Despite the commercial popularity of Both Cars and Ratatouille, Disney-Pixar’s faultless run of hits since 1995’s Toy Story was likely to come to a halt. Until, that is, they came up with Wall-E...

For a creative team that prided itself on the visual invention and wit of the animators and writers in tandem, Pixar hadn't quite provided the level of excitement and childlike wonder that underpinned the previous fare and drawn in adults and children in equal measure.

Cue Wall-E. Shorn of the dialogue that confused the kids (Ratatouille) or the questionable moral messages (Cars), it's Pixar back at their very best.

The story concerns the titular Wall.E, a production line robot whose entire existence is based on tidying up rubbish left by humans. Around 600 years after Earth was abandoned under a pile of empty pizza boxes and Buy'N'Large packaging (the Wal-Mart-esque corporation that ultimately became responsible for the human race), Wall.E, the last survivor of his type, is still working on clearing up the mess.

He spends his days compacting rubbish in his chest and building skyscrapers out of the results, occasionally picking up trinkets and toys along the way, while his evenings usually involve some do-it-yourself repairs and a spot of Hello Dolly on VHS.

For Wall-E is a lonely robot. His personality has developed over the years, and while he’s happy to beaver away at the workload, his life away from the rubbish mounds is a solitary one, with only a robotic cockroach to keep him company.

His life soon changes with the arrival of Eve, a probe sent down to Earth to search for signs of life. Wall.E finds himself in love, and when Eve returns from whence she came, Wall-E decides to go along for the ride.

While the relationship between the two robots is the heart, the movie’s greatest strength is the sheer wit and invention of the set pieces and jokes. Wall.E is something of a Charlie Chaplin character – all mannerisms and slapstick.

His repeated attempts to win the heart of Eve are the movie’s finest moments in an opening act that has almost no dialogue, save for the occasional expositional line courtesy of infomercials that pop up as Wall.E walks down long abandoned streets.

Pixar thus had a 40-minute period of talk-free screen time to fill. And they had a ball.

From breaking and replacing his own body parts, to escaping a barrage of shopping trolleys, Wall-E is a veritable goldmine of quick fire jokes.

The pace is lost somewhat when Wall.E finds himself in new surroundings and the world of fat and lazy humans takes over. But the sheer volume of ideas packed into each frame of film just about makes up for the sag in story, along with a series of instantly classic set pieces, most notably the fire extinguisher space waltz. 

After Wall.E unwittingly releases a range of rogue robots from robot prison, the rollercoaster story begins to regain momentum right up until the almost tear-jerking finale.

The heavy handed nature of the moral messages may grate some, despite their innocence – don’t get fat, don’t get lazy -  but criticisms are hard to come by. The wit, invention and sheer charm of Wall-E will win over anyone with a heart. And maybe, given long enough, even those without.

Rich Phippen