David Vaughn

Growing up, I had the benefit of attending both public and private schools and was fortunate enough to receive a decent education. But without parental support at home, I doubt I would have gotten good grades and been pushed to go to college. I'm sure most teachers will agree that it all starts at home, and they can only do so much during the time they spend with our kids.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/wall-e.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, waste-disposal robot WALL&#183;E (voiced by Ben Burtt) discovers a new purpose in life when he meets EVE (Elissa Knight), a sleek exploration robot looking for signs of life on a desolate, depopulated Earth. WALL&#183;E inadvertently stumbles upon the key to the planet's future and shares the discovery with EVE, whereupon she races back to space to report her findings to the humans who have waited generations to return home.

While the special effects are well done, the over-the-top action gets a bit tiresome after nearly two hours. The video encode is serviceable with adequate depth and detail, but it's the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack that is the star of the show. It features very intense bass, a plethora of discrete effects, and reference-quality dynamics.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/waterworld.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When the polar ice caps melt, the Earth is covered in water, and the human race struggles to survive by meandering around the globe in makeshift boats, jet skis, and floating cities. Our hero, Mariner (Kevin Costner), is a loner mutant with webbed feet and gills behind his ears so he can breathe underwater&#151;how convenient considering the state of the planet. Anyway, Mariner gets caught up in a war with The Smokers when he rescues a little girl (Tina Majorino) who carries the secret of the only dry land left on Earth.