Romantic 'WALL-E' Has A Heart Of Gold

Within the rumbling, stumbling hunk of junk that is WALL-E beats the sweetest, warmest heart - a robotic representation of humanity's highest potential.

And within the sci-fi adventure "WALL-E" lies an artistic truth: that Pixar's track record remains impeccable.

"WALL-E" is essentially a silent film in which the two main characters, a mismatched pair of robots, communicate through bleeps and blips and maybe three words between them.

And yet director Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") is resourceful enough to find infinite ways for them to express themselves - amusingly, achingly, and with emotional precision.

The smudged, dented metal that makes up WALL-E's frame looks so realistic, you could reach out and touch it; at the same time, his big eyes often appear so vulnerable and pleading, you can't help but feel a connection with him. The characters are adorable without being too cutesy, accessible to adults and children alike.

Ben Burtt, a multiple Oscar winner who created R2-D2's signature sound, provides the "voice" of WALL-E, or Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class. Seven hundred years after Earth was abandoned, WALL-E is still doing the job he was programmed to do: pick up all the trash and compress it into tidy packages.

It's only upon the arrival of the sleek, shiny Eve (voiced by Elissa Knight), a robot sent back to the planet on a search mission, that he realizes how lonely he's been. That she's everything he's not - new, quick, high-tech, efficient - is only part of the allure. She's someone with whom he can finally share all the lost treasures he's amassed, and she seems open to the idea of making a friend in him, too.

You're likely to walk out of the theater with the rare joy of knowing that you've just witnessed something that touched your heart.

MOVIE REVIEW

WALL-E ***½

MOVIE BOARD RATING: G

STARS: Ben Burtt, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Elissa Knight

DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton

LOCATION: See movie times, Page 8, for local showtimes.

PLOT SUMMARY: A lonely robot dreams of adventure

RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes

ON THE WEB: disney.go.com/disneypictures/wall-e