, WALL-E.
Love.
The food
Whenever we have done a WALL-E night, shakes have always been a big part of them. This is in homage to how the big fat people who can’t walk get all their food in cups. Anytime we can pay homage to big fat people who can’t walk is a win. I think.
We got the shakes from McDonald’s. Because Shamrock shakes. Obvs.
We also had some square burgers. Because WALL-E is square-ish. And burgers are delicious. AND we had tater tots. There is that one scene where there are babies. And babies are sometimes called tots. So I guess…eh, that’s too horrific to think about.
And for dessert, we had moon pies and milky ways. Because space.
The activity
For this movie’s activity, we decided initiate a directive to plant some vegetable seeds. You know, on account of the plant in the movie. We planted some cucumber and tomato seeds, starting in pots for now and then hopefully transferring to outside once we get some growth.
But, given our history with growing things, these may not make it off the windowsill. Our green thumbs…they’re more like black thumbs. Black as in the color of death and sorrow. Womp.
The movie
WALL-E is a beautiful film full of depth and so much subtext that it’s gonna be hard to pin down what I love so much about this movie in just a few paragraphs. And that’s pretty impressive given the first 40 minutes or so exist without dialogue on a planet covered in garbage.
There is SO MUCH to love about this movie that I don’t know where to start. I guess I will just start with the obvious. There are messages galore in this movie. Social commentary is to WALL-E as bad puns are to Batman & Robin. Literally…overflowing.
So of course, the big message is “Littering=bad,” right? Like basically, take care of the planet or we will end up having to leave. “Be green” is not like a crazy new message or anything but the way they execute it is much more powerful than, say, a movie featuring a penguin with a sick-pack ring around his neck. Because it not only shows what could happen but it also, at the end, really drives home how important this planet is to us. The humans on the Axiom WANT to go back. Despite all the comforts on this ship, none of it is “real.” Earth is their home. It may have taken them 700 years to realize it, but eh…better late than never. So yeah…take care of the Earth. Or else all your food will be in cups and you’ll be a big fatso. The more you know.
But beyond that, there is something else being said here. On the Axiom, everyone communicates via screens and gets around on hoverchairs. And in doing this, they are not experiencing anything “real.” Like I said, even their food isn’t real….it’s all in cups. With all the conveniences made available to them, the real world has faded away and been replaced by a screen. Everyone has become fat, lazy and removed from “society.” Maybe it’s a little heavy-handed but as I write this next to my two sons – one who is complaining about being bored despite an abundance of toys and you know…”outside” and another who is playing soccer on a tiny screen rather than with an actual ball – it’s not one that seems all that out there. I LOVE the message that nothing can replace real experience. I love when John and Mary escape their screens to realize there is the potential for love and pools out there. Cool stuff.
But while this is all well and good, this movie is ALL about the characters for me. WALL-E is best. Obviously. I love the whole “anyone can make a difference” story here. Here is this robot – all wires and circuits – that essentially sets in motion everything that happens in this movie by following his heart. Which you know, he doesn’t have. And this all comes down to watching WALL-E and EVE fall in love.
WALL-E and EVE are obviously the stars of the show. Watching these two robots fall in love with each other hits me directly in the feels. I love how smitten he is with EVE when she first shows up. And how he wins her over (ugh when EVE giggles….so cute.) I love the scene when EVE is looking back through her security footage and sees how much WALL-E took care of her while she was waiting for her ship. Even though these are robots with the vocabulary of a Pokemon, you still feel so much along with them. That moment is one of my favorites in the movie. One of my other favorite moments? At the end, when WALL-E remembers EVE and they are holding hands. Not that it means much, but tears. Everywhere. This really is one of my favorite Disney love stories.
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