A symbolic moment passed recently, without much fanfare. Ollie Johnston, the last animator of the original “Disney’s Nine Old Men” who worked directly with Walt Disney, died aged 95 in Washington. In many obituaries, comment was supplied by John Lasseter, founding member of Pixar and current chief creative officer at its current parent company Disney. Lasseter had worked with Johnston and considered him a mentor.

“He taught me to always be aware of what a character is thinking,” Lasseter said; and indeed, the solidity of characterisation has always been a clear factor distinguishing Pixar’s output from that of its competitors. Lasseter stepping up as spokesperson upon the loss of a final vestige of Old Disney was a clear indicator of just how far he and Pixar have come together: if in their early days they pioneered a risky, technologically advanced offshoot of the animation form, now they constitute the very establishment itself.

The original idea for WALL•E – “what if mankind evacuated Earth and forgot to turn off the last remaining robot?” – in fact predates all of Pixar’s smash hit feature films, from Toy Story to their most recent hit, Ratatouille (EIFF 2007). Finally brought to life, WALL•E is a Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-Class, who works diligently and alone to clean up the mess left by our long-departed species. Enough time has passed that the need for something more has begun to stir in his circuits ... and then comes Eve, a funky, new-fangled lady-robot from outer space. Interpretations of heroism and masculinity are at the heart of Pixar’s output (hey, that’s what happens when a lot of super-bright cartoon nuts get to have influence over a whole generation of potential school bullies), and WALL•E’s courtship of Eve is in part a gentle exploration of the development of emotional bonds and self-esteem. But it’s also Pixar’s most visually splendid adventure yarn since director Andrew Stanton’s previous hit, Oscar®-winner Finding Nemo, and owes its unique soundscape to Ben Burtt, legendary creator of noises for ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (see p 187) and the original Star Wars trilogy.