As much as I enjoy all kinds of movies, animations don't really appeal to me, so it's surprising I allowed myself to be tempted into watching this cute flick WALL-E, but I am oh, so glad I did. Visually appealing, technically well done, a thinking man's plot put in a childlike framework, characters one can relate to, pleasant surprises, some action, and enough changes of pace to keep the audience from becoming complacent with the plot.

The setting: some futuristic burned-out earth inhabited by a lone garbage-compactor robot WALL-E soon to be joined by a svelte prospecting piece of robotic beauty from outer space, EVE. Oh, it's the first-man and first-woman motif, but set in some hypothetical future like an episode out of The Twilight Zone, only done with robots. Adam named his helpmeet Eve meaning "mother of all living" while EVE here stands for "Extravehicular Vegetation Evaluator" which amounts to about the same thing in the movie's scheme of things. Their personalities speak volumes about their scientist makers. WALL-E's scientist creator spent a lot of time playing with erector sets as a kid, while EVE's progenitor was a real artist. Well, yeah. Right along with the story in Genesis, where God made the plants and animals from earth (Gen. 1:11, 24), the sea creatures from water (vs. 20), and the man from mud (Gen. 2:7), while the woman was a real work of art made from the man's rib (vs. 18-25). (In fact WALL-E must be returned to earth when he needs repairs.)

The plot thickens when the prospector strikes it rich and gets whisked back to the space station with WALL-E as a stowaway. There we find all the humans—such as they are—waiting—such as they can—to return to earth as soon as the robot probe brings back evidence of terrestial inhabitability, which never happens. Until now.

This brings us to the theme of the movie which portrays a use that Paul (of all people) made of the first-man and first-woman motif, brought forward into the New Testament, but while Paul is controversial, the movie is merely interesting; it doesn't preach or draw any conclusions, just showcases some ideas in an unusual setting.

First Paul: (1 Tim. 2:11-15) "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." He understandably provokes a reaction, but one that is not engendered by the movie, though it deals with the same ideas.

There are two or three. First, since WALL-E was there on earth before EVE, he has a natural role of showing her the ropes. She does well not to get too high and mighty but to allow WALL-E to teach her how the planet operates. This comes across very well in the movie, though I'm not sure how we would go about applying it in real life. Paul seemed to think it a partial justification for excluding women from the major teaching postions in the church, but we aren't talking about Paul here, just a movie.

The second one has to do with "directives." In a pseudo-mechanical voice, EVE queried WALL-E about his "Directive?" and he responed by demonstrating the compacting of a garbage cube, which he then stacked with the others, the oh, so many others. But that's the same, basically as with the first man, (Gen. 2:15) "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." WALL-E was dressing and keeping his plot just as well, and for that matter, man's work in general is a reflection of the directive to Adam to dress and keep that original garden.

The mess the movie world is in now reflects the fallen state of our world, sort of like after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and then tossed the apple core, and here we see a "Big Apple" of a world that has been trashed by original sin. Man still has his work to do in it, his directive.

The woman's (Eve's) directive is different. (Gen. 3:1) "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This was shown us in Passion of the Christ where the seed of woman (Mary) suffered on the cross but in so doing administered a mortal wound to the serpent Satan. The woman's directive was to birth a savior. EVE's directive was likewise to show up with a seedling in her virgin ("Don't touch me") womb so the earth can be regenerated. Paul referred to this role, this directive, as part of the working out of humankind's salvation.

It is the captain on the ship who has to stand up like a man to the mutinous robotic first mate who reminds us of that serpent who instigated mankind's fall in the first place. Paul brings out that since it was woman who was deceived by the serpent, not the man who merely went along, man is better able to stand up to that deceiver, as we see the captain do in the movie.

I don't think the movie tells us how we should run a church, or even if we should belong to one, but even if you're an atheist who believes in evolution, you might do well to know how to discuss these ideas in a religious society, and such a movie allegory is one road to use for that purpose. The plot is altogether entertaining in its own right, its heroes are the humans (mostly), its robots are lovable or scarey as the case may be, and it all evokes a kind of movie magic that makes it a joy to see. I liked it and I don't even go for animations as a rule.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older