This soundtrack really stands on its own, despite accompanying one of the most achingly beautiful films I have ever seen.

Stanton says in the liner notes that the movie as a whole was a space opera, something he kept emphasizing as Newman composed. Compared to the defining space opera, the original Star Wars trilogy, there are rather a lot of differences. Williams' score in Star Wars had a clear sense of accoustics and an expansive staging that translated even while watching the film. With a good sound system, you can almost imagine an orchestra pit just below the screen. The score seemed to come from the eternally romantic Star Wars universe itself, boldly proclaiming its themes of good, evil, love, and war.

Newman's score for WALL-E, on the other hand, has a sonically closed or condensed aspect to it that draws you in closer to the intimate world of its inhabitants. As breathtaking as Stanton's vision of outer space turns out to be, you are still invited to experience it through the eyes of a newcomer, a little robot who, like yourself, has never been there before. Rather than coming from the universe, the soundtrack to WALL-E seems rather to simply be the music that accompanies the imaginative, curious, and ultimately wonderstruck mind.