how could you not love wall-e?

WALL-E
Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight
Walt Disney Pictures

Rating: A-

What if mankind evacuated Earth and forgot to turn off the last remaining robot?

I'll tell you why but let me do away with the gratuitous praises first.

Wall-E is a terrific movie. Not once was I distracted to check the time, nor my mobile phone throughout the screening. In fact I was so focused on dissecting the film's story; wondering what robots do to the bodies of those who have died in the Axiom. It's been 700 years, and good Lord, everyone on that ship is one liquid burger away from a heart attack. They probably have robot models (MOR-T or MOR-G) for such instances. And then this old sedan appeared out of nowhere and almost ran me over. The grouchy driver was rambling about something but I had my iPod blasting j.Love's "Barenaked" (it's my pocketful of sunshine tune) so I just smiled and took off.

And for some more questions - how do they make babies in the future? Did the Axiom hold the entire world population, or was it just the Americas that had the garbage problem (or it could go like, were they the only ones saved as the rest died)? And if the robots were smart enough, why didn't they just wipe out the human species and took over the Axiom, and subsequently, restore the Earth? And why a cockroach?

Anyway.

The visuals were outstanding. The movie's moral lessons were succinctly depicted and delivered even with minimal dialogue. Which leads me to another point - the robots were just wonderful and their way of substituting beeps, rattles and eye rolls for actual words made the emotion more, heartfelt.

Which arcs back to the first question, how could I not love Wall-E? I feel for Wall-E when he would hold his own hand to comfort himself. Sadly, his longing reminded me of my own. I feel that it would take all of my life to find someone who will be there for me. Silver lining - Wall-E found EVE. After 700 years.