i agree with everyone's ideas about why they used real people, but i would like to point out that the pictures of all the captains slowly change from real photos to animated people. i thought it was funny.

I love the film, and while I did see the "message" as it was pretty hard to miss(unlike some animated films where my experience in film theory enables me to root through all the colorful language and find the hidden messages), I really thought it was more of a commentary on how lazy most Americans have become, and I have to say I totally agree.

I work part time at a movie theater and have actually had people call the box office from the concession line to ***** about waiting and missing their movie.....WTF????

I thought that this message, while right there in front of us, has mostly gone unnoticed by the general public, which is sad.

The love story was great, and Evan was right on about the humans trash being important to Wall-E. I loved the scene where he started showing Eva all the things he found. It was such a simple film in alot of ways that said so much more than the complicated ones that are trying to send us multi social messages.

Lastly, the human thing, I think it's just because Fred Willard really is that awesome!

Oh, and I thought the message in Kung Fu Panda was never underestimate/make fun of the fat kid. That one was pretty obvious to me, and I really thought it was plain stupid. But, I also think that Jack Black hasn't done anything great since Tenacious D, with exception to Margot at the Wedding.

I hope Pixar keeps it up and that they don't ruin Toy Story with the 3rd one!

Saw it again last night - loved it just as much. But this time, the sheer magnitude of the visual achievement of the film, particularly in the first half hour, really hit me.

Seriously...wow.