Now things get interesting. Pixar's output has been so ridiculously consistent and exceptionally high that before you even get close to halfway through their filmography you're dealing with the cream of the animated crop. So while Wall-E barely breaks into the top ten of this list, that's not to say it isn't an absolute classic. Although it has a strong eco message and stylistically has its roots in classic sci-fi (not least 2001: A Space Odyssey, which gets numerous call-outs), Wall-E is a love story. And because it's Pixar, it's a highly unconventional one that takes expected tropes (the regular guy and the out of his league girl) and turns them into something wholly original. WALL-E himself is a really unique being who fits perfectly into this idea. His design boasts inviting, wide eyes, but when you break down the rest - his long neck, tiny mouth and moveable arms - he's entirely inhuman, something that's reflected in his personality. Whereas Pixar heroes have always had parallels with regular, human adults, he's totally different; a fully developed robot whose isolation has slowly created a childlike curiosity. WALL-E is at once self-sufficient and inexperienced, so deals with the very adult emotion of romantic love with complete naivety. What's really brilliant, however, is how, while it may seem incredibly alien, that's actually totally emblematic of how devolved humans on the Axiom have become, making the malfunctioning robot a messiah of emotions. So not just a film about global warming, then.
