"WALL*E:" Animated robot tale is magic

"WALL*E," an animated robot love story with an environmental message and a slapstick delivery, is a charmer of a film and a delightful piece of storytelling. Directed by Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") with the animation wizards at Pixar, it takes on the challenge of delivering an animated feature that is predominantly wordless (and even some of those used are closer to sound effects than dialogue) and succeeds with both creative humor and visual grace.

WALL*E is a skittish little mobile trash compactor who putters around a junked and abandoned Earth. Pining for someone (something?) to hold hands (or whatever you call his clamplike digits) with, he falls in love with a sleek, specimen-gathering pod named Eve and follows her back to her base ship, home of the physically inert future of the human race.

It's almost like two movies spliced together: a robot tale with extended wordless scenes of slapstick gags and delicate mechanical dances and the more conventional, less magical story of a fat and apathetic mankind nudged out of its complacency.

If WALL*E, who communicates and emotes solely through the mechanics of robot eyes and body language and a symphony of beeps and whistles, reminds you of a certain iconic robot from a hit space opera epic, it's no coincidence. "Star Wars" sound designer Ben Burtt creates the dynamic audioscape and the voice of WALL*E.

There's social satire in the portrait of a sedentary population lulled to distraction for the adults and a message of ecological responsibility for the kids, but bright gags and childlike expressions of robot affection are what make the film such a joy.

The feature is preceded by the animated short "Presto," a daffy battle of wits between an increasingly incautious stage magician and the rabbit that refuses to be pulled out of his magic hat. It's all wacky sight gags, directed with the nimble snap and knockabout irreverence of a classic "Looney Tunes" cartoon.