And the bar gets raised even higher.

Right around the time Pixar Animation Studios released its fifth feature, Finding Nemo, conversation shifted from "Is it any good?" to "Just how amazing is it?" Quality was assumed, and rightfully so. The studio‘s creative directors helped redefine the animation genre with the Toy Story franchise, A Bug‘s Life and Monsters, Inc. Subsequent Pixar stories were measured against their predecessors and ranked accordingly.

WALL-E, the studio‘s ninth full-length feature and second from director Andrew Stanton, catapults to the head of Pixar‘s illustrious class. The enchanting tale of a lonely robot‘s quest for companionship is one of the studio‘s finest films, an absolute masterpiece that continues Pixar‘s initial promise to transport us to infinity and beyond. Yet even that label limits the film‘s staggering accomplishments. WALL-E seamlessly melds wondrous science-fiction, big-screen romance, and adolescent heart. One of the year‘s best films, WALL-E likely will go on to be considered one of the greatest animated movies ever created.

High praise for such a diminutive and doe-eyed little character, yet WALL-E earns every pat on his boxy back. His name is an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class. Roughly 700 years from now, pollution produced by the Buy-N-Large corporation has forced mankind off our waste-covered planet, and WALL-E has stayed behind to clean up. One man‘s trash is another robot‘s treasure. This scavenger of cultural minutia hoards Rubik‘s cubes, paddle balls, and his most prized possession -- a VHS copy of Gene Kelly‘s 1969 musical, Hello, Dolly!

WALL-E maintains a quiet, dutiful, and lonely existence. His sole companion is an indestructible cockroach, perhaps a direct descendant of Jiminy Cricket, whose presence confirms the rumor that roaches really will be the last creatures left on Earth. But WALL-E‘s life changes -- and our story takes off -- when a skyscraper-sized