WALL-E Phone Home

This past summer at the movies wasn�t all superheroes and, well, more superheroes. While those all-star blockbusters soared to the top of the box office, a not-so-little movie about a little robot with a lot of heart captured the imaginations of audiences of all ages. And now, like his cinematic predecessor E.T., WALL-E gets to go home.

Your home, that is, with the release of a 3-disc special edition Disney DVD that almost makes up for the bare bone single disc-ers that Cars and Ratatouille were. However, don�t get too excited, as the third disc is merely a downloadable digital copy of the movie. Nevertheless, the two main discs are packed with hours of bonus materials (including the DVD debut of the feature-length documentary The Pixar Story) that refreshingly breaks away from the typical �behind the scenes at Pixar� stuff that was quickly becoming redundant (before they were abandoned, that is). Instead, what you�ll find are features that are still informative and entertaining, yet as dynamic and unique as the movie itself. (Click here to read my original Toon Talk review of WALL-E.)

Enclosed in environmentally friendly (but not exactly user-friendly) packaging made out of recycled materials (to go along with the film�s not-so-hidden message of �don�t trash our planet�, I suppose), the WALL-E DVDs feature their extras nicely spread out over two discs. In addition to the critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser that is the main feature, disc 1 also includes Presto, the charming cartoon that accompanied WALL-E in theaters. As directed by first-timer Doug Sweetland (a Pixar veteran who contributed animation to almost all their films to date), the short -- a tale of a pompous magician, a hungry rabbit and a very magical set of hats -- offers a clever execution of what is basically a one-joke premise.

Continuing in the tradition of Your Friend the Rat (featured on the Ratatouille DVD), the brand new short BURN-E is an absolute delight, a worthy addition to the long line of simply terrific Pixar short subjects. Basically the whole story of WALL-E as told from the point of view of a minor character (the titular determined maintenance bot), this is Pixar�s answer to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (or, for the Disney-minded, The Lion King 1�). To say any more would spoil the fun, but it�s safe to say that, if you haven�t already seen WALL-E, it would be best to watch BURN-E afterwards.