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 | Fantasy | 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:

CGI Film | Tastes Like Chicken Joke | Computer Animation | Robot | Obsolescence

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:

Sonix | DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:All | France:U | Taiwan:GP | Sweden:Btl | Denmark:A | Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #41487) | Mexico:A | Canada:G | 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:

Blue Sky Studios

Trivia:

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

Goofs:

Continuity: After surfing the waves of dominoes, Bigweld flies up into the air, and then lands. When he flies up, you can see dominoes fly up with him. But when he lands, no dominoes fall down after him

Quotes:

Bigweld: [while being repaired by Rodney, ? la 2001: A Space Odyssey]
[sings]
Bigweld: Daaaisy... Daaaaissy... Giive mee yoour aaaanswer truuuue.

Movie Connections:

References 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Soundtrack:

IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT

Not a lot of feeling

I'm an animator and I can appreciate the work that went into this film. Its visually interesting, but at the same time cluttered. So from a technical stand point it had its pros. Overall the story was mildly interesting. It started out really slow and I wasn't sure whether I would be able to get through the whole movie. But it did pick up a little bit as the movie went on. Now for the major negative points.

- There are too many characters. The supporting cast is numerous and uninteresting. It comes off as if the art department designed a bunch of robots first then decided they didn't want to give up any of the designs.

- The characters personalities are kind of flat. Even the main characters don't really invoke an emotional connection. The secondary characters are just robots that happen to talk once and a while.

- I don't know what is with the trend to put in popular music into animated pictures but it just seems so off when you are watching in. When the story is progressing and then a bunch of characters break out into a dance routine set to a Britney Spears song its like someone suddenly turned on another TV in the room. And this kind of thing happens numerous times. Its even noticeable in the fight sequences and some others which appear to be designed to show funky and interesting animation rather than advance or even fit into the story.

Bottom line, Blue Sky Studios did a much better job on Ice Age. Just like PDI did a much better job on Shrek compared to Shark's Tale (Which was garbage). They just need to get some people involved who can trim the fat of the story and keep people who think they are directing a music video out of the editing room.