But “WALL-E” is really an art film, which may be bad news for Disney. It is besotted with its own technology, its own art _ almost, but not quite, to the point that it allows technology to sublimate story. This has been the key to such Pixar films as “Toy Story,” which boasted breakthrough execution while relegating the software to the backseat and letting the narrative drive. “Toy Story,” by the way, is also a dark film _ there is an unspoken subplot about a broken marriage, and economically displaced people _ and “The Incredibles” had that Ayn Rand theme running through it. So perhaps we should expect the post-apocalyptic cityscapes and dissipated humanity that infect “WALL-E.” It is, the more I think about it, a jewel of a film _ in conception, execution and message. But as they say in Congress, “What about the kiiiids?”

The 5-year-old sitting near me pretty much summed it up (“I think director Andrew Stanton is indulging himself in Godardian semiotics ...”). Seriously, the kids _ who had been laughing _ got very quiet during certain sequences of the movie, especially when Earth seemed irredeemable. “WALL-E’s” glance into our future prospects didn’t do much for my bliss either, but the idea that a company in the business of mainstream entertainment would make something as creative, substantial and cautionary as this has to raise your hopes for humanity. Now pass the Twinkies. AND WHERE’S MY ROBOT?!

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