Lucy and I went to see WALL-E the other night. It was highly rated at Rottentomatoes and seemed the kind of film we would both enjoy.

There were lots of things to like about “WALL-E,” not the least of which is the little robot himself. Wall-E is the last of his kind, a Waste Allocator Load Lifter Earth-class. He and many of his siblings were left on an Earth destroyed by thoughtless human consumption. Not it is a plant-sized landfill where he labors on (long after all the others have ceased to function) in a fruitless effort to pile-up the trash. The weather has run amok, the oceans are essentially sludge, and nothing but cockroaches are alive.

Somehow Wall-E has determined how to survive. But besides spare parts for himself, he collects other detritus as a sort of mindless hobby. He doesn’t know what most of the stuff does, but it catches his fancy in some way. Also tickling him on some nearly emotional level is an old videotaped musical love-story that he watches over and over. Somehow Wall-E knows he is alone and longs for a companion. He thinks he may have found that in the Extraterrestrial Vegetations Evaluator (EVE) sent to check Earth for signs of life.

The relationship between WALL-E and EVE made the movie for me. It happens essentially without dialog and manages to avoid the cloying crap that passes for many love stories these days. It was touching and funny to see WALL-E trying to cozy up to his sleeker, faster, more powerful love-interest. And when EVE figured out all that he had done and was willing to do for her, she falls in love with the little trash compactor.

Why is it I find it easy to identify, heck, long to be that grungy, goggle-eyed, endlessly (and ridiculously) optimistic little bucket of bolts? All of the robots in this film are endearing and believable. WALL-E may be the best character ever in a Pixar film.

Other good stuff:

• The Earth WALL-E is trying to recycle. A highly realistic depiction of an apocalyptic end result to unrestrained consumerism. It’s cities have massive towers, built almost pyramid-like, out of compacted blocks of trash made by WALL-E. These monuments to human appetites tower above skyscrapers and the other wonders of human creation that remain an epoch after their makers have disappeared.

• The space WALL-E traverses to remain with his lady love. It is awesome and amazing. Traversing it is a wonder. And the space dance WALL-E conducts with Eve, with a fire-extinguisher as his means of propulsion, is joyful and inspiring. I’m not sure I have felt that way about a fictional space scene since watching Kubrick’s “2001″ my own eon ago.

• The message about consumption, recycling, responsibility is laudable. This movie is also an excellent and digestible way to bring such things alive to little people. “Daddy, could Earth really look this way?” I can hear some child asking. “How can we help WALL-E?” This is “The Lorax” for a new generation, with a thinly-veiled Wall-Mart standing in for industrial logging companies. And it has a poetry all its own.

There is lots more to like, but quite a bit that isn’t so likable as well. One example: people are largely let off the hook for any responsibility in the plight of the Earth. Heck, the only really villainous character in the film is AUTO, the auto-pilot robot who is just trying to follow orders. What’s worse, he may know better than all of the stupid (and they are really dumb) people that they simply aren’t (and probably never will be) ready to return to Earth.

But I’ll let Lucy chime in with some of her thoughts before I go any further.

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Tags: film, Disney, Pixar, WALL-E, Dr. Seuss, Lorax, environmentalism, responsibility, big business