garethvk
"A new animated classic has arrived."
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Rating:
+4
From the beginning, the computer-animated feature film genre has been a back and forth battle between Pixar and DreamWorks and then a new contender arrived seemingly overnight to offer legitimate competition in the form of the Ice Age series (which is now a trilogy with a spin off called Rio nearly complete). The company, of course, is Blue Sky and with distribution being handled by 20th Century Fox, the studio has had an impressive run of CG hits including the Dr. Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who. Robots snuck into the mix back in 2005 with a cast that was impressive even for a big budget CG feature!
The story follows Rodney Copperbottom, voiced by Ewan McGregor, a small town robotic inventor with aspirations of moving beyond his quaint surroundings.
Rodney embarks on a journey to Robot City to meet his idol, the majestic inventor Bigweld, voiced by none other than Mel Brooks.
Once in the big city, Rodney discovers that things aren’t at all like they seemed on television. Before long he hooks up with the Rusties, a ragtag group of street-smart outdated bots including Fender (Robin Williams), his spunky kid sister Piper (voiced by Amanda Bynes), Crank (Drew Carey), and Aunt Fanny (Jennifer Coolidge- that would be Stiffler’s mom from American Pie folks).
The main cast is only further extenuated by a back up cast that includes Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Paul Giamatti, Jay Leno, Paula Abdul, Terry Bradshaw, Al Roker and James Earl Jones reprising his famous Darth Vader voice.
Vocal word aside, the film just plain works on many levels. The visuals border on sensory overload at times with almost too much going on in the backgrounds. Multiple viewings are mandatory to fully absorb all of the gags and laughs going on somewhere in the distance at all times.
The humor itself is layered enough to where adults will find themselves snickering at much of the dialog/ sociological (and sometimes light sexual) references while the kiddies will be sufficiently entertained by the sheer novelty of watching the bots’ onscreen interaction.
Comparisons to Pixar’s Wall-E are inevitable due to the nature of the protagonists but in all honesty, the two projects have about as much in common as Star Trek and Buck Rogers (but they’re both about space right?). Where Wall-E tells the tale of a solitary garbage-cleaning robot on earth and his unlikely journey toward repopulating the planet, Robots is a family-based coming of age comedy in an all-robot world (in fact there is no reference to humanity ever having existed here).
Perhaps the piece’s greatest strength is it is one of few that I am aware of that actually demands the computer-animated medium to get its point across. In other words, while many CG features look pretty, their stories could just as easily have been told in 2D art or even live-action. Robots, however, is not one of them! Between mass-transit systems seemingly inspired by the board game Mouse Trap to oceanic tides of dominoes, this one could be realized no other way!
In all Robots is a fun-filled romp from start to finish with enough comedy to keep viewers of all ages paying very close attention both to the onscreen antics and the dialog exchanges (Robin Williams is a rapid fire joke machine that doesn’t ease up for a second).
While it’s true Pixar and DreamWorks continue to try to outdo one another with each animated effort, Blue Sky has been steadily delivering fantastic feature films that emulate nothing out there. Robots continues this tradition with style.
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FM_ALEX
September 20, 2010
Excellent review Jason, I think I would rate this about the same as you. This was a really fun one like most of the excellent reviews you have brought forth it has been a while since I have seen this. I have been watching alot lately thanks to your reviews.
JRider
September 20, 2010
Alex: Thanks for the feedback bro! I really had a lot of fun with this one. Robin Williams can really bring the funny to these projects. I'm actually surprised more studios aren't lining him up. Thanks again my man and great job on that bulletin.
FM_ALEX
September 20, 2010
I can't understand that at all, Robin Williams is a very talented dude especially on things like this like you said. Thanks once again Sir.
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woopak_the_thrill
September 20, 2010
woo-hoo! Jay comes back with a vengeance! This was definitely a fun little animated film and I think we would rate this one the same. It was a formula film but it sure worked for me. Nice review, Jason! Been waiting for this review.
JRider
September 20, 2010
Thanks William! I was thinking of you man while watching this one (I remembered you asking me if I was going to get to this one). Great stuff. More on the way, stay tuned.
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More Robots reviews
review by MichaelN.
May 03, 2009
really enjoyed this movie. The visual effects are so good that I didn't really care if there was a good story. However, there was! The son of an out-dated diswasher robot goes to the big city to find the great robot inventor and share some ideas that he has. Along the way he meets up with Robin Williams who is a type of con-man robot with old parts and who is literally falling apart. Williams is excellent in this role and is the first cartoon role where I could understand him without being … more
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Compliments (12)
My family watched this once it came out on DVD. My daughter, (6 years old at the time), enjoyed it but my son, (3 years old at the time), didn't seat still enough to enjoy it like he does with "Ice Age". This movie was pretty good in my opinion but not the best. It just doesn't hold up compared to other animated features of our time, whether from Pixar, DreamWorks or even Japanese animation. The jokes are mostly aimed at children and Robots lacks the many pop culture references or adult jokes that … more
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Compliment
Robots is what happens when you take a simple story, put it in the hands of talented animators and an exceptional case of actors to provide the voices; and then just allow the project to drift. For all its promise, the movie just falls flat on its face. I'm guessing that there was no strong guiding force with a coherent vision to bring all of it together. Read on and you'll see what I mean. The story is simple enough, "young robot inventor heads off to the big city to make … more
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review by garethvk.
March 10, 2005
Pros: Great Visuals and Robin Williams. Cons: None The Bottom Line: A true classic that will delight viewers of all ages. Following on the success of Ice Age, the creative talents at Fox animation have crafted a new animated classic that firmly establishes the studio as a major force in the animated feature industry with the release of the next animated classic, “Robots”. Set in the peaceful … more
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About the reviewer
JRider
Ranked #10
Ranked #10
Jason Rider (AKA OneNeo on Amazon.com) is the author of the successful children's fantasy novel series The Uncommon Adventures of Tucker O'Doyle from Bellissima Publishing. … more
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About this movie
Cast:
Halle Berry,
Paul Giamatti,
Jamie Kennedy,
Jim Broadbent,
Ewan McGregor,
Marshall Erwin Efron,
Dan Hedaya,
Stanley Tucci,
Harland Williams,
Stephen Tobolowsky,
Robin Williams,
James Earl Jones,
Natasha Lyonne,
Greg Kinnear,
Alan Rosenberg,
Jay Leno,
Jennifer Coolidge,
Ray Iannicelli,
Drew Carey,
Will Denton,
D.L. Hughley,
Al Roker,
Mel Brooks,
Terry Bradshaw,
Jackie Hoffman,
Amanda Bynes,
Chris Wedge,
Jansen Panettiere,
Lara Cody,
Sofía Vergara,
Tim Nordquist,
Bruce Winant,
Cooper Cowgill,
Brian McFadden,
Dylan Denton,
Damien Fahey,
Crawford Wilson,
David Crommett,
Dann Fink,
Timothy Gulan,
Alexander Haney,
Angela Haney,
Vanessa Lemonides,
Anthony J. Lewis, Jr.,
Marcus Maurice,
Kristin Reeves,
David Rossmer,
Lyla Stone,
Lowell Ganz,
Jennifer Perito,
Sondra James,
Lucille Bliss,
Darin de Paul
Director:
Chris Wedge
Genre:
Comedy,
Family
Release Date:
March 11, 2005
MPAA Rating:
PG
Screen Writer:
Lowell Ganz,
Babaloo Mandel
Runtime:
1hr 30min
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