The animated Pixar film WALL*E is the tale of a cute, little robot whose job is to clean up an inhospitable earth. Trouble is, the humans have long gone and left poor little WALL*E behind. Never mind. He continues to do his job blithely oblivious, until he meets cute, shiny little robot named EVE, who realizes WALL*E has the key to the earth's future and sets off with him in a mission through space.

The score to WALL*E was written by Thomas Newman, of Finding Nemo and American Beauty fame, among many others. But here, the challenge is greater. Much of the first part of WALL*E has no dialogue (poor WALL*E has been living all alone, after all), so the dialogue, so to speak, is the full orchestral score, which ranges from whimsical, to dreamy to ominous in a way that evokes loneliness, rather than fear.

Newman gets vocal help on only four tracks, including the original song "Down To Earth," written and performed by Peter Gabriel, and the opening "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" (from "Hello Dolly) performed by Michael Crawford.

It seems like an incongruous opener, but its jolliness and optimism, plus lyrics calling for adventure set the mood for the possibilities open to WALL*E, despite the fact that the happy-go-lucky song quickly fades into an ambience of loneliness. "2815 A.D." with its plucked harp and muted flutes over string waves sums up WALL*E's world: a vast, desolate, ruined place.

And in the middle of this, cute WALL*E, warbling around, identified by a playful bassoon, plucked strings and hints of castanets. And then arrives lovely Eve, encased in a veil of harps and strings and lyrical violin lines.

Musically speaking, WALL*E kicks into high gear after that, the music reflecting the action so accurately, you need only to look at the track names and listen to know exactly what's going on. Unlike many other scores, WALL*E is not thematic. There isn't one or several motifs that repeat throughout. Rather, the score follows and reflects the action on the screen, like a narrative.

This makes for a plethora of moods and ambiences, from action and high-speed chases to suspense and romance. It's all capped off with Gabriel's "Down To Earth," a mix of acoustic rock guitars and futuristic musings that bring together the terrestrial and spatial qualities of WALL*E.

By Leila Cobo