I'm always a fan of Pixar films, what with me being not only a technology junky but an appreciator (is that even a word? It's 5:48 in the morning, go easy on me) of digital art. Pixar is, to appropriate a Terry Pratchett quote, in the fast lane on the leading edge of the state of the art in both these categories, and so I always make a point of getting out to see their movies. I've never been disappointed by them, either, and I don't just mean the effects: Pixar's shown time and again to have more than a little aptitude for simply telling good stories, and telling them well. The Incredibles and Finding Nemo were especially strong, although of course one can't leave Toy Story out of the mix.

Still, I was a little leery of WALL-E. I knew there was limited dialogue in the film; indeed, there's basically none in the first 45 minutes or so, unless you consder as voice the various electronic mimics of speech the robots make. Going into the theater, I knew Pixar had put itself in the same position as the old silent movies, and, accordingly, strapped itself down with the same hurdles to overcome: the necessity of communicating emotion and meaning through imagery alone.

It took all of five minutes for me to see how wildly the directors of WALL-E succeeded in this endeavor. God, what a cute, plucky little robot--and, also, what a lonely guy. You get a feel for who and what WALL-E is very quickly and very strongly, and it sets up the entire film beautifully. The story itself is solid, without any twists that will surprise a seasoned Pixar viewer, but this hardly means it's not interesting, or that it gets boring. Like any good movie, this one is driven by its characters, not by its plot, and I genuinely enjoyed watching WALL-E's persistent, dogged pursuit of EVE, the love of his mechanized life. The humans and their story were really just a backdrop. I was particularly happy to note that the film wasn't crammed with absurd global warming alarmism, as I feared it might be (WALL-E the robot's job is to clean up all the trash on Earth and make it habitable again for humanity, which left centuries ago and has been waiting to return on a ship out in the cosmos). In fact, it felt as though the animators hadn't even considered that interpretation, although I wouldn't go so far as to think Pixar was above slating the movie for release during this laughable period of environmental hysteria in order to do a bit of profiteering. God knows there are enough ridiculous, shameful people doing far worse...here's looking at you, Al Gore, across the internet you invented.

In all seriousness, though, go see WALL-E, regardless of your age: kids aren't the only ones who'll enjoy it. As is always the case with Pixar flicks, the movie's crammed with pop culture references older viewers are sure to love. (The voice of the human colony-ship's computer is Sigourney Weaver, the navigation computer is a ship's wheel which bears obvious resemblance in many ways to The Flight of the Navigator, there's a secretary robot fans of Space Odyssey are sure to get a chuckle over, WALL-E does the R2-D2 scream...the list goes on and on.)

All in all, a great little movie. It's so nice to occasionally have my faith in Hollywood renewed, what with the tremendous amount of forgettable junk coming out of there recently. Lifted by Pixar and WALL-E, I'm now looking forward to The Dark Knight even more, with Hellboy 2 as an appetizer, and the X-Files and the animated Star Wars on the near horizon.

Good movies "pwn," as they say on the intarnetz.