As a parent, I judge movies for my kids more by what they don't include: violence, meanness, aggression, anger, shouting, screaming, yelling, bulging bloodshot eyeballs, or death, especially of a parent or sibling. WallE didn't include any of these to a degree that I noticed, so it automatically places better than 80 percent of the movies supposedly intended for children. It also didn't include a whole lot of color, making it sort of dismal looking. The best part was the first half, which included no dialogue except for some clicking between the robot and his cockroach pal.
I also liked that every time WallE rebooted he made the Apple computer startup sound, but I'm a nerd and that really had nothing to do with the movie. Oh wait. Except it did. The rampant Apple product placement was a nice touch. I'm curious about this because I never spied an Apple logo or any identifying mark. Just the "boong" sound and the fact that WallE's love interest could have just as well greeted me at the Apple retail store. The space ship too. They just had that look. Did Apple have to pay for that?
Anyway, I'm getting off track. So the villains in this movie were technology and consumerism, or to a three-year-old, garbage and fat people. Not really sure what to do with that...
Like a lot of kids movies there were two consecutive story lines, one for each audience of children and adults. Unfortunately, the children's plot (lonely kid finds friend, loses friend, gets friend back, lives happily ever after) is overshadowed by the adult plot (won't go into it) which is so far over a youngster's head as to make the movie largely incomprehensible for anyone under the age at which technology and consumerism can be understood as villainous.
In short, a pretty good movie that won't scar your child with all kinds of negative shit. On a scale of 1 to Cars, I'd put it a few steps below Madagascar. Or if you prefer, better than tapping penguins but not quite as fun as surfing penguins.
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