STUDIO: Disney
RELEASE DATE: June 27, 2008
STARRING: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, and Sigourney Weaver
WRITTEN BY: Andrew Stanton
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Stanton
GENRE: Animation
RATING: G

Let's get the insane, over-the-top hyperbole out of the way early - I love Wall-E. I adore the character and the film that tells his story. Over the course of our lives there are a few times when you leave a theater with the absolute, unshakable confidence that you will not only see the movie you just watched again but repeatedly and until the day you die. It's the way we all felt upon leaving Star Wars, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, etc. There are movies that simply become a part of your life. Wall-E is a movie like that for me. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will revisit Wall-E, EVE, and The Axiom for the (hopefully) decades I have left on this planet. The storytelling is brilliant enough that I'll probably get something different out of it every time but the primary reaction that I have to Wall-E will be the same when I'm 50, 75, or 100 - pure joy. Wall-E is not only the best movie of the year by galaxy-sized leaps and bounds, it's one of my favorite movies in a long, long time.

Wall-E is the name of the last robot on Earth. Humans left centuries ago and all that remains are piles of unbiodegradable waste. Wall-E spends his days compacting that waste and piling it into neat little blocks. More importantly, he finds hidden treasures in it, like lighters that still work or old shoes and he collects those things in his little metal home. He spends his nights watching a worn-out tape of Hello Dolly and is excited when he finds a lid that resembles a hat from one of the film's musical numbers. Wall-E wants to dance. And Wall-E wants to hold a hand. He's lonely. And he's almost immediately identifiable. Wall-E speaks in boops and beeps like R2D2 but he's - and I know this sounds ridiculous - one of the most fully realized characters of the year, animated or otherwise. From the very first scenes, you can feel Wall-E's loneliness in the same way that you could feel Charlie Chaplin's emotions in his silent films. We don't need dialogue to know what's going on in Wall-E's metal heart.

Of course, Wall-E finds love on the glorious day that a spaceship sends him EVE, a robot designed to search for signs of life. Humans are still alive. They're just overweight, gelatinous messes that circle the universe in spaceships that keep them overfed and overstimulated to the point that they're barely aware that they're even living. But their machines are still working to find life. And EVE finds a lot more than life. She finds Wall-E. When EVE is called back to her spaceship, The Axiom, Wall-E follows and, basically, changes the course of the entire universe. And there's much more to it than that. A love story, an action movie, a cautionary tale, a visual stunner - Wall-E is all of these things and still just a damn good time.

Ambitious enough for ya? While other studios are shooting animated fish in a barrel by keeping things simple, writer/director Andrew Stanton has made the most ambitious film of the year. It's a science fiction film with a lead character who doesn't speak at all. But Wall-E is just proof that the old line that "The larger the risk, the larger the reward" couldn't be more true. And I haven't even touched on the fact that Wall-E couldn't be a more beautiful film to look at. This is as large a leap forward in filmmaking as when we first saw Woody and Buzz in Toy Story. Wall-E has an Oscar-worthy screenplay but is so stunning visually that it would work even it was a completely silent film. A Best Cinematography nomination isn't out of the question.

Honestly, neither is a Best Picture nomination. Wall-E is certainly that good. But will audiences embrace it? Will they take a chance on a non-speaking robot? God, I hope so. We need more ambition in movies. 2008 has been so lacking in it. Who knew that it would take a robot to show us just how much we've been missing and just how much we deserve filmmakers that are willing to take a chance? Can't you take a chance too?