They say the best creators of science fiction are those able to extrapolate just a bit into the future. Think of William Gibson's descriptions of a wired, digitally interconnected world dominated by multinational corporations in 1984's "Neuromancer," or Terry Gilliam's imagining of a perpetual war on terror in 1985's "Brazil." And, of course, there's Philip K. Dick with his many writings on how technology would lead us to question the nature of reality.
Add to that list PIXAR's Andrew Stanton: His new movie, "WALL-E" (about a little robot, not a baseball player), imagines a future where humans are entirely dependent on technology, blobby tub-o'-lards who spend their days on floating recliners, slurping down supersize liquid meals while perpetually immersed in their digital screens. They have robots to cater to their every need, except perhaps wiping their bums. (But wait a minute, we already have those in Tokyo; we are in the future.)
It's clear from the very first scenes of "WALL-E" that Stanton, who previously directed Pixar hits "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters Inc.", is out to make a very bold movie. How many directors these days would dare to make a children's movie virtually silent and dialogue-free for its first 30 minutes or so? And how many would choose to set it in a postapocalyptic world where mankind has disappeared and all that's left are abandoned, decrepit streets full of rubble and dust, a silent world devoid of life?