Rampant risk taking: new photographic and lighting tools help the audience stay focused on the stars of Disney/Pixar's adventurous new feature animation.(CGI)(Cover story)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What if everyone had to leave Earth and no one remembered to turn off the last robot? That kernel of a story idea from Pixar's Andrew Stanton, who won an Oscar for directing Finding Nemo, grew to become Wall-e--a love story, a science-fiction film, and the latest feature animation in Disney/Pixar's mega-successful series of CG hits. It's also the most unusual film Pixar has produced, and arguably the studio's biggest creative risk.

"Andrew pitched the idea to me when I met him," says producer Jim Morris, who left LucasFilm to join the Wall-e team. "It had an almost haunting quality, like a Robinson Crusoe story. Why would everyone ...