Long-overdue Review

This past weekend was Amanda's birthday, and it was a weekend full of activity and seeing of people. We did the church thing at the Mission Road (nee Loma Linda Japanese) Church and saw a bunch of people, although we didn't stick around for potluck (HERESY, I know.) We did have a good excuse, though--we had Sabbath lunch lined up with cousins Roby and Tait. After a very tasty and surprisingly hefty lunch we headed to my folks' place for dinner and some Wii bowling. That was the extent of our Sabbath activities, more intense than we're used to but enjoyable all around.

The next we got up obscenely early for a Sunday and headed down to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Amanda had never been there and wanted to go. Nathan was nice enough to meet up with us at the park, and we spent a few hours there until it got crazy hot and we retired to the relative comfort of the Spaghetti Factory. We proceeded to Nathan and Leanne's apartment and unfortunately had to leave early because I've been sick for the past week and the combination of heat + walking around the park left me exhausted. It was good to see Nathan and Leanne, and the fact that Lauri was there as well made it super-keen.

Then yesterday was Amanda's birthday proper. After all the driving and socializing we were more in the mood to relax. However, Amanda has been wanting to go to the movies and I haven't been able to, due to a lack of time (study) or money (paying for school and living on one income) or incentive (Hollywood producing heaping loads of dreck.) There was one movie we've been wanting to see ever since it came out, and lo! it was playing in Riverside. The movie was WALL-E, Pixar's latest, and if any one of the two people still reading this have made the same mistake as we did in putting off seeing this movie, CORRECT THAT OVERSIGHT NOW. Amanda and I both loved it. WALL-E is critically lauded--just search for reviews online and you'll find a horde of gushing tributes--but none of the reviews really do the film justice. It's exceptionally difficult to get me to cry at movies, and I didn't in this one, but I spent a lot of time with lumps in my throat. I may have even gotten misty eyed in a couple of places.

****SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to know what happens, stop reading now. I will say that the scene where WALL-E rips the bad guy's still-beating heart out of his chest and incinerates it with a flamethrower while reciting NWA lyrics is totally gnarly. And the previous sentence was a total fabrication, if you didn't guess already. I'm just giving you time to stop reading if you really don't want spoilers, since if you're like me your eyes kind of take a mental picture of text and it's hard to stop reading on a dime.*******





A lot of the reviews were kind of down on the second half of the movie, saying that the story lost some of its lustre when the humans showed up. I kind of agree--the first part of the movie where WALL-E and the roach (and later, EVE) were alone on the desolate Earth was as magical and sublime as everyone says--but at the same time, I think the human bits were still well-done and made a good point about humanity. The depiction of the humans certainly wasn't complimentary--Amanda noted almost immediately, "hey, everyone's obese"--and was certainly an indictment of our easy, consumerist culture. However, humanity wasn't portrayed as evil or twisted...just way too self-involved and lazy. When their eyes were opened to a new reality by WALL-E, they eagerly accepted it, showing that yeah, ease and luxury are nice but will NEVER give meaning to one's life. Meaning can only be found in the simpler things--relationships, communion (with one another and the earth), and hard work. In a strange way, it did give me hope as a religious worker (and I am in no way suggesting that the film had any religious message or emphasis.) Perhaps what we--that is, people who seek to lead others to meaning and significance--ought to do is unapologetically display curiosity, wonder, yearning for connection and relationship and simplicity. It seems that such things are the deep desires of the human heart, and simply seeing such virtues on display in a person's life is a much more powerful counter to the consumerist tide than a hundred treatises or sermons. WALL-E didn't talk to people to snap them out of their self-indulgent lives; he simply was, and people followed.

Another cool thing I noticed--because I always notice these kinds of things--was the way the depictions of WALL-E and EVE both upheld and undermined gender stereotypes. EVE is all sleek and curvy and pretty; WALL-E is blocky and rugged and kind of awkward, making them the robot equivalent of a teenage romance. Yet EVE is the physical powerhouse (flying, vaporizing plasma cannon) and the devoted "company guy" (insisting on her "directive" over everything else). WALL-E is the more passive spiritual/moral center--innocent and kind and winsome. So yeah, that was kind of cool too--girls can blast things into atoms and boys can be sweet and cute.

So yeah, if you haven't already, go see WALL-E. It's one of those movies that fall into the "I've already seen it, but will make it a point to own the DVD" category. The space dance scene alone is worth the price of admission. And don't leave the theater right after the movie finishes--the end credits are worth seeing, both for the art (note the cool progression) and the tribute at the end. The guy to whom the film is dedicated (Justin Wright) was an Adventist guy who worked for Pixar and died horrifically early from a heart condition. He sounded like a really great guy, from some of the online tributes I’ve seen.