Movie: Wall-e

Last night was another hot summer evening. What better place to spend it than a cool air conditioned movie theater! I chose to go for a Double Feature! Start the evening out with a light hearted kids movie called Wall-e and finish it up with a topping of "Dark Knight" (aka: Batman).

Wall-e > imdb
I liked this movie. Granted, it's def a kids movie, so I won't go into any sort of heavy plot analysis, but basically just sit back and watch the cute robots is how best to enjoy this movie. If I had one complaint - it was that it was too cute. I mean they even made the Cockroach look and act cute! But, all in all, that's what I had expected.
I was aware of some minor controversy over this movie also... The "president" they claimed made one single statement something like "Stay the course", So some people were saying that this was a "dig" on Pres. Bush. Yeah, it probably was! But in my opinion a well deserved dig. I can't see too many people getting upset over that.
There was another controversy over some people getting upset about how the humans were portrayed 700 years in the future - as being over weight. Um, not to sound crass, but have you looked around lately? We're almost like that now! I can understand how some people might get upset over this, but I don't think this is a fault of the film. I don't think they were making any sort of mean spirited comment over being over weight.
One item that I had NOT heard as being controversial... (which to me seemed like it should have raised an eye brow), was the corporate take over issue! It almost alarms me more that people would overlook that issue, and be worried that humans were portrayed as being over weight. Almost like saying "oh, corporations like Walmart - controlling the political process? No problem!"
As an adult, there were some political underlying themes in this movie. I happened to agree with those themes, so it didn't bother me, but if I were on the other side of the fence, I might have a problem with this movie. I actually thought - Every kid should see this movie as a warning against over consumption, and lack of physical activity! But that's for another blog post I guess.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. The corporate side jokes bothered me just a little bit in the sense that Steve Job's owns Pixar (who also owns Apple computer). There were defintely some nods to apple computer in this movie, which skated on the edge for me as being a commercial endorsement, but if you didn't know these things, it's not a big deal. (For example, when Wall-e gets a full solar charge, and starts up, he "chimes" - this chime, is the same sound that Macintosh computers make when they start up.)
Not sure how much longer this film will be in the theaters, but I recommend it, and at least rent it. Another winner in the portfolio of Pixar - who in my opinion, has not made a bad movie yet.

As for the double feature of seeing "the dark knight" - I had gotten to the theater at about 6:45pm. The three evening shows up until the 9pm show were all sold out! When I got out of the Wall-e show around 9pm, I went in line and bought a ticket for the 10pm show. A long hour wait, but they have nice comfy leather chairs there, and I was having fun doing some "people watching". Well, buy about 9:30, there was a LINE going out the main doors! I thought, this is rediculous! I actually went back to the ticket booth, and asked for a refund of my money. I don't want to see a movie in a PACKED theater. I could have waited around and tried some of the later shows (10:30, 11, 11:30, or 12am), but I didn't want to spend my entire night at the theater waiting! So, perhaps next week, or maybe I'll go mid week to see it. MAN They must be raking in the money on this movie!!!