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I really disagree with this. The standard formula for stuff like this is to play to the kids while throwing their parents and/or grandparents enough bones to make sure they will take the kiddies. Adults are always part the equation in kids movies. The message is what got us to the theatre in the first place. Grandma read several overly-generous reviews touting it's anti-consumerist message, and she proposed the night at the theatre.

I didn't care about the heavy-handedness. The message to consume is itself pretty heavy-handed. It's just so pervasive that we bracket it mentally. I think Wall-E should be judged by other criteria, and that's where it flops.

I can tell when my kids really like something and when they are happy just to be out at night in a theatre with popcorn. They really liked the short, but Wall-E itself didn't impress them. They didn't talk about it much the next day. My daughter told me it was too long.

I don't think there's so much difference between adults and kids. My son loves "Man with a movie camera." It's what you'd call hi-brow, intello, adult stuff these days, but it's incredibly rich in good images which is why people like it. R's 6 year old daughter loves old musicals, and again, those are very rich visually.

Wall-E sucked visually. Just think of a Technicolor musical and compare that to the use of colour in Wall-E. No wonder we thought it was boring! Instead of showing something interesting -- and they could have done absolutely anything -- they show you a Rubik's cube. We adults are supposed to feel nostalgic or clever because we get the reference, but on its own, as image, it's really kind of boring. We only got to see hints of the storms, which could have made for some dramatic visuals. Instead, they are merely cues for Wall-E to hole up in its private space and peruse its collection of commodities. Many of Wall-E's visuals were borrowed from other films. I suppose this supposed to give adults frissons of recognition, but it's also rather unimaginative. Compare this to say, Tonari no Totoro. The cat bus blows away anything in Wall-E.

Not only that, but the environmentalism of Totoro was presented in such a way that kids can feel the loss. No woods, no more enchantment. Wall-E was very abstract, and the love story/adventure negates the message; the same things happen, despite extreme environmental degradation. Where's the loss?