Robots (2005)

Directors:

Chris Wedge
Carlos Saldanha (co-director)

Writers:

Ron Mita (story) &
Jim McClain (story) ...

Release Date:

11 March 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

You can shine no matter what you're made of.

Plot:

In a robot world, a young idealistic inventor travels to the big city to join his inspiration's company, only to find himself opposing its sinister new management.

Plot Keywords:

Robot | Television | Obsolescence | Computer Animation | Dancing

Awards:

2 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Paula Abdul	...	Watch (voice)
Halle Berry	...	Cappy (voice)
Lucille Bliss	...	Pigeon Lady (voice)
Terry Bradshaw	...	Broken Arm Bot (voice)
Jim Broadbent	...	Madame Gasket (voice)
Mel Brooks	...	Bigweld (voice)
Amanda Bynes	...	Piper (voice)
Drew Carey	...	Crank (voice)
Jennifer Coolidge	...	Aunt Fanny (voice)
Dylan Denton	...	Youngest Rodney (voice)
Will Denton	...	Young Rodney (voice)
Marshall Efron	...	Lamppost / Toilet Bot / Bass Drum / Microphone (voice)
Damien Fahey	...	Stage Announcer (voice)
Lowell Ganz	...	Mr. Gasket (voice)
Paul Giamatti	...	Tim the Gate Guard (voice)

Also Known As:

Robots: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some brief language and suggestive humor.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Certification:

Mexico:A | Denmark:A | South Korea:All | Sweden:Btl | Canada:G | Taiwan:GP | Malaysia:U | Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #41487) | France:U | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Brazil:Livre | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:U | Finland:K-7 | Germany:o.Al. | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:AL | Norway:A | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | Hong Kong:I

Filming Locations:

White Plains, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Animation

Trivia:

A special rendering tool was created specifically to randomly place the pips on every domino in Bigweld's workshop.

Goofs:

Continuity: Just before Rodney takes the city ball express, you can see him standing on a giant cog turning downwards. In the wide shot, the cog above him clearly has a robot on it too, yet when Rodney hops off, the cog above him comes down, and there is no robot to be seen

Quotes:

Lug: Hey, Fender, have you lost weight?
Crank: Lost weight? Look at... will you look at... He's a head in a basket!

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Soundtrack:

TELL ME WHAT YOU ALREADY DID

Robot City: Impressive to look at... not so much to live in...

"Robots" is the latest computer animated feature film from the creators of Ice Age. Like many films of the same genre, "Robots" offers a new artistic style and a large cast of voice talents, all of which would make pretty entertaining guests on any episode of Saturday Night Live... However "Robots" is more of a sight to see than a movie-going experience to fully enjoy.

Rodney (Ewen McGregor, Big Fish)is a robot born (or built rather) to become an inventor. Just like his idol Big Weld (Mel Brooks) encourages, Rodney believes anyone can shine no matter what you're made of. This credo is put to the ultimate test when Rodney leaves home to Robot City in hopes to get employed in Big Weld's big corporation as an inventor. Rodney learns the hard way how tough Robot City can be for the average robot... especially under new management where management entails getting rid of outdated robots and reducing them to scrap metal. With the help of a rusty robot crew including Robin Williams and Amanda Bynes, Rodney will go on an adventure to turn Robot City into the dream he's always imagined it to be.

As you can tell, "Robots" is a movie with heart, what do you expect for a movie targeted for a family audience. It also had some funny moments, and, as expected, were mostly contributed to Robin's robot character. There were also little details that achieved good laughs... Robot City wouldn't be complete without a robot doing the robot. Again the art in "Robots" also deserves credit using darker color schemes which allowed for a better feel for the robot world. The design of the city was also impressive: intricate modes of transportation, the ability to carry a conversation with a traffic light, and a walking mailbox that knows you by name...

However its kind of like a new President addressing the United States... he may look nice, brand new suit with hair combed nicely, and he may have a good message. But the message is only as good as its delivery. This is probably a bad analogy, but if "Robots" and "Monsters, Inc" ran for president it would be a landslide victory for the Pixar party.

I compare the two movies with good reason. Both movies offer completely new worlds: a robot world and a monster world. Both movies feature major cities that rely its existence heavily on the production of a major corporation, Big Weld for Robot City and Monsters, Inc. for Monstropolis. There's just one major difference: Monstropolis makes sense and Robot City doesn't.

You might wonder why should it make sense, it's fake? Any Joe Schmoe from the street tripping on acid can make a movie about some make-believe world, but its an even heavier task to make a world where things not only make sense, but are also necessary for the world to be plausible. Monstropolis works: both the city itself as well as the things that went on in the made up city. With Robot City there are too many questions: Why?! How?! What the hell was that for?! Who?! I refer my Who question to Halle Berry's character who is top-billed and forced to be integral to the plot, yet only has about 4-5 lines throughout the whole movie.

I give it a 4 out of 10 because I'm midway with this movie. It looked cool but it wasn't. Like a beautiful girl with no personality. It can be really funny, but other times it tries a bit hard. What Robots lacked was ironically originality. Even Robin Williams' character was a bit reminiscent of the Genie from Aladdin without the comedic usefulness of shapeshifting. It was a good attempt, but ultimately "Robots" is sadly recycled scrap metal.