Hug-A-Roach Day!

firstshowing / CC

Tonight marks the release of another animal-free (and human-free) flick from the awesome folks at Pixar. The upcoming blockbuster WALL-E features a lonely robot on an abandoned planet whose only friend is a cockroach—portrayed in a very cute and cuddly manner without being anthropomorphized in the least. In this Entertainment Weekly article, the director calls him "our version of Jiminy Cricket"

The friendship between the main character and a cockroach really makes me wonder how much thought folks have put into how incredibly complex and resilient these little guys are and how to humanely control them as opposed to just killing them, which is futile because more will arrive later—and with a score to settle. Heck, you could get so awestruck that you snag a "Crow and Roach" T-shirt to wear out to the theater.

Beyond being pro-roach, the film also has a strong pro-environment message woven in, as WALL-E's "profession" involves compacting trash on the now over-polluted planet Earth. What more could you ask for in a children's movie? They seem to be advocating two hugely important causes and icing it off with the family- and animal-friendly tradition of Pixar. Be sure to grab the nearest 8-year-old and check this one out!

Posted by Sean Conner