50 Things I Loved About WALL-E

1. That the first sound we hear isn't a spaceship, or majestic orchestral sounds, but Michael Crawford singing "Out there!"
2. That all of WALL-E's movements have a mechanical, logical origin - you can see how he works, and how he fits together. Compare to the very unconvincing spatial logistics of the transforming robots in Transformers.
3. The sheer beauty of those opening shots, as we descend towards earth and see those sad and beautiful towers of trash.
4. The internal logic of WALL-E's daily life - we see how he repairs himself, how he lives.
5. The sound of WALL-E rolling along.
6. The way WALL-E recharges by using a solar charger like a tanning reflector.
7. Fred Willard.
8. That Fred Willard and the others in the B'N Large commercial are real people.
9. The idea of monitors that project on their own, without a frame or surface.
10. The moment when WALL-E grabs a hubcap so that he can copy the dance in "Put On Your Sunday Clothes." The first moment that hit me emotionally.
11. The overall notion that music has that power, the power to move a robot to sentience.
12. The sleek, Apple-y design on EVE.
13. The way WALL-E trembles when EVE first tries to blast him
14. Thomas Newman's majestic score - his best in a while, maybe even since Shawshank!
15. The way WALL-E's low-power sluggishness in the morning resembles human tiredness.
16. That the cockroach buddy never gets cloying.
17. WALL-E trying to get EVE to hold his hand.
18. WALL-E showing off his possessions to EVE to try and impress her.
19. The way that WALL-E never gives up on her after she shuts down upon securing the plant.
20. EVE's voice, just the right blend of real human female and robot.
21. The way EVE's three fingers aren't attached to her hand, nor the hand to her arm.
22. WALL-E's bouncy travel music.
23. The way WALL-E digs himself under the ground to escape the rocket's blast.
24. WALL-E reaching up to run his hand through Saturn's ring.
25. The design and scale of the cruise ship.
26. The switch in the second act, and how it doesn't make the lazy humans bad people.
27. The notion that robots that gain a bit of free will are hauled off for repair
28. The eager industriousness of the cleaner bot
29. Jeff Garlin as the captain - fat people can get a glottal quality in their voice, and Garlin has it.
30. John and Mary rediscovering the joy of touch.
31. WALL-E and EVE dancing outside the spaceship. One of the most joyous and beautiful moments I've ever seen in a movie
32. The animation of the fire extinguisher's exhaust crystallizing.
33. WALL-E's self-sacrifice.
34. The Captain standing on his own to feet.
35. EVE's real panic as she tried to fix WALL-E.
36. Cupcake in a cup.
37. That, while exaggerated, the satire of humans never interacting, or moving on their own, came from a real place - all those people engrossed in their screens felt uncomfortably familiar.
38. That they planted the seed of the hover chairs with the hover chair for Grandma in the earlier commercial
39. That PIXAR somehow managed to make a beautiful family film about the near-extinction of the human race.
40. EVE bringing WALL-E back to life with a kiss. Magic.
41. How WALL-E says "EVE"
42. How subtly the animators distinguished between no-memory WALL-E and recovered WALL-E.
43. That WALL-E wants to introduce himself to everyone he meets.
44. That the animators weren't afraid to make it look like WALL-E is taking a dump when he compresses trash.
45. The massage robot gleefully pummeling the security robots to pieces.
46. The credits, which tell us in evolving art styles how the humans repopulate the planet.
47. Peter Gabriel's song.
48. The ATARI 2600 WALL-E game going on in the margins of the credits.
49. The short about the magician and the sheer inventiveness in the concept.
50. The Mac reboot sound effect.

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