Wall-E is set some 700 years in the future and the story begins on Earth, which is a barren, desolate place. Due to the build-up of trash and pollution, humans have abandoned Earth for deep-space. Wall-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) is a small robot who turns the garbage into small cubes, which he then builds into skyscrapers. Wall-E has been alone for hundreds of years, doing this job, with a cockroach as his only companion. He is dirty and beat up, and often scavenges other robots for spare parts. The small robot is apparently sentient, as he's incredibly curious and likes to collect objects which he finds interesting. He has also discovered a videotape of Hello Dolly, which we watches daily. One day, a spaceship lands, and a sleek, white robot called Eve (voiced by Elissa Knight) emerges from it. Wall-E is terrified of this visitor at first, most especially because Eve shoots a laser at any strange noise. After a time, Wall-E and Eve finally meet face-to-face and he shows her around, although Wall-E doesn't understand why she keeps scanning everything. Finally, Wall-E takes Eve back to the vehicle where he stays at night, and upon seeing a small plant which he has found, Eve shuts down. Wall-E is dismayed by this, and he's even further distressed when the spaceship returns to collect Eve. Determined to stay with his new friend, Wall-E boards the ship as well, and a new adventure begins.

Wall-E definitely has two things going for it. First, the main idea is an interesting one. Plenty of science-fiction films have featured robots (Can you imagine the Star Wars films without the droids?), but few have featured a robot in the lead role. We see this robot who is all by himself, and we immediately feel sorry for him -- although, there's no real reason to pity a machine. The fact that he's been left alone to clean up the Earth is an intriguing one, and despite the fact the Director Andrew Stanton claims that the movie doesn't have an ecological message, it's hard to not come away with one. Then, we get to see Wall-E deal with a new entity and a journey which will change everything that he ever knew. Secondly, the movie must be commended for throwing this idea at the audience. Given the fact that the first act is comprised of two robots who can't really talk, the viewer is forced to concentrate on the story and the visuals. The ideas being presented here are pretty hardcore sci-fi stuff (desolate planet, sentient robots, corporations ruling the Earth), especially when one considers that the target audience for this movie is going to be children.

However, the problem with Wall-E is that the story runs out of gas very quickly. Truth be told, Wall-E would have made a great 30-minute short. Unfortunately, the powers that be at Pixar saw a 98-minute film in the idea. So, we are treated to scene after scene which quickly wears out its welcome. We get our first hint of this when Wall-E and Eve are on Earth and there are a few montages of them doing things together. But, this feels excusable, as we assume that the movie is simply trying to establish the characters. However, the second and thirds acts of the movie become incredibly redundant. We get what feels like the same scene over and over again. And when this isn't happening, the movie basically stops to indulge itself, such as when Wall-E and Eve fly through space together. Blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of Director Andrew Stanton. In Finding Nemo, he showed that he loves to stretch out a finale, but he's guilty of stretching out an entire film here, making the whole thing feel like a boring chore.

As with all of Pixar's product, there's no denying the fact that Wall-E is technically impressive. The animation is highly detailed, from the scratches on Wall-E to the star-systems seen in space. And, the use of an intellectual science-fiction plot is admirable. However, the movie is far too long, and can't coast by on characters who have limited appeal and charm. Wall-E does a few things which are cute and funny, but otherwise, it's hard to warm up to these cold characters. The movie drags at a snail pace, and I wouldn't be surprised if children got bored with it. Of course, I should have known something was up when I realized that Wall-E is simply a cross between Number 5 from Short Circuit and Vincent from The Black Hole.

Wall-E cleans up on DVD courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. This must have been a digital-to-digital transfer, as the image is gorgeous. The colors are fine and the long shots on Earth and in space look great. The picture is a bit soft at times, but otherwise it looks fantastic. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is an impressive track, as it offers strong stereo effects which show nice speaker separation. In the first act, sound is very important, and we hear every movement which Wall-E makes. The surround sound is pretty good as well, and the spaceship landing provides some very good subwoofer effects.

The Wall-E Blu-ray Disc contains the same extras as the DVD, along with some exclusives. The movie can be viewed in "Cine-Explore" mode, which combines the commentary by Stanton with picture-in-picture examples of concept art and storyboards. One can also choose to watch the movie with the "Geek Track: Trash Talk & Trivia" This offers a Mystery Science Theater 3000-like silhouette where Bill Wise, Lindsay Collins, and Derek Thompson, and Angus McClean provide commentary for the film. (Although the silhouette doesn't play throughout.) Burn-E can be viewed with storyboards in a picture-in-picture screen. "Axiom Arcade" features four set-top games. "3D Set Fly-Throughs" (11 minutes) offer the viewer a closer look at some of the important locations from the film.