Your Untraditional (But Totally Seasonal) Mandatory Holiday Viewing

Wall-e
Originally uploaded by JoshFJoseph

Admittedly, I don't get a lump in my throat when I view movies - in fact, I hate "cute"-ness and mawkishness. So when I have an emotional reaction...that means that a movie is really engaging me on an emotional level. Most movies don't do that.

But perhaps it was because of Mom's recent health scare (trust me, there are volumes to be said...but not publicly), or maybe I was just feeling a bit out of it. After seeing Mom home and making sure she was all right, I went home and watched the long delayed viewing of Disney/Pixar's Wall-E
.

And several times, I came quite close to losing it. (As Mike Sterling would say, "Darn you, Wall-E! Darn you to heck!")

This is, quite honestly, Pixar's masterpiece from design to writing to execution. In short, this is one of those films you should see at least once in your lifetime.

Throughout the film, the visual look in terms of "production design" is astounding (the only quibble is with some human characters in the second act of the film, but it's rationalized by thinking they were meant to look like cartoons). The first part - which takes place primarily in silence - shows us a devastated future earth, with a sole sanitary robot (who has a love of Hello, Dolly!) trudging his way along, with only a futuristic cockroach as company.

That is, until a spaceship lands....and that's when the film really kicks off.

Without spoiling the plot, there are some real twists and turns, even if you think you see them coming. There are also some extremely beautiful moments in which the animation seems to bely its computer-created nature. It's the kind of film you want to immerse yourself in, and at no point does it feel overlong. And some moments (I won't go into them here) are genuinely thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time.

lthough it was cited as being a spoof of "rampant commercialism", it's much more than that - it's a movie about untraditional love and romance. About taking chances and rediscovering what really has value in life. It's about being unique and willing to stand apart, and how that can only serve as an asset.

It's also about the love story between two robots. And second chances. And about the important things in life.

Although originally released in the summer of 2008, there's enough themes associated with Christmas to make it ideal viewing. Do yourself and favor and do so.

This movie nearly drove me to tears. In a good way. And very few movies can actually do that.

See this. Now.