Sometimes everyone needs a break from the reality that makes the world seem like just work and bills.

So it only seems fitting that an animated movie could help adults of any age accomplish this.

"WALL-E" is the latest computer animated release from Pixar studios, the same company that has produced the mega-kid hits "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo".

The story is based around a small robot, whose single job it is to collect trash and compact it into a small space-saving cube. 700 years after humans had to flee earth because of the pollution due to the trash problem, WALL-E (which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-class) is the last robot still toiling away at his daily job. Somewhere over those 700 years, WALL-E begins to develop individual habits, collecting trashed items that were still intact, and finding intrigue in small things like a Rubix's cube. It's an ugly picture of a cold, lonely earth, but somehow WALL-E finds joy in every bit of it.

WALL-E's world is turned upside down when a space ship sends out a probe to find any signs of that earth is once again inhabitable. Without giving away much more of the plot, simply put, an adventure ensues when WALL-E discovers love for the robot probe, EVE (or Earth Vegetation Evaluator).

It's not often a movie studio releases a major picture that balances an intriguing story with eye-popping graphics and doesn't overload the script with slapstick child-humor, but "WALL-E" has accomplished that rare feat.

Nearly the first 30 minutes of the movie are void of dialogue, simply introducing us to the happy-go-lucky robot that is WALL-E. While children might struggle with this, that 30 minutes could be the most fantastic part of the film. Internal monologues can kill a movie when used ineffectively, but in this case, the viewer doesn't have to worry about supplying a monologue simply because WALL-E is a robot.  Instead, the viewer sees the wonderment through the reflection of WALL-E's lenses, such as the first time he discovers that a flame can come out of a lighter.

The building relationship between WALL-E and EVE easily reminds us all of the first crush we had, the first time we held someone's hand, and that first kiss.  The robots can't mutter much more than a garbled form of each other's name, but so much is conveyed to the audience just by the different inflections of their voice when they say it.

And perhaps that's part of what makes this movie so enjoyable, is that the computer animators have found a way to break down human emotion to the simplest form, and apply it to the characters on the screen so that we can understand it even without words.

This is one of the better films -- live or animated -- you'll see this year, and is by far one of the best computer animated films I've seen in a long time.  And this just might be the best robot movie since "Short Circuit", to which WALL-E shows some similarities.

Kids will be able to enjoy it, but it's the adults that might enjoy it even more.

Because for just a few hours, we can all take a break from reality, and let a small robot remind us of the simple joys around us...even if they seem like nothing more than trash.

WALL-E

Overall rating: ****1/2 (4 1/2)

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KEY

* - Awful - [Don't waste your time or money]
** - Fair - [Worth a DVD rental]
*** - Good - [Average, worth seeing if the genre interests you]
**** - Excellent - [Oscar worthy]
***** - Stellar - [Instant classic, Top 10 of all time]