Yeah, unlike R2-D2, Wall-E has a clear functional reason for existing.

Well, R2-D2 did save his cohorts' lives a couple of times in all three of the real movies and in the prequels, too.
:)

True, but somehow I doubt that at the design meetings to build him they said "we need a droid that would be perfect in assisting the escape of a ragtag group of rebels from an Imperial Cruiser."

I was just never clear (from the movies) on what his function was supposed to be beyond sitting in the back of a x-wing screeching.

Hey, I just thought of something that was kind of a plus for me with Wall-E and Ratatouille for that matter... no Randy Newman song!
:)

what did you think of the Peter Gabriel song?

Meh.

I was kind of meh about it too.

But his cousin Thomas wrote the score.

Which, for me, was a plus. I liked the score for Nemo a lot.
:)

Yes