Put on your Sunday clothes, there's lots of world out there...

WALL-E is the best movie I've seen in years. There, I said it. I've been thinking it since June, and confirmed it after watching the DVD tonight. It's the most original, touching, intelligent, creative story put in theaters in years. I haven't seen many movies lately, mostly because most of the movies that come out look like crap, but WALL-E is heads and shoulders above what I have seen. The depressing part? Most likely, the movie that got a 96% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes will not be nominated for Best Picture because it is animated. Forget that computer animation has come so far since Toy Story that the wasteland in the movie that is Earth looks strikingly realistic. Forget that the emotions expressed by robots are more real than the emotions expressed weekly on The Hills. Because this little guy is a robot, he's not going to get the recognition he completely deserves. (FYI, No Country For Old Men, last year's Best Picture has a rating of 94%.)

WALL-E's Wikipedia entry describes it as a "computer animated science-fiction romance film." What?! How many movies have you seen in that genre? The movie defies categorization. Is it a kids movie? Maybe on the surface, but like all Pixar movies, there's plenty to keep adults entertained. The difference between WALL-E and, say, Finding Nemo, is that the multiple levels of entertainment aren't all comedy. You don't have many wordplay jokes that mean one thing to kids and another to adults. Instead, you have a real rarity - an animated movie that can actually be taken quite seriously and actually makes you - gasp! - think.

This is the only movie in a long time to stay with me... to make me think about it for so long after seeing it, even though on the surface it seems like such a simple movie. Quietly, it's a cautionary tale about protecting our planet... a criticism of consumerism and conglomerates... a wake-up call to us all begging us to step away from the computers, the video games, and the iPods and take a look around... and above all, the most innocent, beautiful love story you'll ever see. This little guy just wants a hand to hold. That's it. In a time when everything in the news seems so depressing and complicated, this Pixar movie, not a kid's movie at all, manages to put it all in perspective and get it so right. In this simple character, a character that barely talks and emotes solely with body language, we're all reminded that the universe is so much larger than us and our petty problems, and we're encouraged to just hold someone's hand... and let that be enough.