Since I got a chance to tour Pixar and hear about the development of this movie, as well as see the assets they developed and prototyped during production, I can say this person is missing their intended point.

The reason people were fat was because they brought in a NASA guy who told them that, under the circumstances of living on such a spaceship for generations, people would turn to "gelatin".

In fact, for much of the film's development, they ran with the "gelatin" concept and created pseudo-humans called "gels" that you could see through. They pulled back to making the humans more recognizably human for purposes of making the story relatable.

They also, I should say for completeness, originally had the humans being more stupid, along the lines of what this guy is complaining about. But then they realized the combination of fat people and dumb people wasn't compelling, so they actually worked to make the humans be respectable and intelligent.

Notice that the captain is genuinely bored of his existence, and gloms onto everything he can learn about Earth as soon as he can...then he takes action to correct the situation, at great peril to himself, and is an unqualified hero in the story. (I won't say more to avoid spoilers).

Notice that the couple of other humans we get to know on the ship are responsible people who, once no longer distracted by their video screens, immediately recognize the beauty of what's around them, and display responsible behavior in several ways, including saving the lives of children.

There's a way I agree with this complainer -- I don't like stories that make lazy fun of people, where the author just uses stereotypes to get a laugh, without bothering to have real human beings in their story.

I'm gonna go on record to say that not only does Wall-E not make fun of people, it's downright people-positive.

I found it pretty interesting how the movie judges character entirely on whether someone acts "like a robot" or like a thinking, feeling being. Those who meet Wall-E not only accept him as an individual, but wake up and become individuals themselves. Several characters (human and robot alike) go through this transformation from robot to person, and the inverse is presented as tragic. Conflict is driven by those who unerringly stick to the status quo.

As for the criticism that the movie is poking fun at fatties, I'd say its real target is brainless consumerism, where people just buy buy buy instead of appreciating what they have, earn, purchase, and lose. In this sense it's every bit as much a send-up of thoughtless living as Over the Hedge was.

I find something about a 12 year old getting bent out of shape over that a little disturbing. That and the use of the term 'size-positive environment'.
To me that just screams the sort of household that enforces mandatory blind political correctness. If you say 'that's gay' you get grounded for being intolerant, without a single thought being given to explaining why it's offensive or why you shouldn't say it.
Like living in an office where someone just filed a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Lummox JR wrote:

As for the criticism that the movie is poking fun at fatties, I'd say its real target is brainless consumerism, where people just buy buy buy instead of appreciating what they have, earn, purchase, and lose.

Funny thing is, what I took offense to in the film was the bashing of mindless consumerism...at least when it involved playing online games or the equivalent.

And, well, I'm pretty much a fan of mindless consumerism. Nice TVs, DVDs, iPods, laptops, decked out gaming systems, a Netflix subscription...sure I could survive without them, but (and I'm somewhat serious) would it be living?

And I think it's fair to say the pursuit of such luxuries drives much good in the world.

Heck, you'll find me a very willing apologist for the evils of shopping. I think what Wall-E was getting at, which Over the Hedge also touched on, is needless waste and a kind of blandness from everyone needing to have the same things. In Wall-E when everyone is told about the ability to use blue clothes, they all switch to blue. In Over the Hedge, the villain of the movie brooks no deviation from the utterly fascist homeowners' agreement--those contracts that somehow require giant developments to keep looking like every house is exactly the same. I think the movie is vilifying a homogenized existence, which is nicely represented by the fact that everyone has their food served in liquid form.

I suppose there's a thin line between that and America-bashing, though. There's an implicit criticism of the "supersize" mentality there. Oddly the people who criticize that never seem to get that buying at Costco/BJ's/Sam's is a good way to save money, save gas by taking fewer trips to the store, and avoid wasteful extra packaging. The economy of scale really does matter. Where I think Wall-E avoids stepping over the line is that in the movie, BnL has taken over everything and it's clear that the lack of competition served them poorly. The CEO is even referred to as "Mr. President" and speaks from behind a podium with a presidential seal; it's clear that BnL is a monopoly devolved into a sort of accidental socialism, so really you could say that the movie is a strong critic of socialism.

Wall-E would be a better movie without the sour taste of The Happening still lingering around.