Wall*E

This is one of the more critically-acclaimed movies of the year, and it is easy to see why. The animation is beautiful, the main character is very likable, the message is eco-friendly, it's short and sweet, and the publicity campaign advertises its pedigree as something like Chaplin/Keaton meets Toy Story.

The plot is not so very different from the General, but the movie goes wrong wrong wrong by trying to stir up our sympathy for humans. That is, it's as though in the General, our sympathy had to be on both sides of the Civil War at once. We like Wall*E, and we our engaged in his pursuit of love, but the movie hits a series of false notes when we are asked to side with the humans (fat, stupid) over the robots (full of personality, quirky, sensitive).

This is a story of redemption; *our* redemption, by the actions of those who understand and love us better than we love or know ourselves. Wall*E is a FAN of humanity, where we have become alienated from it. So far, so good. But the mistake is the "evil computer" plot imported here from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In other words, the ACTION does not take up the central conflict or theme (redemption) at all. For an example of action that does take up the central conflict of a work, we need look no farther than 2001: the theme of evolution and the fate of humanity's development is played out IN THE PLOT, viz., will the computer be the "next step" in mental life, or the giant space baby? This is an existential question, but also the question of the success or failure of the mission. Wall*E is all over the map in thematic/sympathetic terms, and so all the action involving humans is more central than it ought to have been.

That is my only real complaint, but it's a big one. In frank terms: the plot should have been something else.