“If the pattern of the past seven years prevails, WALL-E will be nominated for the Best Animated Feature category,” writes Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern. “And if justice prevails, it will win. But WALL-E isn’t just an animated feature; it’s a great motion picture by any measure.
“In keeping with its singular distinction, Pixar’s latest gift to movie lovers should be a candidate for the most prestigious award, Best Picture, when Oscar time rolls around. And the time to start the drumbeat is now, because the path to that nomination is strewn with prickly practicalities and marked by timeworn doubts.”
And I say no to that. Animated feature making needs to work its side of the fence, and more-or-less-real movies need to work their own. Keep the Berlin Wall up, Mr. Gorbachev! Biological actuality is too precious and beautiful to sully its textures with hard-drive simulations and vice versa. Sometimes segregation is a good thing. Let art flourish in every corner, and let WALL*E be saluted for the superb animated family drama that it is.