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Robots
Directed by: Chris Wedge
Starring: Ewan McGregor (Voice)
Genre:
Animated
Run Time: 91
min.
Release Date:
March 2005
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
And you
thought raising a human child was tough! If you live in the world of
ROBOTS, you literally have to "make" a child (building it from a box
of parts). When the Copperbottoms find out they’re going to be parents,
they are so excited that the father runs through the street stuffing
cigars into robots’ mouths. Once home, and peering into the box of
parts, he realizes the task ahead of him: assembling a son. Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor, STAR WARS)
is born. We whisk through his childhood and into his teens where we
discover his true calling: to become an inventor.
Following his dreams, he travels to Robot City to meet his mentor, Mr
Bigweld (Mel Brooks), an inventor of all things Robot-like. But upon
entering the city and coming to the gates of Mr. Bigweld’s offices (ala
the gates of Oz), Rodney finds that Mr. Bigweld is nowhere to be found
and the company has been taken over by the corrupt Ratchet (Greg Kinnear,
LITTLE MISS
SUNSHINE). Secondhand parts are a thing of the past and
Ratchet orders all faulty parts melted down. Every Robot must now
purchase upgrades. Can’t afford them? Sorry, you’ll have to be scrapped.
Along with a bum-like robot called Fender (Robin Williams ....think
THE FISHER KING)
and several hundred of his obsolete buddies, Rodney is headed toward
trouble ...and maybe success.
Coming off the heals of such phenomenal animated features as SHREK,
FINDING NEMO, and
ICE AGE,
this film falls short but delivers on laughs and fun thanks to the
energetic voice of Robin Williams (AUGUST
RUSH); without him I fear this movie
would’ve flopped entirely. But his action-packed antics made it
completely watchable.
There have been comments about how slow Robots was to get going,
and this is undeniably so. But it was a fairly decent attempt at
character and plot set-up. And although Robots lacked anything new in the form of
animation or concept, it did entertain enough to make me finish watching,
and even made me guffaw a time or two.
But is it on the same level as those earlier animated super-films? No
way.
Not
even close.
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Image from Robots
DVD cost: $9.99
Purchase:
BestPrices.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
At the start of the scene
where Rodney is at the Rivet Town train station, the "ticket taker
robot" can be seen picking his nose and examining his finger behind the
booth window.
Movie Quote: "They're
no longer making parts for your model."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Robots
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