Image credit: Jerry Herman (inset): Scott Wintrow/Getty Images

In a separate conversation, EW.com caught up with composer Jerry Herman, 77, who wrote the Hello, Dolly! songs for the beloved Broadway stage show in the early '60s, before they were adapted for the somewhat lesser-regarded movie adaptation in 1969. It turns out that this show, much like the polluted Earth of WALL-E, still has a future in it.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I understand that you thought your songs were just going to be used as background music, and you were in shock when you went to the premiere and saw how prominent a part they had in the movie.
JERRY HERMAN: That's right. I had immediately said yes because it was Disney asking for the usage, but I had no idea that it was going be that instrumental in the message of the film. So I'm absolutely thrilled.

It's funny to think that, for the last four decades, ''Hello, Dolly'' has been the one standard to come out of that show. But now, because of the future life this movie will have on video, there may be future generations who know these two songs — which until now have been comparatively obscure — much better than they know even the song ''Hello, Dolly.''
That's a very interesting and very apt statement. To have two songs that are not the title song suddenly step out of it is certainly satisfying. What really thrills me is that I wrote these songs 45 years ago. My God! It's hard for me to say that, but it's true, and here they are. I was in a theater the other night. I wanted to see it with a normal audience, and I went with my goddaughter and two friends. We sat there with at least 75 kids surrounding us, and I thought, Oh my God, they're not gonna know what's happening because there'll be such a racket. But they were held absolutely rapt by the film. It was the quietest audience of kids I've ever seen. It amazes me that this has happened. It's been almost 50 years since these songs were written, and they're gonna have new lives. You don't ever expect that in a lifetime. You're very blessed if you have one ''Hello, Dolly,'' but to have ''Hello, WALL-E'' now is more than you dare to dream about.

I know you haven't talked with director Andrew Stanton yet, but what's your sense of why he used your songs?
What he has really used are the lyrics. Forget about melodies. When the film started and I heard ''Out there, there's a world outside of Yonkers'' and we saw the sky, and then they very cleverly had the words ''full of shine and full of sparkle'' right over the first glimpse of a dead planet, I said, this is a brilliant writer and director. Who would have ever thought of such a thing, to use songs from maybe an iconic show but such an old one, to tell this story? Then to use ''It Only Takes a Moment'' as [the robots'] love song is such a clever and moving idea that I think this guy is some kind of genius.

Hello, Dolly! as a movie has not had the greatest reputation over the years, even among lovers of movie musicals, or maybe especially among lovers of movie musicals. There was criticism over Streisand being way too young for the part, the bloated budget, the tone of the stage show having gotten lost — all kinds of things. How do you feel about the film now that you have 40 years of distance on it?
Every time I see it, I like it better. It's the strangest phenomenon, because I really didn't like it when I first saw it. I'm the wrong one to ask, because I am so into [original Broadway director] Gower Champion's Hello, Dolly! — the outrageous farce that his version of the show is and will always be, when it's done properly. But all of a sudden, with repeated viewings, I like Barbra in it. And of course I'm so used to a woman of a certain age, because that's what it was [supposed to be] about, and she was young and looked sensational in the film. But I like her performance better every time I see it. I think she did a hell of a job, and a lot of us didn't realize it at the time. The movie wears well, and all I can say is: Time has been kind to Hello, Dolly!, the film. I don't know why, but it has.

There has been talk of another Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! I was thinking it was too soon — didn't I just see the last revival, with Carol Channing, not that long ago? But then I realized, wow, that's been 13 or 14 years.
No, I don't think Carol's gonna do it again [Laughs], but we're constantly looking for the right 2010 Dolly Levi. They're hard to find because we're not creating leading ladies for the musical stage anymore, so the pickings are poor and the crop is lean. But we will find the right one and we will do a really elegant revival of the Gower Champion show.... Of course, it's done everywhere. There's not a night in the world where somebody's not coming down a red staircase.