--- title: WALL·E (2008) and Tomorrow, the World! (1944) description: Two extremely different movies for my birthday week! image: https://www.nathanmcbride.net/hubfs/Walle%20Tomorrow%20the%20World.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/mindandheart/walle-2008-and-tomorrow-the-world-1944#main-content) ![Me with books](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Me%20with%20books%20middle%20brighter.jpg?width=1800&height=2155&name=Me%20with%20books%20middle%20brighter.jpg)Homepage - [Home](https://www.nathanmcbride.net) - [Academics](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/academics) - [Blog](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/mindandheart) - [Stories](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/stories) - [Videos](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/videos) - [Home](https://www.nathanmcbride.net) - [Academics](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/academics) - [Blog](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/mindandheart) - [Stories](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/stories) - [Videos](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/videos) ![Eva and Wall-E with a lightbulb; Emil from Tomorrow, the World standing in front of his father's portrait](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Walle%20Tomorrow%20the%20World.png?width=842&height=374&name=Walle%20Tomorrow%20the%20World.png) # WALL·E (2008) and Tomorrow, the World! (1944) ![Nathan McBride](https://7528315.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/7528315/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mV0_d-cms-elevate-theme_hubspot/elevate/images/avatar-placeholder.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=avatar-placeholder.jpg) Nathan McBride March 1, 2026 Two extremely different movies for my birthday week! **WALL·E (2008; Disney+)** A robot on a trashed Earth finds a green sprout and journeys to the spaceship where humanity awaits a sign to come home. This Disney/Pixar movie has long been one of my very favorites. It is clean, funny, and heartwarming. It is also top-notch cinema. The animators developed new technology to mimic camera lenses and distance, and the result is a rich animated world, richly “filmed.” Like *2001: A Space Odyssey* (1968), which the movie references, the first half hour has practically no dialogue. You have to work to figure out what WALL·E is doing or saying sometimes, but he’s so innocent and orderly and cute that it’s not a chore. He’s dumpy, like Lieutenant Columbo, which just adds to his charm; and his “outsider” status on the Axiom gives him the power to offer a new perspective. A perspective all of us need reminded of in our age of digital screens, social isolation, and mindless entertainment. Encounter, effort, love, and stewardship. **Tomorrow, the World! (1944; [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/tomorrowtheworld), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tf3DDqc6Lc))** During World War II, an American family takes in their distant German relative Emil who begins to stir up tension and danger due to his commitment to the Nazi Party—and he’s eleven. This movie, adapted from a Broadway play, does an excellent job keeping us on our toes. It doesn’t take too long for the family to figure out Emil’s motives. The plot doesn’t get stuck in a single melodramatic encounter. Instead, the offenses build and build, out in the open, until someone has to succumb to the weight. Skip Homeier gives a stunning performance as Emil, reprising his role from Broadway, making us loathe him, and then want the best for him, even wish we could imagine that he could change. He's fascinatingly evil, but he's just a kid, too. He is joined by a great cast including Fredric March, Agnes Morehead, and a winsome young Joan Carroll who this same year starred in *Meet Me in St. Louis*. An incredible theme of the power of learning to think for yourself, and how hard it can be to give others the room to do this. *For sensitive viewers: Emil says and does some nasty things to people because they are Jewish or Polish, and there is PG-level violence involving children*. **But Nathan, why these movies together?** Since it’s my birthday week, I picked *Wall·E* because it has always been one of my favorites. *Tomorrow, the World!* is a new discovery for me (thanks parents!), but I felt it belonged because it features a birthday. There’s another reason for this pick, too, and you’ll find it in our movies as the month progresses. Otherwise, the movies are entirely unrelated, but like the song says, it’s my birthday, so I can pick strange combinations if I want to. 😅 ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nathanmcbride.net%2Fmindandheart%2Fwalle-2008-and-tomorrow-the-world-1944](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nathanmcbride.net%2Fmindandheart%2Fwalle-2008-and-tomorrow-the-world-1944) ## Keep reading ### [![The characters of The Empire Strikes Back in the Milennium Falcon and the protagonists of El Dorado looking out the door.](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Star%20Wars%20V%20El%20Dorado.png?width=1337&height=452&name=Star%20Wars%20V%20El%20Dorado.png) The Empire Strikes Back (1980) & El Dorado (1966)](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/mindandheart/the-empire-strikes-back-1980-el-dorado-1966) ### [![Obi-Wan Kenobi sitting with Luke Skywalker; Mary Poppins holding the bird](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Star%20Wars%20and%20Mary%20Poppins.png?width=1087&height=335&name=Star%20Wars%20and%20Mary%20Poppins.png) Star Wars (1977) & Mary Poppins (1964)](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/mindandheart/star-wars-1977-mary-poppins-1964) [![An arch of books with Nathan standing under it](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Me%20with%20books%20middle%20brighter.jpg?width=418&height=500&name=Me%20with%20books%20middle%20brighter.jpg "An arch of books with Nathan standing under it")](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/) - [Home](https://www.nathanmcbride.net) - [Academics](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/academics) - [Blog](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/mindandheart) - [Stories](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/stories) - [Videos](https://www.nathanmcbride.net/videos) --- [Privacy Policy](https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy) and Legal · © 2025. 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