"WALL-E:" A warning delivered in a heartfelt way

Spoiler Alert with Jimmy Nichols

Growing up, I was a big Disney and Pixar kid. Either with my mom or with my siblings, I would always go to see the newest animated film from either studio.

However, my favorite memories are not from the theater but from the couch. We owned a lot of DVDs, and this let me watch some movies that came out either before I was born or when I was too young to understand what was happening.

The 2008 Pixar movie “WALL-E” is a good example of one I was too young to watch in theaters. Although I did not get to see the film on the silver screen, it got plenty of playtime on our DVD player.

I watched this movie so many times when I was younger that I drove my siblings crazy. Now that I am older, the futuristic movie still holds a special place in my heart.

For starters, it has one of the best love stories ever told in an animated movie. The movie follows a trash-cleaning robot named WALL-E.

Everything on Earth is covered in trash, and humans left the planet over 700 years ago, leaving behind the WALL-E robots to clean the uninhabitable planet.

But after 700 years, only one WALL-E remains. WALL-E continues his mission with a cockroach as his only companion.

The only reason WALL-E has been able to operate for this long is that he takes the parts off his fallen counterparts. He keeps any spare parts he might need in his home, along with any knickknacks and movies to help him enjoy his time either when he is not working or when he cannot leave his home.

Dust storms sweep the planet and can make WALL-E go without work for days, but it is during these storms that the audience sees the human side of WALL-E.

One thing this movie does extremely well is show emotions without dialogue. The robot characters can say some words in English, but most of their “talking” is done by beeps or body movements.

The audience can tell the emotions of a 700-year-old robot by the way his eyes move. With the movement of his eyebrows, WALL-E shows joy, sadness and a wide variety of emotions.

Only a few characters in movie history are so beloved while saying so few words.

WALL-E shows his emotions best when he is with Eve. Eve is a robot sent by the human ship to see if Earth is inhabitable again.

WALL-E is obsessed with Eve and tries to flirt with her. He shows her his house, his movies, his knickknacks and a plant, the one thing she was looking for on the planet.

After entering standby mode, a ship comes to claim Eve’s body and take her back to the human ship. WALL-E refuses to leave her and hangs on to the side of the ship as it flies across the galaxy.

WALL-E and Eve are one of the greatest Pixar couples. WALL-E’s determination to never leave her side when she is in standby mode is so sweet because he does not want her to be alone.

Then, at the end of the movie, when WALL-E sacrifices himself to save everyone, Eve rushes him off the ship and back to his house to try and repair him. However, when she fixes him, WALL-E has no memory of anything.

To snap him out of his default settings, Eve “kisses” WALL-E, which brings our favorite trash-compacting robot back to the woman he loves as he grabs her hand and realizes they are together again.

Their love is so sweet and pure. They never have a misunderstanding or conflict; instead, they stand by each other when the other needs them most.

Is this not love? Choosing to be at someone’s side when they are at their lowest and need someone the most. Being there because you care about them and want what is best for them.

The only Pixar couple that someone could argue is better than these two is Carl and Ellie from “Up.”

While the true love shown by these robots is beautiful, it is not the message of the movie. When we are younger, this is maybe what we remember most, but the message is quite powerful and jarring.

The movie serves as a warning for humanity; it is a glimpse into the future of the world if we stay on our current path. One of the first lessons from “WALL-E” is addressing the pollution of Earth.

The world is covered in trash from major corporations that make non-recyclable products, but the blame cannot lie on just these companies. The consumers, us, are also to blame.

We buy the products, demand more and when we are done with them, we toss them out. It is the greed we show that has put the planet in this state.

In the movie, humans get a second chance to live on Earth. We might not be so lucky. We only get one life, and do we want to use it to prevent future generations from living their lives?

The messaging in this movie is so powerful, and it can make you reflect on your views of the world around you and the impact you wish to leave upon it.

“WALL-E” is a top five Pixar movie of all -time.

It has everything a kid wants to see, whether it is action scenes, cool character designs or an example of what love can look like. However, for adults, it is a reminder of where the world is heading if we do not try to fix things now.

This is a must-watch movie. At the end of the movie, you will probably have a better understanding of the world and what true love looks like.