WALL·E

I reckon that despite many efforts made with way more worthy tones, this is probably one of the most effective stories depicting the dangers of mankind's indifference to our planet and it's future - and it's potently and charmingly effective. Our eponymous robot spends it's time packaging up waste into cubes, stacking them, then retreating to it's home of an evening before the storms hit! The planet has been decimated - only his friendly locust survives to keep him company. One fateful day, though, another craft arrives and it's occupant "EVE" is soon a-scanning and making friends - after a shaky start - with her more indigenous pal. Things take quite a turn when "EVE" discovers what it was sent to find - a life form. In this case a tiny shoot. Alarm bells ring and shortly afterwards a spaceship arrives to collect "EVE" and the foliage. Not about to be left behind, the ship soon has a stowaway and we are presented with an explanation of just what happened to humanity - now, basically, a bunch of armchair-bound, boneless globules of flesh - who think they've been on an intergalactic cruise for the last seven hundred years! Can they all get back to Earth and sow the seeds of humanity's redemption? Well not without a little bit of automated interference and some fun escapades that are engaging and touching. The fate of our race is in the hands of these two mechanical creations - but the broader meaning here is clear as a bell. If we continue to treat the planet like it is our own personal garbage dump, then we will reap what we sow! Entertaining and thought-provoking without resorting to simplistic pontification, politicisation or lawlessness. Well worth a watch.