The movie has an important message that is gotten across in a delightful and entertaining manner. The premise of the movie is that Earth has been “temporarily” abandoned by its inhabitants because of pollution and disregard for its resources. Earth has gotten so bad that it will no longer sustain life. Wall-E is a robot working on the abandoned Earth. His job is to collect trash, compact it and stack it. The ultimate goal is to restore the Earth to a state that will once again support life. His best buddy is a cockroach. The animation was stunning. The characters became so real and the movie became so engrossing that the “animation” became transparant in that it was as if I was watching “real live characters”. The screenplay ( I guess you still call it that even for animation) was excellent. Overall I’d have to rate this as one of the more enjoyable movies I’ve ever seen…the message was great, the movie was emotionally touching, the animation was spectacular and I was sad when it finally ended. I was so wrapped up in the movie that I just wanted it to go on and on.

The movie has numerous nods to other sci-fi movies, which are fun to pick out. Allusions to “Close Encounters”, “Star Trek”, “Star Wars” and others. Plus there are some interesting sound effects that will amuse the careful listener…such as an Apple Computer Start-up Chime.

Wall-E has a personality trait that is funny…he likes to collect items of interest before collecting and compacting the trash. He carefully places his collectables on a series of movable trays and it’s a riot to see what he’s collected.

To be honest, I had tears streaming down my face on more than one occasion during the movie. It was an animated movie for goodness sake! What’s that all about? Well, it’s about a movie that was so well crafted and seemed so real that it hit all the emotional buttons that a movie with real live actors would hit. It’s truly a family movie but has enough adult content to keep the adults as engaged as the kids. Highly recommended.

And do you -really- think that Wall-E looks “exactly” like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit?

Honestly, this is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. From the very first moment the film begins to roll to the absolute last frame, it is filled with so many laughs you could never count them all. I’ll probably have to see it at least once or twice more to catch all the gags I probably missed the first time around.

The first 15 minutes of the movie was so full of laughs that I had tears in my eyes. I guess I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t find The Simpsons funny, but some people just don’t. Oh well. In my small mind, I’d like to think that even a “non-simpson” type might find this movie funny, but then again, probably not because it is 100% The Simpsons. If you don’t like the TV show, you probably won’t like the movie either because the movie is basically a long TV show but in true cinematic fashion.

I’ve seen two great movies this summer; The Bourne Ultimatum and The Simpson Movie. I wish my movie choices were always so enjoyable but inevitably they aren’t. It has inspired me to see a few more this summer… heh heh heh, I wonder when I’ll ever find the time….

The Bourne Ultimatum starring Matt Damon was for me one of the most action packed, edge of your set movies I’ve seen in a long, long time. The chase sequences are absolutely incredible. You have to wonder how the director was even able to film such sequences. It is so “real” that it is hard to believe that the people in the streets were extras and that the camera could follow the action so closely. I don’t believe I’ve even seen a movie that was filmed so claustrophobically.

This movie moves so fast that you can just forget about a bathroom or run to the snack bar break. You’ll miss too much. In fact, even blinking runs the risk of missing something… seriously. This is a fast-paced, total action movie and Matt Damon is dead-on perfect in this role. The entire cast is perfect actually. This movie takes you places too… all over the world, Moscow, Paris, London, Madrid, Tangier, and New York.

If this is your kind of movie genre, don’t miss this one. Make sure you see it in the theater and not at home. It’s much too big to see on a small screen.

Little Miss Sunshine, from Fox Searchlight Pictures, is the must-see movie of the year. It has to be one of the funniest but touching movies I have ever seen. One of the funniest parts of the movie wasn’t even a character, but a sound. I won’t spill the beans here but suffice to say, this movie is going to win some awards.

The movie stars Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and Abagail Breslin as Olive.

Little Miss Sunshine introduces us to the dysfunctional family, the Hoovers. It follows their quest to get Olive, their young daughter to Redondo Beach, California in time for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant by driving hundreds of miles in a VW mini-bus. You may soon begin to realize that this “dysfunctional” family may more accurately portray a typical family than you might imagine.

The screenplay is excellent. Alan Arkin is brilliant as the Grandfather and gives a performance that is absolutely hilarious. Greg Kinnear is the Father and is equally stellar. Paul Dano is Dwayne, the rebellious son. Steve Carell (one of the funniest actors around) has a delightful role as the Uncle and his understated comedic performance won’t disappoint you. Toni Collette, is perfectly cast as the Mother and the adorable Abagail Breslin plays Olive, perhpas the most normal member of the family. Her innocence and sensitivity is wonderful to experience.

This is a move that I plan on seeing again as soon as I can fit it in. It has a great soundtrack, consistent momentum and the last 30 minutes will make you want to laugh and cry, probably simultaneously (that was my experience anyway).