rshepard42796

Economic miracle or environmental disaster, the Three Gorges Dam in China has been the source of considerable debate. This movie ignores all of that and explores the social implications of the project. From the peasant farmer who wants to understand electricity but doesn't to the brash young capitalist giddy with new money from free-spending western tourists, the film poignantly documents the upheaval that has been going on in China over the last decade. One has to wonder how much change China can handle. The twenty-first century has been called the Chinese century as the twentieth century was the American century. However, as I write this there is a global recession that has even slowed Chinese growth. Yet there is concern that change is coming too quickly for China anyway. As always, time will tell. In the meantime we have this film to remind us of what is at stake.

This is a review of the Opening Ceremonies DVD produced by NBC. None of the actual competition is on this DVD.

I'm sure its hard to even partially capture the monstrous spectacle of an Olympiad, still harder to condense it into bite-size segments for viewing on even a widescreen TV. Nonetheless, and unfortunately, the NBC produced DVD of the Opening Ceremonies actually does the spectacle a disservice.

Essentially, this DVD came straight from the NBC airwaves. It is not the entire ceremony, but has been edited, apparently for "American" audiences. Worse still, it has been overlaid with the banal commentary of the NBC announcers. The only saving grace is that the commercials have been removed.

We can hope that the Beijing Olympic Committee will see an opportunity to produce a complete, full length, and untainted version of the opening ceremonies. But until then this is the best we have, and it still gets only a 4, not because the ceremonies were unimpressive, but because the DVD is decidedly sub-par.

Its amazing how much humanity can be infused into a steel claw or a set of battered binoculars. But Lassiter and company do exactly that, and in ways never dreamed of by Disney, or Miyazaki for that matter.

The story is simple enough. A trash compacting robot stranded on earth for hundreds of years after mankind has literally trashed and abandoned the place meets a vastly updated robot who is exploring for signs of vegetation. The love story develops from there.

Yeah, I know...how can robots feel any emotions at all? Anyone who has seen Blade Runner, or 2001, A Space Odessey knows the possibility exists, even if it is far fetched.

While nods are given to 2001-A Space Odessey and Star Wars, this movie draws most of its inspiration from the best of Buster Keaton. WALL-E develops a futuristic tale of romance and slapstick, in which the passion and dedication of the loser finally wins the day. And it does it visually.

There is very little dialog in the movie, and what little dialog there is comes mostly from the humans who inhabit this mostly mechanized world. And that is what makes this movie all the more amazing. Just as the silent movies of old told so much of the story visually, so too this story is a visual story; and a lovely story it is.

That said, I must still say something about the soundtrack, which includes everything from Louis Armstrong to Peter Gabriel and a lot of ground in between. As I was watching the movie I often found myself marveling at how the music enhanced the things I was seeing on screen.

I'm giving this movie a 9 only because I'm sure Pixar will top itself again, and I think I will need the room for that higher rating later.