Well, what can I say, WALL-E is my favorite movie of all time. Therefore, what I’m about to write may be extremely biased, but if you’re reading this you presumably care at least a little bit about my opinion, so let’s go!

You probably already know WALL-E, but if you live under a rock, it’s a movie released by Pixar in 2008 about a robot called WALL-E who is the last survivor of a line of waste collection robots, designed to collect trash and dispose of it efficiently. You see, in this world, Earth has been destroyed by the absolute amount of trash produced by humans, so much so that humanity had to leave the planet in order to survive, leaving only the robots. WALL-E has survived for hundreds of years, simply performing the task he was programmed to do. I use he/him pronouns for WALL-E since those are the pronouns used by other characters in the movie, but technically WALL-E doesn’t have a gender, due to being a robot.

One day, while doing his job, WALL-E stumbles upon something that should, by all accounts, be impossible: a living plant! This event triggers the plot of the movie, with another robot called EVE being deployed to Earth in order to collect this plant and determine if the planet is habitable again. If you want to know how this ends, go watch the movie and then come back to read the rest of my review.

On its own, the story of WALL-E is simply incredible. It’s about two robots trying to save humanity, but it’s also about love and purpose and honor and so much more. It’s also surprisingly romantic. Despite being robots, WALL-E and EVE feel very human, especially when they’re falling in love with each other. This contrasts heavily with the humans in the movie, who due to being in space and not having to work anymore, have resorted to a life of superficial pleasures. In the end, the robots actually help the humans find their own humanity again.

Of course, this movie doesn’t exist in a void. Its pro-environmental and anti-capitalistic messages still resonate with anyone who watches it more than 15 years later, maybe even more now than when it came out. It’s not super deep or complex, but it doesn’t need to be. WALL-E is still a movie for families to watch with their kids, not the communist manifesto, but the fact that they share many ideas and WALL-E is able to present them in a way that children can understand deserves some recognition.

Another aspect that I need to point out is the fact that the first third of the film is mostly silent, with almost zero dialogue. Despite this, it’s able to tell its story in such a captivating manner, it’s honestly impressive. The rest of the movie is still amazing, but this initial segment truly shines on its own.

It’s a shame that Disney has become scared of making these types of movies now (read: https://bleedingcool.com/movies/hoppers-pixar-artists-told-to-downplay-the-environmentalism-themes/), because when they set their minds to it, they’re capable of producing incredible and timeless works of art.

If you liked WALL-E and want something similar to watch, check out The Wild Robot. It’s another amazing movie that I don’t know if I’ll write about, but you should watch it as well. Just be warned that you will cry a lot.