WALL - E

On Tuesday, July 15, I saw the alleged second-coming of animation called WALL-E.

And as far as I'm concerned, WALL-E spells OVERRATE-D.

Sure, the animation is typical-Pixar-cool (the mounds of trash formed into would-be skyscrapers that the humans have accumulated over the years are especially impressive), and the story sends an Important Social Message (as most of these do), but I just wasn't as impressed with the delivery as most of my fellow critics.

Wall-E himself is a robot that was created to manage the trash crises that us obese, lazy, careless Americans...um...humans have created. We've basically trashed ourselves out of our habitat. Clever? Absolutely. But also slightly grim and more than a little in-your-face preachy at times.

The species has been beamed to a superheaven of sorts, where everyone functions from their lounge chair, eats cupcakes in cups and leads generally meaningless (though no doubt, fun) lives. "Autopilots" run the ship, so to speak.

So when another, prettier, more R2D2-like robot (Eva) comes along to keep WALL-E company on earth, it's no wonder sparks fly.

Put simply, there are very tender moments between the two hunks of metal that redeem the story somewhat, but aside from those rare moments, I was either bored or mildly offended at how blatant the moralizing was. And the "battle" scene at the end was painfully formulaic.

I had a much better time at Toy Story.