Nothing much to say, really, about the animation. PIXAR steps it up another notch. Simply stunning, which is par for the course for PIXAR. I gave the film six stars and at least five of them go to the visuals.
However, the story didn't really match those visuals. And the two robot leads were cute, I'll grant, but not much more than that.
SPOILERS FOLLOW.
Basically, humans created the mess that made it necessary for them to leave the planet. And we're supposed to root for them to come back? I'm sorry, I just don't get it. It's not a strong enough reason for me to root for the protagonists. And the antagonists are, likewise, not compelling enough, with no real apparent motivation for keeping the humans from re-inhabiting earth, unless it's to protect the earth from humans overloading the world with trash again, in which case, I'm not sure we shouldn't have rooted for them instead.
And what about the other species? We see fish in the end credits. Presumably, the planet was okay for them and other species? The movie doesn't really go into that, unless I missed something.
Meanwhile, while the humans were away, they came to rely on being carted around on hover-chairs. As the film explains, this leads to some bone loss. And their ability to walk has apparently atrophied over the centuries. Only it hasn't, as we see the uniformly obese humans learn to walk again, much like overgrown infants learn to walk. Perhaps this is meant to be symbolic, but it doesn't make a lot of logical sense.
Finally, I'm not sure why a live action Fred Willard was used, but this is a minor point. Given the rest of the movie, I find that I really don't care. I just find it a little odd.
However, the story didn't really match those visuals. And the two robot leads were cute, I'll grant, but not much more than that.
SPOILERS FOLLOW.
Basically, humans created the mess that made it necessary for them to leave the planet. And we're supposed to root for them to come back? I'm sorry, I just don't get it. It's not a strong enough reason for me to root for the protagonists. And the antagonists are, likewise, not compelling enough, with no real apparent motivation for keeping the humans from re-inhabiting earth, unless it's to protect the earth from humans overloading the world with trash again, in which case, I'm not sure we shouldn't have rooted for them instead.
And what about the other species? We see fish in the end credits. Presumably, the planet was okay for them and other species? The movie doesn't really go into that, unless I missed something.
Meanwhile, while the humans were away, they came to rely on being carted around on hover-chairs. As the film explains, this leads to some bone loss. And their ability to walk has apparently atrophied over the centuries. Only it hasn't, as we see the uniformly obese humans learn to walk again, much like overgrown infants learn to walk. Perhaps this is meant to be symbolic, but it doesn't make a lot of logical sense.
Finally, I'm not sure why a live action Fred Willard was used, but this is a minor point. Given the rest of the movie, I find that I really don't care. I just find it a little odd.