I have a friend who claims that WALL-E (the film, not the character) sort of beats you over the head with its environmental message and is therefore ‘preachy’. Naturally, I don’t agree with her, but I thought it’d be an interesting topic for discussion,
If you wanna see preachy, watch the Steven Seagal film ‘On Deadly Ground’. Happy Feet also got self-righteous towards the end.
Anyway, I think Mr Stanton said that environmentalism was not the main focus of the story. It was love and the human connection. The waste of our planet was a symptom of mankind’s lost of all things beautiful and wonderful in the pursuit of commercial profit.
Personally, I have nothing wrong if a film advocates environmental stewardship and ethical responsibility. Heck, even Captain Planet had good intentions, even if the way they presented 'em was a little cheesy.
I can see what you’re friend means. But I’ve watched the movie so many times now when I think of the main point of the story I think of love (not just in a romantic sense) and teamwork.
TDIT mentioned Happy Feet. In my eyes, that movie was more preachy than WALL-E.
Yeah this is a really BerserkButton for me, right up with people claiming he has no personality. I mean I sort of guess I can see how the film might have environmental themes or something, what with Earth being a trash dump, but overly preach? No, definitely not. I mean it’s a love story first and foremost, everything else: the Garbage Earth, Axiom, and corrupt utopia, is all a supporting story. It barely touches on any real environmental themes at all, and those I feel are justifiable to the story.
Besides even if it was (WHICH IT ISN’T- ok sorry for the caps lock) that’s certainly not a good reason for not liking the film. All of Miyazaki’s films are heavily anti-pollution and anti-war, on purpose too, but still no one dares question the overall amazing quality. And there’s nothing wrong with a little environmentalism, I for one find it extremely good Disney is going green because of PIXAR.
Exactly! I don’t see anything wrong if a movie which has advocates good moral values. I even want to watch ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, even though a lot of people said it was ‘idealistic’ or that Al Gore did it for political purposes. It’s not about forwarding an agenda, it’s about saving the planet, which by right should be the least controversial topic of our time. I mean, who wouldn’t want the world to be cleaner and greener (besides industrialists and greedy tycoons)? Yet we’re dragging our feet and moaning when a movie actually suggests we have the power to do something about it, particularly when the environmental message is not the main theme of the film in the first place! 
I don’t think it’s very preachy but I have heard that it is allot recently.
I disagree. I mean, lots of Hollywood junk is way worse than Wall-E, which had a perfect balance, in my opinion. I agree with pretty much exactly what Pixar Builder said.
This is a complaint I’d heard from a couple of people myself, and since I love this film so much, it kinda bugged me. I think the fact that they were able to make such a hard-hitting point about such a serious issue, WITHOUT sacrificing the other elements (characters, humor, action/suspense, etc.) really exemplifies the standard of greatness that Pixar strives for in all their movies. It’s a delicate balance but I think they did an amazing job of satisfying the audience’s need for entertainment while still getting a clear message across. It’s probably my favorite Pixar film for precisely that reason - it’s just SO good on so many levels!
…How can a film be preachy about a message that wasn’t the message of the film to begin with? O_o
I just re-watched the film and do have to admit it is a tad preachy funnily enough in the love story rather than the environmental message.
It is near impossible to separate ideas of environmental films and preachiness. But I think WALL-E is very subdued when you compare it to other animated films about the Environment (Fern Gully, The Lorax, Once Upon a Forest).
Wait wait wait, are you people implying the message of this movie is not in fact “Create as much trash as possible so someone somewhere is eventually forced to create an army of actual WALL-Es”? O.O
Seriously though…eh, I don’t think it’s too preachy. I believe Stanton said somewhere the trash was just meant as a means to an end, a reason for the humans to leave and for WALL-E to exist, and that’s really all it comes off as.