WALL-E: The Rusty Little Robot That Could

Cartoon Show is Out of This World

WALL-E, the movie, is a computer-generated production about a couple of robots who fall in love - if 'falling in love' means holding hands. Warning! These lovable, lifelike cartoon figments are not human beings, a fact that is easy to forget while watching this show.

The two stars are girl and boy robots. They're adorable - if you can ignore the idea that the boy-bot, WALL-E, spends his days at the city dump. He grinds along the ground, scooping up stuff, then compacting it. The name of the girl-droid is Eve, as in Adam & Eve? She's sleek and smooth. He's rough and rectangular, a worker bot. He collects junk all day on his job. WALL-E is old fashioned and shy. She's cute and modern, fragile and dangerous, flying like a fairy through air, then blasting the hell out of anything that moves. From the moment he met Eve, WALL-E knew, he wanted to hold her hand.

The story takes place in the future, on a desolate, deserted planet Earth, where the only living creature is a cockroach - kind of like Jiminy Cricket without all the singing. But the point is, this movie has hidden messages. For instance: 'Earth is barren.' Do you see the message here? If we keep on polluting, that's what we'll get. The movie-makers are talking about Global Warming. Here's another example: ' The only living survivor is an insect.' What does that say about human vulnerability? The good news is: Human beings are not dead. Actually they live in luxury, a few miles off-planet, orbiting around the world in a space cruiser. These former inhabitants of Earth are pampered to the point of boredom. Their needs are all attended to by good robots - and bad robots.

The cast-away descendents are stranded in space - sort of like rich people on an ocean liner sailing in circles. The people have been doing next to nothing for decades, and the person-characters in the movie all appear to be a little overweight. Let's face it, they look like beach balls, but nobody uses the F-word, of course, and fat people should not be offended. Here's another subtle message: Eat right and exercise. Shuffleboard, anyone?