Why You Should See: 'WALL-E'

We're breaking down all the Oscars contenders for you, so that you can decide whether you want to see them -- or at the very least, hold your own at cocktail parties. Today: Pixar's robot fairy tale 'WALL-E,' the most nominated of all of 2008's animated movies and surely the frontrunner in the Best Animated Feature Film category.

Nominated for: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song ('Down to Earth'), Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing

What It's About: It's the 22nd century, and Earth is a desolate wasteland, with only little WALL-E left to clean up the humans' mess. Then sultry probe EVE swoops in and steals his heart, sending WALL-E off on an extraterrestrial adventure to infiltrate a space colony (where Earth's humans now live in overindulged comfort) and locate his true love.

Why You Should See It: The darkest and most heartbreaking of Pixar's films, 'WALL-E' could easily have been nominated for Best Picture -- it says more about loneliness and love than almost any other movie of 2008. Only Pixar could pull off a movie that has barely any dialogue in it, yet remains smart and engaging, with the comic grandeur of a Chaplin silent film; and the space colony scenes are hilariously satiric (with an important message: Get off your arses, people!). Need we even mention that the animation's gorgeous? WAAAALL-EEEE!

It's Kind of Like: 'Short Circuit' meets 'An Affair to Remember'

How You Can See It: On DVD now