#19: WALL-E (2008)
A little robot cleaning up trash should not be able to carry so much feeling, yet WALL-E (2008) does exactly that. Directed by Andrew Stanton for Pixar, the film begins on an abandoned Earth where WALL-E spends his days compacting garbage and collecting odd little treasures from human life. His love of the musical Hello, Dolly! gives the movie a sweet nostalgic thread, especially through the song “Put On Your Sunday Clothes.” When EVE arrives, sleek and focused, the story shifts from lonely routine to companionship, then eventually to humanity’s life aboard a massive spaceship. Space in WALL-E is both charming and cautionary. It holds the fantasy of floating comfort, but also the sadness of people becoming disconnected from Earth and from each other.
