The film is a touching and endlessly inventive story of a lonely robotic trash compactor....the last functioning machine on planet earth, 700 years after all the humans have left.

The name "Wall-E" stands for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class." And when we meet him, Wall-Ei s dutifully compacting trash, saving the few objects he finds valuable on a planet that has succumbed to human excess.

Wall-E's only companion is a cockroach. Both make noises but neither one speaks, and one of this movie's amazing accomplishments is that for the first twenty minutes it captivates audience using no dialog at all.

Soon Eve, an egg shaped droid, arrives. The letters of her name stand for "Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator." She's a probe sent by humans on a space station to see if Earth is ready to support life again. But to Wall-E a machine whose idea of romance comes from an old tape of the 60's musical, "Hello Dolly," Eve is someone to love.

Unfortunately, after Wall-E gives Eve a small green plant he found underneath a pile of trash, she heads back to outer space to report this discovery to the humans. So the love struck Wall-E hitches a ride on her ship. Once they reach the space station, he finds a world where robots do everything for humans who've become so pampered and overweight, they can't even walk.

The creators of "Wall-E" have envisioned a humanity that consumed all of earth's resources and then abandoned the planet. But the filmmakers also believe that people can learn from their mistakes and start over. Wall-E essentially gives humanity a re-boot.

"Wall-E" is so witty and clever that adults will enjoy it more than children. Whatever else you see this summer, don't miss "Wall-E."

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