Vintage Vinyl

Reviews:

There were no unlawful appropriation lawsuits from the makers of Short Circuit (if, in fact, "unlawful appropriation" is even a proper term), so we’ll disregard how much the title character looks like Johnny 5 and celebrate the subtlety, wonder and imagination of this kid-friendly, adult-approved sci-fi tale. The environmentally-conscious story is told more through imagery than dialogue, a huge risk for an expensive summer tentpole, but one that paid off. Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo) served as co-writer/director, and he excels at shoehorning depth and artfulness into mass entertainment. Earth has degenerated into an enormous ball of trash thanks to literal corporate waste (wonder where Stanton falls on the political spectrum…). Enter WALL-E, a trash collecting droid who leads a lonely existence before encountering a reconnaissance robot and embarking on an interstellar adventure to potentially repopulate the abandoned planet. It’s thrilling, hilarious, heart-wrenching stuff.