Cars (2006)

A computer-animated story set on an Earth inhabited entirely by sentient vehicles.

The Plot: (Spoilers)

Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a popular rookie race car on the Piston Cup circuit, whose fans include twin Miatas Mia (Lindsey Collins) and Tia (Elissa Knight). He is tied for first place in the series with revered veteran Strip “The King” Weathers (Richard Petty), who plans to retire after the season, and his long-time rival Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton).

Strip "The King" Weathers, Chick Hicks & Lightning McQueen

At the final race in the season, the Dinoco 400 at the Motor Speedway of the South, Lightning takes the lead and maintains it with quick stop in the pit for fuel only without changing tires. On the last lap, both of his rear tires blow out, giving The King and Chick time to catch up, resulting in an unprecedented 3-way tie.

A close finish

Lightning’s pit crew quits after he tells them to stay out of the way of the cameras and declares himself a “one-man show.” The King advises him that he has a lot of talent but to be successful he needs a geed team behind him; Lightning doesn’t really listen though, as he is daydreaming about the fame that he would have if he took the place of the retiring King with his sponsor, Dinoco. The racing officials decide that to resolve the three-way tie, a tiebreaker race will be held in California in one week. Chick mentions to Lightning that whichever one of them gets to California first will have the first chance to talk to Dinoco about becoming their new racer. After a quick appearance at the tent of his current sponsors, Rusty & Dusty Rust-eze (Tom & Ray Magliozzi), makers of Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, (a duty Lightning despises, as the tent is filled with old, rusty cars) Lightning leaves for California in the trailer of his truck, Mack (John Ratzenberger).

Lightning McQueen with the Rust-eze Brothers

Lightning convinces Mack to drive through the night so they will be the first ones to California. In the middle of the night, Mack falls asleep and some punk cars have fun with him, which causes the sleeping Lightning to fall out of the trailer.

Mack being harassed

Lightning wakes up on the interstate and realizes what’s happened, he tries to catch up to Mack, who he can’t see, and when he sees a truck leave the interstate, he thinks its Mack and goes after it, but it isn’t. Lightning gets lost trying to race back to the interstate, and ends up getting chased by an old Sheriff car (Michael Wallis), whose backfiring leads Lightning to think he’s being shot at, into the town of Radiator Springs, where a panicking Lighting crashes through a barbed-wire fence, which hooks onto a statue of the town’s founder. Lighting drags the statue through the town, tearing up the street in the process, until the tangled-up fence finally stops him. The police car tells him he’s in a lot of trouble.

Lightning in a panic

Mack arrives in Los Angeles the next morning to discover that Lightning is missing, and it becomes a huge news story, with Dale Earnhardt Junior (his car with his voice) making a concerned statement, Jay Limo (Jay Leno) making jokes on his show, and the governor of California (a Hummer H1 voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger) announces that Lightning must be found.

Mack discovers Lightning is missing

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Jay Limo

The Governor of California

Lightning wakes up in an impound yard, being watched by a rusty old tow truck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and with a parking boot on one of his front tires. He almost talks Mater into letting him out to “explore the town” when the sheriff arrives to escort him to traffic court.

Lightning in the impound yard meeting Mater

Since Lightning doesn’t have a lawyer present, Mater volunteers to be his lawyer. The court is presided over by Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), who is upset about the condition of his town and threatened to lock up whoever is responsible, but when he sees Lightning he just wants his thrown out of town. A Porsche (Bonnie Hunt) suddenly arrives, and Lightning assumes she’s been sent to help him and he flirts with her. The she reveals that everyone in town knows her; her name is Sally and she’s the city attorney. She convinces Doc and the rest of the town, which includes Ramone (Cheech Marin), a low rider who runs a paint shop, Flo (Jenifer Lewis), who runs the gas station, Sarge (Paul Dooley), a WWII Jeep who runs a surplus store, Fillmore (George Carlin), a hippie Volkswagen Microbus who sells organic fuel, Luigi (Tony Shalhoub), a Fiat and Guido (Guido Quarroni), a forklift, who run a tire shop, Lizzie (Katherine Helmond), a Model T Ford who runs a souvenir shop and Red (Joe Ranft), the town’s fire truck, to make Lightning fix the road as his punishment.

Traffic Court

Lightning is assigned to pull a road-paving machine called Bessie to fix the road he damaged, which Doc says should take five days if he does it right. He initially tries to make a run for it when Mater removes the boot, but the Sheriff had siphoned his gas when he was asleep in the impound so he doesn’t get far. After failing to get a lost couple (Richard Kind & Edie McClurg) to get help, and frustrated with the slow progress, Lightning tries to rush through the work in an hour and does a terrible job, and Doc orders him to scrape off the paving and do it right. When Lightning complains, Doc challenges him to a race. If Lightning wins, he’s free to go; if not, he has to fix the road Doc’s way. The race is a single lap around a dirt track, and the overconfident Lightning crashes on the first turn and has to be rescued by Mater.

Lightning works through the night and does a great job on the section of road he finishes, impressing everyone, including Doc. Doc finds Lightning at the track under the supervision of the Sheriff. He had run out of asphalt and asked if he could try to figure out how to make the turn. Doc takes over for the Sheriff and tries to tell Lightning what he’s doing wrong, but Lightning won’t listen. Meanwhile, the new road has inspired the rest of the town to fix up their own businesses. Sally offers Lightning a room in her Cozy Cone Motel in place of the impound lot.

Lightning doing his Community Service

That night, Mater is assigned to watch Lightning and he takes him “tractor tipping” and demonstrated his ability to drive backwards. When Lightning talks about how important the race is, Mater says he always wanted to ride in a helicopter, and Lightning casually promises it to him. Mater says Lightning is his best friend. At the motel, Sally asks Lightning is he really meant his promise to Mater, and he doesn’t know. He thanks her for letting him stay in the motel.

Mater tractor tipping

The next morning, while waiting to get his daily fuel ration from the Sheriff, Lightning stumbles into Doc’s garage and discovers that Doc is the Fabulous Hudson Hornet who won three Piston Cups in the 1950s. Impressed, Lightning tries to talk to him about racing, but Doc won’t talk to him. No one else in the town believes that Doc could have been a race car. Sally takes Lightning on a scenic drive.

Lightning and Sally out for a drive

Sally and Lightning end up at the abandoned Wheel Well Motel, Sally’s favorite place. Sally explains how she used to be an attorney in Los Angeles but never felt happy, and after breaking down in Radiator Springs she fell in love with the town and decided to stay.

The Wheel Well Motel

From the motel, there is a view of the Radiator Springs area from above. Sally tells the story of Radiator Springs and Route 66 before the interstate was built and how when it was it took away all the traffic from the town.

Sally and Lightning look out over Radiator Springs

When they get back to the town, Mater has set off a tractor stampede. Lightning follows a stray and finds Doc sitting on the track wearing old dirt racing tires. Lightning watches him take a quick lap around the track, drifting around the turn Lightning couldn’t make.

Doc practices his old racing skills

Lighting tries to show how impressed he is, but Doc runs off to his garage. Lightning follows him, trying to talk to him and asking why he quit racing. Doc reveals he didn’t quit; he had a wreck in the season after his third Piston Cup win, and by the time he was fixed everyone had moved on to a new rookie. He tells Lightning to finish the road and leave town.

Lightning tries to connect to Doc

The next morning everyone in town discovers that Lightning finished the road overnight. They initially think he’s already left, but it turns out he hasn’t yet. He shops from everyone in town, including whitewall tires from Luigi & Guido and a classic metallic paint job from Ramone, and inspires everyone to fix all the town’s neon signs.

Lightning shows Sally his new look

That night, as the town celebrates, the media show up and swarm the town, having found Lightning.

The media finds Lightning

Lightning’s manager Harv (Jeremy Piven) tells him his disappearance has given him a lot of publicity and orders Mack to take him to California immediately, and Lightning doesn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends.

Mack apologizes to Lightning for losing him

As the media crowd leaves with Lightning, Sally discovers Doc called the media to tell them where Lightning was. He says it is best for everyone, and Sally asks if it’s really best for everyone, or just him. Sad over not being able to say goodbye, everyone goes home and shuts off their lights, leaving Doc alone in the darkened street.

The town is sad to see Lightning go

At the big race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, which is attended by celebrities like Mario Andretti (one of his cars with his voice), Lightning is unable to focus, being distracted by thought of Radiator Springs and his friends. He spends the beginning of the race in a distant third, unable to get by Chick Hicks.

Lightning is in a distant third

Doc comes on his radio, saying he didn’t come all that way to watch him quit. Not only Doc, but everyone from Radiator Springs, except Sally, Lizzie and Red, have come to cheer Lightning on, and Doc is serving as his crew chief, wearing his Fabulous Hudson Hornet paint from his racing days. The media, including announcers Bob Cutlass (Bob Costas) and Darrell Cartrip (Darrell Waltrip), quickly recognize him.

Lighting and his new pit crew

Lightning was a lap behind but he makes it up by the last 10 laps. Chick bumps Lightning, causing one of his tires to blow out. Thanks to Guido, Lightning is able to get four new tires quickly and get back in the race without losing a lap. Chick causes both Lightning and The King to lose control to take the lead, but Lightning uses Doc’s drifting technique to regain control and take the lead.

The effects of one of Chick's dirty tricks

On the last lap, Chick is behind the King and, not wanting to come in third, bumps him hard, forcing him into a serious wreck that takes him out of the race.

The King wrecked

Seeing The King wreck, Lightning is reminded of the wreck that ended Doc’s racing career. Lightning stops short of the finish line, allowing Chick to win the race. Lightning backs up to The King and pushes him back onto the track and across the finish line so he can finish his last race, to the applause of the audience.

Lightning rescues The King

Chick Hicks is awarded the Piston Cup but his behavior leads him to be ignored. The King and his wife (Lynda Petty) thank Lightning for what he did, and Tex (Humpy Wheeler), the head of Dinoco, offers Lightning his sponsorship, but Lightning has learned the importance of friendship and stays with Rust-eze, as they gave him his big break. Tex respects his decision and says if Lightning ever needs anything to just ask. Lightning uses the favor to give Mater a ride in the Dinoco helicopter.

The King and his wife thank Lightning

Lightning moves his racing headquarters to Radiator Springs. Luigi and Guido finally get to meet a Ferrari (Michael Schumacher), who Lightning referred to their shop and Lightning and Sally restore the Wheel Well Motel.

Luigi and Guido meet a Ferrari

Sally and Lightning

My Review:

I don’t think the Pixar team can make a bad movie, and this film lives up to their reputation. Though it doesn’t evoke emotions as strongly as other Pixar films, this is a fun movie. Perhaps because I am a “car guy,” I especially like the realistic depictions of nearly all the vehicles, and the voice casting that includes well-known people from the automotive world, like Richard & Lynda Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher. The other voice actors are excellent as well. The film is visually impressive. In addition to the realistic depictions of the cars, the racing scenes are exciting with views that would be impossible in a real race or in any life action film for that matter. The landscapes around Radiator Springs also have a number of automotive-inspired natural features that are quite clever and creative. One small thing that I noticed is that the train locomotive does not exactly match any specific real locomotive. This is something that most people wouldn’t notice, especially since the train’s appearance is very brief, so it doesn’t really detract from the movie, but as a train fan I noticed. A positive of that scene is the wig-wag crossing signals, which closely match a pair that are preserved deactivated in Port Richmond, California, the former home of Pixar’s studios. The movie’s plot is not overly complicated but it makes sense (as long as you can accept the premise of sentient cars) and there are no noticeable plot holes.

As with all Pixar films, Cars is great for kids and is enjoyable for adults as well, especially those with an interest in cars and/or auto racing.

WALL-E

The computer-animated story of a robotic trash compactor alone on a deserted Earth is funny, touching and compelling.

The Plot:

WALL-E (voice of Ben Burtt) is a “Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-class” robot on a deserted Earth, the last of what were once many built to clean up the overflowing trash on Earth while the people took a five-year cruise in outer space. With all his fellow robots having broken down, WALL-E alone continues his task of compacting trash into cubes and stacking them. Occasionally he finds objects he sees as having value, and he collects them in his “home,” a transport unit that once housed many of his kind.

WALL-E examines some of his new acquisitions

Some of what WALL-E considers valuable is odd: he once finds a jewelry box containing a diamond ring and throws the ring away but finds the box fascinating. WALL-E has a companion in a cockroach, and spends his free time watching movies he has found and listening to music he has recorded.

WALL-E watches a movie

One day WALL-E finds a small plant, perhaps the only one left on Earth, and takes it home. Outside his home, he sees a spot of red light that moves, and chases it, only to end up underneath a huge spaceship that lands on Earth.

The mysterious spaceship

The spaceship deposits a hovering white robot that begins scanning items on the ground, and then leaves. After the spaceship leaves, WALL-E watches from a hiding place as the new white robot takes off on a flight through the air. WALL-E accidently causes a small rock to hit the ground, startling the new robot, which produces a ray-gun weapon that blast a huge hole through the rock WALL-E was hiding behind. WALL-E was narrowly missed and he keeps hiding and the new robot continues its task.

The new robot

WALL-E keeps watching the new robot. His cockroach companion approaches the new robot, and after narrowly avoiding being shot, is accepted by the new robot. WALL-E is then discovered and shot at several times, before the new robot approaches him. The cockroach jumps from the new robot back to WALL-E. The new robot scans WALL-E and gets a negative result, so it continues scanning, and WALL-E follows, watching from a distance. WALL-E tries to impress the new robot, even going so far as to build a sculpture of it, to no avail.

The new robot gets frustrated, unable to find whatever it is looking for. Eventually, WALL-E works up the courage to approach it. It asks WALL-E in a somewhat-female voice (voice of Elissa Knight) “Directive?” and WALL-E demonstrates his ability to compact trash into cubes. WALL-E approximates the word “directive” himself, and the robot replies “classified.” The robot asks WALL-E “Name” and WALL-E manages to tell it. The new robot tells WALL-E its name is EVE and is amused at WALL-E’s attempts to speak.

WALL-E meets EVE

WALL-E notices a dangerous dust storm coming. WALL-E takes EVE back to his home to wait out the storm and shows her his collection.

EVE examines an eggbeater in WALL-E's collection

Unlike WALL-E, EVE is able to figure out some of WALL-E’s items: she can light up a light bulb, complete a Rubik’s cube, and operate a lighter, but she can’t quite grasp the idea when WALL-E tries to teach her to dance like the humans in his movies. WALL-E notices EVE’s interest in the humans in the movie, her having tried to scan the image on the screen, so he shows her the plant he found. EVE scans the plant and gets a positive result. She suddenly captures the plant inside her body and shuts down, emitting a signal.

EVE and WALL-E check out a lighter

WALL-E tries to get EVE to reactivate: he leaves her in the sun hoping it will recharge her (as he is solar powered), tries unsuccessfully to jumpstart her, and he takes her around the area on “dates” despite her being completely unresponsive. Eventually, he sadly goes back to work, leaving EVE in the sun.

EVE and WALL-E catch some rays

As WALL-E is working, he sees the spaceship return. He races toward it as it collects EVE and jumps on to it and clings to the outside as it launches into space and leaves Earth behind.

WALL-E sees Earth from space

WALL-E clings to the spaceship as it travels through the solar system, able to see EVE, who is still deactivated, through a window.

WALL-E during his trip

The spaceship rendezvous with a much larger ship that turns out to be the Axiom: one of the starliners that took humans off Earth for their five-year cruise. Robots service the ship and the EVE robots on it. WALL-E is encountered by one of the cleaning robots called M-O (voice of Ben Burtt).

WALL-E's tracks annoy M-O

A diminutive security robot and two steward robots come and take still-unpowered EVE away and WALL-E follows them through the ship, causing robot traffic problems and encountering humans for the first time. All the humans are overweight, spending all their time in hovering chairs to the point that they can’t even get back into the chair if they fall out, and having their every need and comfort provided by the robots. As WALL-E chases after EVE, he meets human passengers John (voice of John Ratzenberger) and Mary (voice of Kathy Najimy). Meanwhile M-O pursues WALL-E, cleaning up the tracks he left behind on the floor.

EVE is taken to the ship’s bridge, where a robot scans her and wakes the human captain, B. McCrea (voice of Jeff Garlin), who has slept in and first has to make the morning announcements for Day 244,642, the 700th anniversary of the beginning of their 5-year cruise.

Captain B. McCrae of the Axiom (with AUTO in the background)

The bridge robot, AUTO (voice of MacInTalk), reactivates EVE and presents her to Captain McCrea, saying that “Probe One” has come back positive. McCrea doesn’t know what to do, as a probe has never returned positive before, but fortunately there is a video introduction by former Buy N Large CEO Shelby Forthright (Fred Willard in live-action) that tells him that a positive probe means Earth can again support life and humans can now return (and reveals that EVE is an acronym for “Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator”), and presents an operation manual (which confuses the McCrea a little, as he’s never seen a book before). WALL-E gets EVE’s attention, and she tries to hide him. McCrea follows the manual, which guides the computer to open EVE, but the plant is gone, surprising everyone.

EVE is as surprised as anyone that the plant's missing

EVE suspects WALL-E of stealing the plant, but he doesn’t have it. McCrea and Auto decide it’s a false alarm and that EVE’s memory is defective, and McCrea has the security robot, GO-4, take EVE to the repair ward. EVE is led away, revealing WALL-E, who introduces himself to McCrea and shakes his hand, leaving dirt in his palm. McCrea says to have WALL-E cleaned. As WALL-E and a sulking EVE are taken to the repair ward, McCrea has the computer (voice of Sigourney Weaver) analyze the dirt WALL-E left in his hand, which leads him to begin learning about Earth.

Captain McCrae meets WALL-E as AUTO looks on

In the repair ward, EVE is taken for a diagnostic while WALL-E is put in a “cell” for malfunctioning robots, which surround him in other cells. WALL-E misinterprets EVE’s diagnostic as a dismantling and escapes his cell to rescue her. WALL-E sets off EVE’s weapon, which strikes a computer panel, deactivating the robot arms and releasing the malfunctioning robots, who carry WALL-E through the ship as a hero until they are stopped by steward robots, who identify WALL-E and EVE as “rogue robots.” EVE picks up WALL-E and flies him through the ship to an life pod to send him back to Earth, but WALL-E doesn’t want to leave her. GO-4 comes in and EVE and WALL-E hide. GO-4 places the plant in the life pod and starts the launch. WALL-E goes in to get the plant for EVE and is trapped inside as the life pod launches. EVE goes out an airlock after WALL-E, while in the life pod WALL-E discovers that the pod’s self-destruct system has been activated. EVE sees the life pod explode but WALL-E managed to escape just in time with a fire extinguisher, which he uses to propel himself back to EVE. WALL-E also reveals that he rescued the plant. EVE happily takes back the plant and hugs WALL-E.

EVE happily hugs WALL-E

WALL-E and EVE fly around outside the ship, dance-like, until WALL-E’s extinguisher is empty and they reenter the ship through an open airlock. Passengers John and Mary see WALL-E and EVE outside and meet each other.

Mary and John wave to WALL-E and EVE

EVE leaves WALL-E behind as she goes up the trash chute and delivers the plant to Captain McCrea to complete her directive. The excited McCrea wants to see what Earth is like and replay’s EVE’s memory, and he sees the desolate condition of Earth. A leaf falls from the plant, and McCrea realizes it needs water.

Captain McCrae sees his first live plant

Meanwhile, EVE’s memory replays WALL-E’s romantic movie and shows how WALL-E cared for her while she was deactivated, and EVE realizes her feelings for WALL-E. Meanwhile, WALL-E goes up the trash chute after EVE and McCrea decides they have to go back to Earth despite its condition. McCrea calls for AUTO, who tries to take the plant, saying they can’t go back to Earth. McCrea orders him to say why, and AUTO shows him a classified recording from Shelby Forthright that was sent to the Autopilots of all the ships, telling them that Earth had become unsustainable and ordered them never to return. McCrea protests, saying he’s the captain and that they are going back. AUTO calls GO-4, who takes the plant from McCrea. McCrea orders EVE to arrest GO-4, and EVE points her weapon at him and demands that he give her the plant.

EVE threatens GO-4

Instead of handing over the plant, GO-4 throws the plant into the trash chute. Just then, WALL-E emerges from the trash chute, having saved the plant without realizing it. WALL-E tries to protect the plant from AUTO, but AUTO shocks WALL-E causing him to fall down the trash chute with the plant. AUTO deactivates EVE and throws her down the trash chute as well, and confines McCrea to his quarters.

WALL-E saved the plant

EVE is reactivated by sentient computer mice in the trash hold, where WALL-A robots, giant versions of WALL-E, compact the trash into huge cubes before it is ejected out an airlock. A WALL-A robot compacts EVE in a cube, and she sees heavily-damaged WALL-E as part of another. Their stack of cubes is pushed into the airlock, and EVE frees herself and tried to free WALL-E.

A WALL-A robot

Just then M-O, who has tracked WALL-E through the ship by the tracks of dirt he left behind him, chases them into the airlock and jams the door, just as the trash is released. EVE holds on to WALL-E and fights against the escaping air to grab onto M-O. The WALL-A robots see this and close the airlock to save them.

EVE, carrying WALL-E, grabs onto M-O

WALL-E and M-O are formerly introduced as EVE searches the trash for a replacement for the circuit board that was damaged when Auto shocked WALL-E, but can’t find a suitable replacement.

M-O and WALL-E are formerly introduced

WALL-E conveys to EVE that there are replacement parts on Earth, and she, WALL-E and M-O round up the malfunctioning robots they freed earlier to fight off the steward robots and get the plant scanned by the ship’s holo-detector on the lido deck, while Captain McCrea fights AUTO to activate it, leading all the humans aboard to be brought to it to witness the event.

Captain McCrae fights AUTO

AUTO causes the ship to list to one side, causing everyone to slide to that side of the ship, and EVE has to protect humans from falling debris. AUTO tries to close the holo-detector, but WALL-E tries to hold it open, jamming it with his body but being damaged even more. Captain McCrea gets to his feet and attacks AUTO again, knocking open a panel to switch off AUTO, which he does and rights the ship. Humans and robots work together to get the plant to EVE and into the holo-detector, and the ship automatically sets a course back to Earth and lands in its old berth.

As the humans from the Axiom take their first steps onto Earth, EVE rushes WALL-E back to his home and rapidly repairs him with spare parts. But, when WALL-E is reactivated, he seems to remember nothing but his original programming and goes to work compacting trash into cubes and ignores his cockroach, his collection, his movie and EVE. EVE tries to get WALL-E to remember to no avail and, holding his hand, comes to the realization that the WALL-E she knew is gone.

EVE sadly realizes that WALL-E doesn't remember her

EVE sadly turns to leave, but her hand is caught on WALL-E’s. Slowly, WALL-E closes his hand around hers, and says her name. She says his, and suddenly WALL-E remembers.

The humans start farming and rebuilding, and WALL-E and EVE settle in WALL-E’s home.

The humans start farming

My Review:

Like all Disney/Pixar features, WALL-E is great fun suitable for all ages. The characters of WALL-E and EVE are surprisingly expressive, considering they are robots with a limited vocabulary: I think WALL-E can say only “WALL-E,” “EVE,” “Directive,” “M-O” and “Earth” and EVE can say the same plus “Name,” “Classified,” “Plant” and “No.” WALL-E’s voice is that of Sound Designer Ben Burtt (who also performs the voice of M-O) modified with a synthesizer, and EVE’s voice is that of Elissa Knight similarly modified. It is really through the computer animation and Ben Burtt’s sound effects that portray the characters however. Burtt did sound work for the Star Wars films, and there are some noticeable similarities sound-wise between WALL-E and the Star Wars films. Interestingly, the voice of AUTO is that of MacInTalk, Apple’s voice simulator, and thus that character is even more computer-generated than most. There is some more traditional voice acting is performed by Jeff Garlin, Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Najimy and Pixar regular John Ratzenburger, and all do well. WALL-E also features a little live action acting depicting recorded messages from the past featuring Buy N Large CEO Shelby Forthwright, played by an entertaining Fred Willard as 50/50 president/salesman. The film is visually stunning, especially in the design and movements of the robots, and the backgrounds of space and the ruined cities on Earth. As with other Pixar films, the computer-generated humans are the biggest weakness of the film, and the use of live-action scenes makes it more noticeable than usual. There is a fairly significant plot hole in the film: AUTO basically runs the entire ship and has orders that humans can never return to Earth, which is follows so strictly it tries to destroy the plant, yet EVE probes were still being sent to Earth to search for signs of life, presumably by AUTO. It doesn’t make sense for AUTO to keep sending EVE probes to search for signs of life AUTO doesn’t expect or even want to find, or does AUTO follow its orders so blindly that it has to keep sending the EVE probes just because it is an order? Another minor plot issue is that there doesn’t seem to be an opportunity for the plant to be stolen from EVE, unless it was while the captain was waking up. The film never makes clear when the plant was stolen, and it can almost seem like there was never an opportunity for the plant to disappear. And wasn’t there a faster and easier way for GO-4 to destroy the plant rather than launching it into space in an escape pod rigged to self-destruct? From a science point of view, since the Axiom has its own gravity and there’s no “up” in space, AUTO causing the Axiom to list shouldn’t have had any effect on anyone inside. And, what was the point of those inflatable helmets when all the people were moved to the lido deck for the plant verification. The overall story and the high level of workmanship let the film overcome these issues, though. This is, after all, intended as a children’s movie that adults can also enjoy, so the plot can’t be too complex. I don’t have a problem with the fact that I could almost immediately tell EVE was searching for the plant, as kids might actually be surprised by that revelation. The film has funny moments, often incidents of physical comedy and other visual humor since the main characters have limited dialogue (though my favorite joke is Captain McCrea’s voiceprint: “Uhhh…”), but I found the dramatic elements of the story to be more compelling. The scene near the end of the film where EVE thinks WALL-E has lost all his memories (a good twist to what would otherwise be a very formulaic ending) is heartbreaking, which is all the more impressive since EVE’s emotions have to be portrayed entirely by the shape of her lighted eyes, her “body language” and her saying WALL-E’s name. There is a little social commentary in this film, in the condition of the Earth and the condition of the humans on the Axiom, but it is integral to the plot and I think it is subtle enough to go over kids’ heads.

All Pixar films are fun to watch, but WALL-E, with its high level of workmanship, creativity and emotional resonance is one of the best.