I took the kids to see Wall-E this weekend, and it struck me as a surprisingly layered work for a G-rated kids movie, something for which Pixar should be congratulated. It's also a cautionary tale, both ecologically/environmentally and for American passive consumerism. Set 700 years in the future, Earth is uninhabitable due to the amount of garbage (stacks of garbage reach as high as the skyscrapers) and humans live on an orbiting space station, waiting for Earth to come back to life. The space station itself is a Vegas-like cruise ship rendered only slightly more extreme than in reality, and the humans recline in floating lounges with TV screens in front of them, junk food in a slurpy cup easily available. In this environment, humans have become fat, weak and dull, unable to see anything around them but the screens, and isolated from each other.

Even if you don't have young children, the message alone--done with quite of bit of subtlety--makes the movie worth seeing. Don't miss the blending of themes from Hello Dolly!, 2001, and Brazil within the soundtrack.