MOVIES: Wall-e

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"The Way of a Man with a Maid:" Real Romance in WALL-E

July 5th, 2008 by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D.
The Earth has become an enormous refuse heap. Toiling tirelessly amid the rubble is a little anthropomorphic trash compactor named WALL-E. With a cockroach as his only companion, WALL-E has been humming along for hundreds of years, cubing and stacking…

Pixar’s Catholic Masterpiece: A Review of WALLE*

June 27th, 2008 by Rod Bennet
Pixar Animation Studio was founded in the 1980s by media moguls George Lucas and Steve Jobs, but whether they knew it or not, the guys who made their latest film release WALL*E (in theatres tomorrow) were working for God. So says this reviewer, anyway.
It’s not heresy. Catholics have been saying since at least the 2nd Century that God sometimes uses secular voices to speak to the world, especially when it comes to unreached peoples or neglected truths …
 
I’m so glad to read that - my kids are already hooked on the on-line trailers and games!
 
us to 👍 I got that in my e-mail and copied and pasted 😃 We are hoping to actually see it on Sunday (only day my DH has off).
 
I must say, this movie is a MUST SEE 😃 even for a 24-year old like me 😛
 
This is easily my favorite movie of the year. Go see it. It was so… well, deep, yet so understandable and funny!
 
We just saw WALL-E…it was fantastic:thumbsup:!!! I absolutely loved it and ds sat through the whole thing saying “where’s EVA…what happend to WALL-E, etc.” it was so cute!!!

I highly recommend this movie, it’s a love story and a warning about our consumerism and where it can lead us. I read a great review of it on Catholic Exchange, it gets two:thumbsup: :thumbsup:from ds and I:D!!!
 
This is Pixar’s second-best film (the best being last year’s masterpiece Ratatouille) - which means its one heck of a movie. An absolute must-see, no doubt. The review is spot-on about the Catholic themes, too!
 
Oh wow- we saw this last night. It was amazing. That review in the OP is spot-on, now that I think about it.

“WALL-e” is right up there with “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille”, and “Monsters, Inc.”- and that’s very high praise- those are three of my absolute favorites. It was a great family film, nothing objectionable, very funny and touching with humor that will not go over the kids’ heads but still entertains the adults (well, it did this adult, at least, as well as the three other adults I saw it with). And it is visually stunning. Pixar Studios continues to blow me away. I remember thinking it couldn’t get any better than the monster fur in “Monsters, Inc.” They keep proving me wrong. But even though I kept getting distracted by the visuals (like all Pixar films, I’ll need to see it a couple more times to get the full effect), it was impossible to miss the thread of love, hope, and optimism in the movie.
 
We went to see this today! 👍👍 Two thumbs up from my family! AWESOME film, funny good graphics. Has a great message to send. I highly recommend this to anybody!!
 
IMHO, I think it is Pixar’s best, for the reasons listed in the OP. Did anyone get the symbolism of the ark and the dove(Eve was white) and olive branch? And of course her name. I saw on a comment to a review of the movie that someone wondered about the significance of the song from “Hello Dolly”- “put on your Sunday best and walk around the town”. The person tried to say it was Christianity infiltrating the movie, but first of all -so what? and second, it was the idea that we as a human race need to stop and smell the roses! I loved how WALL-E longed for the simple act of holding a hand. I could analyze this movie forever- I just think there was so much to it.
AmberDale- I liked your reference to G.K. Chesterson- in fact, I liked your entire review!

Can y’all tell I liked WALL-E?? 😉
 
Saw it opening day. Absolutely phenomenal!
IMHO, I think it is Pixar’s best, for the reasons listed in the OP. Did anyone get the symbolism of the ark and the dove(Eve was white) and olive branch? And of course her name. I saw on a comment to a review of the movie that someone wondered about the significance of the song from “Hello Dolly”- “put on your Sunday best and walk around the town”. The person tried to say it was Christianity infiltrating the movie, but first of all -so what? and second, it was the idea that we as a human race need to stop and smell the roses! I loved how WALL-E longed for the simple act of holding a hand. I could analyze this movie forever- I just think there was so much to it.
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I found this on Cartoon Brew and I think you’ll enjoy it… it’s a quite insightful interview with the director of Wall-E, Andrew Stanton, who is a Christian, talks about some of the Biblical themes in Wall-E:

christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/andrewstanton.html

The whole EVE thing and the dove/olive branch is brought up.
 
Orthodox_Guy said:
Saw it opening day. Absolutely phenomenal!

I found this on Cartoon Brew and I think you’ll enjoy it… it’s a quite insightful interview with the director of Wall-E, Andrew Stanton, who is a Christian, talks about some of the Biblical themes in Wall-E:

christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/andrewstanton.html

The whole EVE thing and the dove/olive branch is brought up.
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting that article! I was so happy to read it…I just loved this movie and was starting to feel badly about it because of all the apparent controversy it has stirred up amongst conservatives. I guess the word is that is was liberal propaganda aimed at children regarding environmental issues. If that was the case, it was completely missed on me…because the overwhelming theme I took from it was the sweet love story between Wall-E and Eve 🙂
 
I found the love story much more persuasive than the environmental one-although I do believe that God wants us to be good stewards of our planet.

The entire point of the film to me was about connections-all Wall-e wants through the entire movie is to hold Eve’s hand. He wants to connect with her, to be more than just himself. He wants to be an “US”, not just an isolated being. Pixar’s overall theme in all of their movies is about connections and bonding, and how from making connections with each other-despite our differences-we can do great things.
 
We saw WALL-E last week. Very disappointing. The only redeemable aspect is the flawless animation and the love story beteween WALL-E and EVA. The environmental story was terribly depressing. It took way too long to get off the ground and was dragging in many spots.
I’ll take RATATOUILLE,THE INCREDIBLES, A BUGS LIFE,CARS et all over WALL-E anytime.
 
I can understand some not liking WALL-E. It’s perhaps the best hard science fiction film I’ve seen in 20 years. But along with that genre tends to come a bleak outlook. Read Canticle for Lebowitcz; also very Catholic, very bleak. Not for all tastes. And that’s OK, too. But I’ll bet even those who didn’t like it were thinking about it a week or 2 later!

Flannery O’Connor said something to the effect that Christians do not have the luxury of being sentimental. I think Pixar has always cut the very fine line of pointed criticism of our present culture & sentimentality. Think about it, all their films have counter cultural elements of one sort of another that are held up as positives: selflessness, personal sacrifice, true friendship, romance, using the talents you’ve been given for good, etc.

WALL-E gives a hopeful edge to the genre. Being good stewards of the earth, as God has commanded us to be, is hard work at times. It takes sacrifice on our part. As does being in a properly ordered relationship with other people. That’s what WALL-E & EVE have that the humans on the ship do not have. When the humans find it, it’s magic - it changes them! Talk about Theology of the Body! It’s a wonderful film & one that will be discussed for many, many decades.
 
moochie said:
I can understand some not liking WALL-E. It’s perhaps the best hard science fiction film I’ve seen in 20 years. But along with that genre tends to come a bleak outlook. Read Canticle for Lebowitcz; also very Catholic, very bleak. Not for all tastes. And that’s OK, too. But I’ll bet even those who didn’t like it were thinking about it a week or 2 later!

Flannery O’Connor said something to the effect that Christians do not have the luxury of being sentimental. I think Pixar has always cut the very fine line of pointed criticism of our present culture & sentimentality. Think about it, all their films have counter cultural elements of one sort of another that are held up as positives: selflessness, personal sacrifice, true friendship, romance, using the talents you’ve been given for good, etc.

WALL-E gives a hopeful edge to the genre. Being good stewards of the earth, as God has commanded us to be, is hard work at times. It takes sacrifice on our part. As does being in a properly ordered relationship with other people. That’s what WALL-E & EVE have that the humans on the ship do not have. When the humans find it, it’s magic - it changes them! Talk about Theology of the Body! It’s a wonderful film & one that will be discussed for many, many decades.
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So, what you are saying is WALL-E is like the Messiah - who not only saves the earth but also the people. He has followers, who were thought of as outcasts; he dies and then is resurrected from the dead. Why, you’re right! This is a spiritual movie.

I’ll pass!
 
K-McD said:
So, what you are saying is WALL-E is like the Messiah - who not only saves the earth but also the people. He has followers, who were thought of as outcasts; he dies and then is resurrected from the dead. Why, you’re right! This is a spiritual movie.

I’ll pass!
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🤷 your loss
 
Orthodox_Guy said:
Saw it opening day. Absolutely phenomenal!

I found this on Cartoon Brew and I think you’ll enjoy it… it’s a quite insightful interview with the director of Wall-E, Andrew Stanton, who is a Christian, talks about some of the Biblical themes in Wall-E:

christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/andrewstanton.html

The whole EVE thing and the dove/olive branch is brought up.
Click to expand...
Yes- thanks for the article! I have shared it with several people and they have enjoyed it, too. I just loved the movie!
 
Fitswimmer said:
I found the love story much more persuasive than the environmental one-although I do believe that God wants us to be good stewards of our planet.

The entire point of the film to me was about connections-all Wall-e wants through the entire movie is to hold Eve’s hand. He wants to connect with her, to be more than just himself. He wants to be an “US”, not just an isolated being. Pixar’s overall theme in all of their movies is about connections and bonding, and how from making connections with each other-despite our differences-we can do great things.
Click to expand...
Ditto! I wanted to see the movie although I was a bit skeptical of the environmental message. I just assumed that that would be a large part of the movie, but I don’t think it was. I think it was a comment on our consumerism and our willingness to let “big government” make decisions for us. The seewt love story was what I took away. WALL-E’s desire for companionship and the freedom and happiness that humans had was so touching.

I’ll say it again- I LOVED WALL-E!!!
 
Your 20-year old male college student speaking here…

I loved Wall-e. One of the few movies nowadays I plan to buy on DVD.

WaallllllEEEEEEEEE!

And, the environmental message was slim (humans were pigs and destroyed the Earth by garbage, is basically what it is, so, if that’s environmentalism, call this conservative a hippie liberal!).
 
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