Movie Review: WALL-E (Sort of...)

Well, it's been so long since I've been to the movies I seriously can't remember the last one I saw in a theatre. My 2 1/2 year old daughter loves movies but has never actually been in a theatre before. My wife-- well, she just wanted to get out of the house. That being as it was, we headed out last night to take a gander at the new Pixar flick, WALL-E.I give it an A. What? That's it? No illustriously verbose descriptions of thematic elements, spot-on casting, and eco-political agendas? Naw-- reviews of the movie are a dime-a-dozen. You can read them elsewhere. I sucked you in this twisted post to tell you about the animated short that preceded the feature presentation. Kind of like the no-name band who opens for the headliner to get the audience juiced up, Pixar served up a tasty appetizer called Presto; and boy howdy was it funny. I'm a glutton for slapstick. From Laurel and Hardy to Wile E. Coyote I can't get enough. This short effortlessly delivered a man-sized portion of laughs out of an insanely simple plot line-- and it didn't even need any ACME rockets! Here's the scene: You start backstage where a rather pretentious magician named Presto DiGiotagione is preparing for his show while his famished trick rabbit, Alec Azam, tries in vain to reach a large, delicious carrot just outside of his reach. The setup is simple. The magician has two hats: a flashy, black, top hat and a light-hearted, blue wizard's hat. (Think Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice meets a dunce cap) There's some sort of break in the time-space continuum that opens a portal allowing anything that enters one hat to exit the other. I know, it's a little heady, but you're about to watch a movie about E.T. meets Johnny 5 so get used to it. Not receiving his carrot before the show, the rabbit rebels, and proceeds to humiliate the magician is a vast array of entertaining and electrifying ways by porting his hands into a number of places such as the fuse box backstage. The audience, no doubt oblivious to the offstage mayhem, increasingly awards our poor performer with applause as he is gratuitously mangled, beaten, and de-pants. (Don't worry; it's still G-rated). It's a good thing I didn't have to pee, because I just might have wet myself right there in the theatre. In fact, my wife claims I was grinning so big she noted "wrinkle lines" on my face she had never seen before. So go to the theatre, get your popcorn with extra butter, stay and watch the movie if you please, but for goodness sakes, DON'T miss the animated short!