I recently watched the 2008 Pixar film Wall-E with my dad. The movie is about a robot who has been left alone on Earth to clean up our polluted planet. It’s considered a classic, but my dad wasn’t too crazy about it. In fact, at some points during the movie he was vocally hostile. Here are 14 times my dad booed during Wall-E.
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When the Pixar logo first appeared: My dad started booing very loudly when the Pixar logo appeared on the screen for the first time. My dad hates the name Pixar. He thinks the studio should have used the name he suggested to them in 1986: Compu-Film Industries. His suggestions were ignored and he’s harbored a grudge toward Pixar ever since.
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The first time Wall-E showed up: My dad did not like seeing Wall-E. He said that robots should be gorgeous and naked, like the Terminator, not small and gross looking, like Wall-E.
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When he saw Fred Willard: My dad really hates Fred Willard. He says he looks too much like former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, a politician with whom he often disagreed. I don’t see the resemblance, but my dad says he can’t tell the two of them apart.
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When Wall-E made a noise for the first time: My dad thinks robots should only speak in an Austrian accent like the Terminator. When robots communicate in any other way, he finds it deeply unnatural and unsettling.
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When Walle-E found a bra: My dad defines pornography as “any movie that has graphic sex or underwear in it.” When Wall-E found a bra in a junkyard toward the beginning of the film, my dad booed and booed because it officially made Wall-E a pornographic work.
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When Eve first showed up: My dad thinks movies should have a one-robot limit like the original Terminator. When there are too many robots on screen, my dad gets stressed out. He hates Star Wars because he thinks R2-D2 takes valuable screen time away from C-3PO. So when a second robot showed up in Wall-E my dad made his displeasure known.
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When my grandpa walked into the room: My dad has kind of a complicated relationship with my grandpa, so when my grandpa walked into the room while we were watching Wall-E, my dad booed him until he left.
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When my dad realized that he couldn’t meet Wall-E in real life: During the movie, my dad turned to me and said, “When this is over, let’s go to Wall-E’s house and ask him what religion he is.” When I mentioned that Wall-E didn’t actually exist, my dad threw one of his sneakers at the TV and started booing louder than I’ve ever heard him boo before.
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When Wall-E became awestruck by the majesty of the cosmos: There’s a scene where Wall-E goes to space and he’s clearly amazed by the beauty of the stars and planets. My dad booed during this part of the movie. He said that a real robot would find outer space boring because the only things that robots should find interesting are math and going back in time to assassinate people.
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When he realized Buzz Lightyear wasn’t in the movie: Until watching Wall-E, my dad was apparently under the impression that every single Pixar movie featured Buzz Lightyear as a central character. About an hour into the movie, my dad muttered, “I can’t wait for Buzz Lightyear to show up and start killing people.” When I explained to him that Buzz Lightyear only appeared in the Toy Story franchise, my dad threw his other sneaker at the TV and started booing for over 10 minutes.
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When the movie depicted life in a giant shopping mall in space as a negative thing: All his life, my dad has dreamed of one day living in a gigantic shopping mall in space where he can eat snacks and buy sneakers forever. In Wall-E, the space mall is depicted as an undesirable future for humanity. My dad found this deeply offensive and booed very loudly.
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When a robot brushed a man’s teeth: There’s a scene in Wall-E where a service robot brushes a man’s teeth. When my dad saw this he booed so loud that he was basically shrieking. I don’t totally know why he found this scene offensive, but he really hated it.
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When the humans returned to Earth: After Wall-E, Eve, and the other robots heroically helped the humans return to Earth, my dad started booing and shouting a long string of curse words. He explained that he didn’t want to live alongside these “ugly people and their horrible machines.” I explained to my dad that Wall-E takes place in the distant future and that he would likely be dead when the events of the film took place. My dad muttered, “I better be dead when these losers show up,” before continuing to boo for a few more minutes.
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When the name “E.J. Holowicki” appeared in the credits: After Wall-E had ended, the credits were rolling and one of the names listed was E.J. Holowicki, who was credited with Additional Sound Design. When my dad saw this name he started booing very loudly. I asked him why and he said that a man named Tim Holowicki had rear-ended his car in a grocery store parking lot three years ago, and E.J. Holowicki was probably Tim Holowicki’s brother or wife or son. Then my dad went on Letterboxd and gave Wall-E three stars with a one-sentence review that simply said, “I hated it.”
