Had a babysitter for last night and we had planned on taking a long bike ride, that is until the mercury crept up to nearly 90 degrees. At that point, seven plus miles of pedaling lost its appeal. So we went and saw Wall-E instead.

While we missed last summer’s Ratatouille (which by the way, whoever in Marketing at Pixar and Disney that agreed that making a movie about a rat was a good idea, should be fired. I mean, a rat? One big Yuck and a double Shudder. Do you really want a rat in your Happy Meal toy? Or do you want your child sleeping with his stuffed Rat? Buzz Lightyear, yes. Ugly rat? Not so much.)

Okay, enough of that little aside and let’s get on to their new latest venture, which is Wall-E, the story of a little robot left on earth to clean up the polluted planet while the rest of the population is on vacation. It’s a rather long vacation (about 700 years) and little Wall-E has developed his own unique personality. But mostly he is lonely and longs for love. And right then and there you know it is going to be a love story.

Now I love the geek hero, the Beta man who finds his inner strength to rise above his usually staid existence and become a hero. Hey, I’ve written several such heroes. Think Mason St. Clair in No Marriage of Convenience, or Alexander Denford, the Baron Sedgwick in Something About Emmaline. Poor Sedgwick, he really thought himself quite the lady’s man, but even his own grandmother knew the truth: he was a bit of a geek in need of some serious shaking up. And the same is true with mild mannered and overly curious Wall-E.

Then along comes a probe robot, Eve, searching the Earth for something, and what she finds is Wall-E. Here is the sort of kick-ass, shoot from the hip (and with Eve that means literally) sort of female robot to shake up Wall-E’s existence. She’s Riley to Mason, or Denford’s imposter wife, Emmaline. And in return, Wall-E inspires Eve, not always intentionally, to see life beyond her directive.

By nearly the end of the movie, I was all choked up, nearly in tears and clutching my husband’s poor hand. Would they find true love? Be together forever? Could their adventures have been too much for poor Wall-E?

Well, like I said, it is a romance. And this time, completely rat-free, Pixar got it utterly right.