I Want a Trash Compactor Robot With Soul!

I know I should probably write about The Book Club's discussion of The Storyteller's Daughter while it is still fresh in my mind, but I've really only been able to think about one thing for the last day: WALL-E.

Time for some history. I have always enjoyed Pixar's work. Both Toy Story movies delighted me when they came out, and I fondly remember seeing Monsters, Inc. in the theater. (Funny story about that movie: in December 2001 I was eagerly anticipating the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, so much so that I was going to catch it on its opening night in Vernal. Well, my pseudo-girlfriend and I went to Vernal's one multi-screen theater and to my chagrin, The Fellowship wasn't there. Though I was extremely disappointed, we decided to catch a movie anyway. The movie we decided on was Monsters, Inc. I absolutely loved it. The next day I went to see The Fellowship.)

Finding Nemo was released two months before I jaunted to Brazil, and it somehow went unnoticed. I didn't end up seeing it until after my mission, and by then I had heard so many people hyping it, that it ultimately didn't meet the expectations I had set. I still need to see it again. The Incredibles, however, blew me away. It was (and still is) by far the most intense and exciting animated feature I had ever seen. Fantastic, fantastic film.

I saw Cars and enjoyed it but didn't feel like it achieved Pixar's high levels of excellence.

Rewind to one year ago. I was excited for the release of Ratatouille, but not terribly so. The trailers looked great (visually, that is), but the story didn't jump out at me. That being so, I still saw it during its opening weekend, and it astounded me. For the first time, I found myself not just enjoying a Pixar film like I always did, but Ratatouille actually resonated with me. It was the first Pixar film that I saw as high art. It wasn't as exciting as The Incredibles or as funny as Toy Story, but I connected with it. Everything about it was flawless. The animation, the music, the story, all of it combined into a masterpiece. I left the theater with a huge smile on my face and happiness in my heart. With Ratatouille, I felt like Pixar had elevated itself once again, taken their filmmaking and storytelling to an all new level, and I was excited for their future films, but I was also afraid that they couldn't go any higher than they already were. I hoped that the emotional resonance achieved with Ratatouille wouldn't be a one time thing. (Coincidentally, iTunes just randomly played a track from Ratatouille's soundtrack).

Here we are in the present, and I can happily announce that Pixar has not disappointed. WALL-E is even better than Ratatouille.

(I will continue with this post later today after I see WALL-E for the second time).