WALL-E (2008)

If you don't like WALL-E, you have no soul.

Okay, maybe that's a little harsh.  You probably aren't human, though.  You should double-check you're not a reptiloid from Arcturus B, or something like that.

So this is a Pixar movie, and if there's anyone who knows how to structure a film, it's the Pixar crew.  In the first half hour of this one, they take a pair of robots, each of whom can't speak more than about two words, and manage to tell a charming little romance story between them.  I've seen plenty of films that couldn't do it so well with a pair of humans, triple the time, and three thousand times as many dialog options.

The romance - while it remains the most satisfying arc of the film - is largely a pretext to explain why WALL-E, a clean-up robot that's been single-handedly trying to tidy up the abandoned Earth for 700 years, would run off into space in pursuit of EVE, a second robot who has recently arrived on the planet.

As we and WALL-E will discover, EVE came to Earth to see if it was fit for humanity to return.  And when she finds a single, somewhat bedraggled looking plant in WALL-E's possession, the answer is "yes".

The remainder of the film switches more to an action tempo, as EVE, WALL-E and a handful of the humans on the ship attempt to initiate the return to Earth, while other forces conspire to prevent them.

Both segments, of course, are laden full of the usual Pixar humour, and there were several moments that prompted me to laugh out loud, while the film as a whole left me with a smile on my face.

Could I nitpick?  Sure.  There are a couple of plot points that don't really make sense, even the loose and goofy definition of "sense" that this film embraces, but you're likely to be having too much fun to even notice them.

It's not quite The Incredibles, but WALL-E is a fine film, and well worth your time.  Unless you're a reptiloid.