Movie Review:

ROBOTS

by Lynn B.

Did you like Ice Age? The people who brought you that little critter Scrat, who is endlessly chasing an illusive acorn, now cook up a entire robot universe!

Robots takes place in a universe peopled only with ‘bots but the inhabitants aren’t that different from humans. Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor) is assembled as a baby by his sweet parents. The Copperbottoms are a poor, working class but loving family. As Rodney grows, he’s given bigger hand-me-down parts. Dad is a dishwasher (literally) at a greasy spoon restaurant and, by the time Rodney is out of high school, he’s a promising inventor who wants to go to the big city and work for Mr. Bigweld (Mel Brooks) a good guy industrialist who produces robot parts and promises equality for all.

Carrying his invention Wonderbot, a little service robot that flies like Tinkerbell and looks like a coffee pot, Rodney heads off to the city where he learns that there’s a new man at the helm of Bigweld Industries. Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), is slick, shiny, evil and wants to promote total “re-fits” that only rich robots can afford. No more replacement parts! The little, working class guys will just have to fall apart and turn into scrap to be melted down for the benefit of the rich!

Rodney starts repairing robots and this puts him and his new city pals Fender (Robin Williams), Crank (Drew Carey), Aunt Fanny (Jennifer Coolidge) and Piper (Amanda Bynes) on Ratchet’s hit list for a meltdown. This is tough because Rodney has fallen for shapely Ratchet employee Cappy (Halle Berry). Can the good ‘bots convince the disheartened Mr. Bigweld to take back his company and toss Ratchet and his boys on the scrap heap?

This animation film is full of sight gags and kinetic energy! When Rodney uses the Robot City transportation system, it’s like watching every movement of a ball in a complicated pinball machine and, in my case, on a huge IMAX screen. (The film wasn’t in 3-D. It was just ….bigger! You can see it on your local theater screen as well). Bigweld sets up a miraculous series of domino mazes and then surfs them when they are knocked down. There is a battle at the film’s end that is a spoof of every live action movie fight you’ve seen. Little ironies abound, like a series of robots going through airport metal detectors and even taking off their metal shoes! There is a dance sequence that is joyful and will have your toes tappin’.

Production design is ultra-creative in this used and dented world. Every detail right down to the rust and peeling paint on the bots, is alive and in brilliant color. Fire hydrants and lamp posts talk as well as the human-like inhabitants, making it a bit hard to catch all the comedic action in the background. A second viewing might be needed to insure that you “get” everything.

Despite all it’s funky visual majesty, Robots could use a few more witty, trendy, pop culture laughs and an even stronger emotional connection. Some of the basic gags remind me of the wonderful but short-lived TV series “Futurama” and there are nods to Braveheart, Rollerball, Star Wars, etc. Plenty of worthy lessons are at the core of the simplistic story, “A dream you don’t fight for will haunt you the rest of your life” learn to believe in yourself, etc. for example, but the plot isn’t anything new and there are so many characters that we don’t really get to know them well enough. Rodney is certainly likable and Fender, voiced by comic genius Robin Williams, is the usual off-the-wall sidekick but there are many other characters that get very little development despite being voiced by an all-star cast.

I expect Robots will impress enough with its amazingly active and creative animated world to be a big hit. I enjoyed it but I could have used just a smidge more witty heart inside the Tin Man. But, hey, where else can you hear Jay Leno’s voice coming out of a fire hydrant?

This movie is rated PG

Official Movie Web Site - ROBOTS

Pictures courtesy of and copyright 20th Century Fox, 2005