Nice post, and I agree with your views.
While America in this movie has been hit by a holocaust (just what happened is never explained), it was a limited holocaust, and the area where Sam lives in the beginning of the movie is a thriving metropolis. The relationship that Sam has with his robot companion could have been made to be sleazy or cynical, but it isn't. Sam is shown to be a romantic at heart, showing tenderness to Cherry and rejecting the bar scene (full of women just seeking one night stands) in one scene shortly after Cherry melts down. The wasteland that Sam travels through with Griffith's character is less hostile than you might think. It is not jam-packed with ruthless characters, but is shown to consist of mostly empty space where little to nothing ever happens.
Even when the main villain appears in the movie, a resident of the wasteland, he's not seen to be a ruthless villain who would be at home in one of the Mad Max movies. The villain "Lester" does rule with an iron fist and has people killed, sometimes doing it personally, but there's a lighter side to him as well. When he captures Sam, Lester takes Sam to his base, which has a resemblance to a desert motel, complete with a pool. While there, Lester doesn't torture Sam or anything else bad, but instead recruits him to join his followers, who follow a strict diet and exercise program and dance the Hokey-Pokey. Lester is played by that great B movie actor Tim Thomerson, and he injects Lester with a healthy sense of humor that makes him charming despite all his character's dastardly deeds. (My only complaint with the performance is that it's too short; Thomerson only has a few brief scenes, and it feels like the role was originally bigger but got cut down in the editing room.) Thomerson is not the only actor in the movie to bring a good feeling. Western legend Ben Johnson has a meaty role as the fellow tracker Six-Fingered Jake, and he steals every scene he's in. Fellow western legend Harry Carey Jr. has a small role in the movie as well. Cult movie fans will get a kick out of seeing a brief appearance by Brion James (Blade Runner), as well as one from Robert Z'Dar (the Maniac Cop series).
Besides the more cheerful than usual spirit and the colorful supporting cast, there are a few other things I liked about Cherry 2000. The Nevada locations the movie shot on (including Hoover Dam and parts of the Valley Of Fire state park) are spectacular to view at times. Basil Poledouris contributes a musical score that manages to both sound different from your usual futuristic movie and sound majestic. There's clearly a lot to like about Cherry 2000.
"Lo fa, ne-ko shi-ma,de va-ja blade ... BLADE RUNNER."
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