'WALL·E' (G) (out of four)

If you can imagine that a), you can get caught up in a film that's basically a love story between two machines, b), that you can get engrossed in a movie that for its first half hour contains no human dialogue, and c), believe that the world will be so covered in trash that humans will have to live in space, then get ready for "WALL·E."

Part "E.T.," part "2001: A Space Odyssey," Pixar Animation Studios reaches the height of perfection in creating a lovable star out of a binocular-eyed robot named WALL·E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class). Consumable items have covered the landscape and made a Gotham City built on garbage-formed skyscrapers by WALL·E and others like him. Only when we join the slice of life, WALL·E appears to be the only robot in working order left on Earth besides one other survivor -- a cockroach, of course.

For the first 30 minutes of the film, moviegoers join WALL·E in his daily routine. He's Fred Flintstone headed to the quarry to do his job. Life on Planet Trash is monotonous, but he finds his entertainment in sifting through the rubble before he compacts it, and saving items to dress up his bachelor pad like bolts, bras, and among all the desolation, a living plant.

While children will wiggle and giggle at the site of the funny-looking robot and his cockroach sidekick, adults will marvel in the incredible feat of the animated spectacle. Unlike some "family movies," however, parents won't be looking beyond the story out of boredom, but instead possibly pondering the environmental message.

Perhaps the perils of the planet aren't so far fetched. Maybe in 800 years we'll have to escape to a spaceship beyond. But what keeps moviegoers engaged in the film is its personal story. WALL·E has a heart, even though it may be made of tin, and he's really just looking for companionship.

When a large ship lands and drops off a supercharged, modern robot, WALL·E believes he's finally found love. He's learned where his heart should lead from the only video he found left in the trash, a love scene from "Hello, Dolly," which plays and replays.

Eve (Extra-Terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a probe-droid, has been dropped off to find if there is the possibility that life can be sustained in the toxic wasteland. WALL·E wants to learn more about Eve, and play out the scene for real from his looping videotape.

When WALL·E ends up on Eve's side of space, he encounters overweight humans whose lives are spent on a cruise liner in the sky called Axiom. As the story builds like a mountain of trash, you cannot help by get engrossed by the plight of WALL·E, Eve and the couch potatoes who have been forced to not inhabit Earth. Throw in a mutiny, some funny 'bot chase scenes, and a stern auto-pilot, ironically voiced by "Alien" star Sigourney Weaver, and "WALL·E" is a sheer delight from beginning to end.

With a look far beyond into our future, "WALL·E" skillfully entertains, while sending a message loud and clear. Humans are ruining the planet, but love conquers all.