Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: "E.T.", "Belleville Rendezvous"

Who else but Disney can tell a human story so convincingly through robot terms - and with so little dialogue as well?

At once disarming, WALL-E as an animated character is the finished article, compared to what CJ7-type pretenders were reaching for - a completely likeable life form that can transcend its cyborg, android, animal or alien essence to deliver a human importance. WALL-E may not possess the fuzzy charms of Stephen Chow's Chinese New Year toy but his is a Bambi-eyed bashfulness that is dedicated to love and friendship. WALL-E doesn't need to be cute to be liked. He just is.

Oh - an introduction then. In a case of cold hard metal coming to life, our titular robot is a sort of advanced garbage collector, one charged with the unenviable task of scrap yard compression. After 700 years of doing what he was built for, he discovers what he is meant for; or so the tagline goes.

What is he meant for?

He twiddles his thumbs and records "Hello Dolly!" on a cranky old TV. He fiddles with old Zippo lighters and discoloured Rubic's Cubes. He even chases a cute cockroach around. Where have all the people gone?

Clever, really. That's why "WALL-E" needs very little dialogue. By reducing things to their basic operational cinegredients, the film has to strive extra hard to say twice as much in half the time with every given scene. If this does not happen, then the movie would ride out as a concept film heavy on spectacular CG alone. Storytelling has always been Disney's fort-e (ha!) and the dreamy yet substantial setting in "WALL-E" provides the right balance for a family film that doesn't offend more serious cineastes.

If only every other animation project decided against using celebrity voices, it's possible that a superior film will almost always be coming this way.

"WALL-E" opens a wonderful window to a post-apocalyptic world that only Pixar could have managed to make romantic. Weaved within the subtle sociology of "Wall-E" is not only a discussion on the depersonalisation of humanity (what with our mouse-click, brand name conveniences of modern living) but a solution to the same consumerist decadence. The picture tells us that saving humanity is not only about saving the environment - or merely drawing a distinction between the things we want and the things we really need - but saving the desire to dream and hope for a better life, wherever one may come from.

That is the magic of Disney, I guess. Watching this was easy and loving it, easier. Wall-E had me at hello - and you'd soon wish you never had to say goodbye.

Cinema Online, 23 September 2008