WALL-E

directed by Andrew Stanton

Starring Fred Willard, Cliff Claven, and some other people.

It had to happen eventually. The streak is over. I'm going to go against virtually every critic out there and say Pixar has finally stumbled. WALL-E is a dud.

Dud may be too harsh. And maybe my expectations were too high. But after months of hearing that cute WaaaAAAlleeeeeeeee sound all over the place, I was ready to be wowed. And it starts off promising. Just like last years "last man on earth" film I Am Legend, the first third of Wall-e (I now refuse to use all caps) is very good. Wall-e's utter aloneness (except for an indestructible pet cockroach) is intriguing and fascinating. When a sleek new robot named EVE arrives from parts unknown, the movie starts to take a dive. Wall-e's obsessive behavior and unflinching devotion to EVE seems kind of out of character for the unique independent worker, and kind of creepy coming from a robot. Wall-e's journey to the space cruiser where all the humans have been chillin' for 700 years has the film plummeting to mediocrity. You are pummeled with the message of the film, that humans will destroy the earth with pollution and garbage, then become slothful zombies who's every needs are served by robots. What could have been a slap sticky "fish out of water" romp through the cruiser is not very creative and rarely funny. Also missing is a big climactic final action scene as our heroes Wall-e and Eve are almost forgotten so the human captain can, wait for it...., stand up and turn off the auto pilot! WOW! uhh, stupid.

The animation does not disappoint, and you truly forget this is an animated film until you see the big squishy humans. There's also a curious decision to include some live action scenes of Fred Willard that seemed jarring at first, but makes more sense now that I think about it, separating the humans of old from the tons o' fun humans of the future.

This seems like it would have been a fantastic short film. I don't have a problem with the almost silent quality of the film, but kids may not be held in thrall by visuals alone. My review may sound harsh, but Wall-E is not horrible when compared with most of the animated trash released recently, but it's easily the worst of the 9 Pixar films.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: C