Robots (2005)

Directors:

Chris Wedge
Carlos Saldanha (co-director)

Writers:

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

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)
Dan Hedaya	...	Mr. Gunk (voice)
Jackie Hoffman	...	Water Cooler (voice)
James Earl Jones	...	Voice Box at Hardware Store (voice)
Greg Kinnear	...	Ratchet (voice)
Jay Leno	...	Fire Hydrant (voice)
Natasha Lyonne	...	Loretta Geargrinder (voice)
Brian McFadden	...	Trashcan Bot (voice)
Ewan McGregor	...	Rodney Copperbottom (voice)
Tim Nordquist	...	Tin Man (voice)
Jansen Panettiere	...	Younger Rodney (voice)
Al Roker	...	Mailbox (voice)
Alan Rosenberg	...	Jack Hammer (voice)
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Bigmouth Executive / Forge (voice)
Stanley Tucci	...	Herb Copperbottom (voice)
Chris Wedge	...	Wonderbot / Phone Booth (voice)
Dianne Wiest	...	Mrs. Copperbottom (voice)
Harland Williams	...	Lug (voice)
Robin Williams	...	Fender (voice)
Crawford Wilson	...	Young Rodney (voice)
Lara Cody	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Cooper Cowgill	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Crommett	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Darin De Paul	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Darin DePaul)
Dann Fink	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Timothy Gulan	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Alexander Haney	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Angela Haney	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Ray Iannicelli	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Sondra James	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Vanessa Lemonides	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Anthony J. Lewis Jr.	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Marcus Maurice	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer Perito	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kristin Reeves	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Rossmer	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Lyla Stone	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Bruce Winant	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Directed by
Chris Wedge
Carlos Saldanha		(co-director)

Writing credits
Ron Mita		(story) &
Jim McClain		(story) and
David Lindsay-Abaire		(story)
David Lindsay-Abaire		(screenplay) and
Lowell Ganz		(screenplay) &
Babaloo Mandel		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jerry Davis	....	producer
John C. Donkin	....	producer
Bob Gordon	....	co-producer
William Joyce	....	producer
Christopher Meledandri	....	executive producer
Lorne Orleans	....	producer (IMAX version)

Original Music by
John Powell

Film Editing by
John Carnochan

Casting by
Christian Kaplan

Production Design by
William Joyce

Art Direction by
Steve Martino

Production Management
Jeannine Berger	....	post-production supervisor
Maria Criscuolo	....	unit production manager
Patrick Esposito	....	post-production supervisor: Studio
Billy Foster	....	assistant production manager
Hugh Hitchens	....	assistant production manager
Anthony Nisi	....	production supervisor
Lauren Prince	....	assistant production manager
Patrick Worlock	....	production manager

Art Department
Bob Camp	....	storyboard artist
Karen Disher	....	storyboard artist
Nash Dunnigan	....	workbook artist
William H. Frake III	....	storyboard artist
Chris Gilligan	....	storyboard artist
Mike Knapp	....	designer
H.B. 'Buck' Lewis	....	visual development
Tony Maki	....	additional storyboard artist
Melanie Martini	....	production assistant: art department
Steve Moore	....	storyboard artist
Moroni	....	storyboard artist
Daniel Lopez Munoz	....	visual development artist
Brandon Oldenburg	....	conceptual designer
Chris Renaud	....	storyboard artist
Dan Shefelman	....	storyboard artist
David Silverman	....	storyboard artist
Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi	....	lead color key artist
Haji Uesato	....	previs set designer
Adam Van Wyk	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Derek Casari	....	adr engineer
Marko A. Costanzo	....	foley artist
Colette Dahanne	....	adr mixer
Mark Filip	....	apprentice sound editor
Sean Garnhart	....	sound designer
Sean Garnhart	....	sound re-recording mixer
Sean Garnhart	....	supervising sound editor
Tim Gomillion	....	sound recordist
Doug Hemphill	....	sound re-recording mixer (as D.M. Hemphill)
Frank Kern	....	foley editor
Roy Latham	....	dialogue mixer
Marissa Littlefield	....	dialogue editor
Paul Massey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Khama Matiti	....	adr mixer: English version
Khama Matiti	....	sound: English version
Jo Mion	....	adr editor
Chris Navarro	....	adr recordist
Bill Orrico	....	first assistant sound editor (as Billy Orrico)
Wim Post	....	sound re-recording mixer: foreign language versions
Nicholas Renbeck	....	supervising adr editor
Nicholas Renbeck	....	supervising dialogue editor
Dennis Rogers	....	sound recordist
Wyatt Sprague	....	sound effects editor
William Stein	....	re-recording engineer (as Bill Stein)
Paul Urmson	....	sound effects designer
Steven Visscher	....	supervising foley editor
David Warzynski	....	foley assistant (as Dave Warzynski)

Visual Effects by
Alexander Adell	....	technical director
Oktay Ahiska	....	digital artist
Lynn Bacino	....	lighting technical director
Jodi Lynn Bade	....	additional lighting
Victor Banks	....	digital paint artist
Andrew Beddini	....	sequence lighting lead
Sebastian Bilbao	....	effects & materials technical director
Robert Bloom	....	DMR artist: Imax
Simon Brown	....	effects technical director
Wendell Bruno	....	assistant DMR editor (IMAX version)
Clay Budin	....	effects technical director
Ian M. Burkard	....	assembly assistant
Ian M. Burkard	....	junior modeler
Christopher M. Burrows	....	lead technical director
Ian D. Butterfield	....	materials technical director
Luis Cataldi	....	character rigger
Robert V. Cavaleri	....	effects supervisor
Sheldon Chow	....	materials technical director
Sheldon Chow	....	modeler
Rhett Collier	....	effects technical director
Michael B. Comet	....	character rigger
Shaun Cusick	....	lead modeler
Mike Defeo	....	modeling supervisor (as Michael Defeo)
Diana Diriwaechter	....	lighting technical director
Michael Eringis	....	materials supervisor
David Esneault	....	lighting supervisor
Kirk Garfield	....	effects technical director
Mike Gargiulo	....	computer animator
Nick Gibbons	....	technical animator
Brian A. Hill	....	materials technical director
Benny Min Huang	....	texture artist
Isaac Irvin	....	lighting/compositing
Simon P. Jones	....	lighter & compositor
Ronny Kim	....	animator
Michael Kingsley	....	render wrangler
Mitch Kopelman	....	additional lighting
Mitch Kopelman	....	technical director
Patrick Kwok	....	senior DMR artist (IMAX version)
Alen Lai	....	effects technical director
Kiki Lippman	....	lighting technical director
Seth Lippman	....	effects technical director
Rosalinda Malibiran	....	lighting technical director
Stephen Mann	....	character rigging
Luke Martorelli	....	master lighting artist
Raphael Matto	....	materials technical director
Keith McCabe	....	additional lighting
David V. Mei	....	digital paint artist
David V. Mei	....	modeler
David V. Mei	....	senior digital paint artist
Jean Michel Mistrot	....	technical director: shader
Jenga Zamani Mwendo	....	modeler
Pete Paquette	....	character animator
John A. Patterson	....	visual effects
John Wade Payne	....	lighting techical director
Peter Pelisek	....	DMR artist: Imax
Gareth Porter	....	technical director
Arun Ram-Mohan	....	additional lighting
Jacob Richards	....	lighting technical director
Matt Roach	....	additional lighting
Edward Robbins	....	modeler
Aaron M. Ross	....	lighting technical director
Augusto Schillaci	....	visual effects supervisor
Jon Schroth	....	lighting visual effects
Matt Seckman	....	digital compositor: end titles
Daniel Ken Shimmyo	....	modeler
John Siczewicz	....	senior digital artist
Matthew D. Simmons	....	animation technical lead
Drew Solodzuk	....	DMR editor (IMAX version)
Tim Speltz	....	effects lead
Christa Starr	....	surfacer
Jeeyun Sung	....	lighting technical director
John David Thornton	....	effects technical director
Michael J. Travers	....	CG supervisor
Haji Uesato	....	sequence lighting lead
Bryan Useo	....	scene assembly technical directors
Zane Waldman	....	senior DMR artist: The IMAX Experience
Jamie Williams	....	technical director
James Willingham III	....	render wrangler
Athena Xenakis	....	technical director
Terry Ziegelman	....	lighting artist
Thomas Mathai	....	data manager (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jess Bressler	....	lighting technician
Svetla Gressak	....	lighting technician
Inkyong Irene Kim	....	lighting technician
Mark Piretti	....	rigging supervisor
Jon Schroth	....	lighting technician
Ahmed Shehata	....	rigger
Michael Sparber	....	lighting technician
Hongseo Park	....	rigger (uncredited)

Animation Department
Raf Anzovin	....	animator
Isabel Auphan	....	animator
Mark Behm	....	animator
Marco Burbano	....	character technical director
Adam Burke	....	animator
James Campbell	....	animator
Juan Carlos Navarro Carrion	....	character animator
Darko Cesar	....	animator
James Chiang	....	animator
Jerod Chirico	....	character animator
David Couchariere	....	animator
Paul Downs	....	animator
David Figliola	....	character animator
William H. Frake III	....	storyboard artist
Aaron J. Hartline	....	animator
Geoff Hemphill	....	animator
Donald Kim	....	animator
Ken Lee	....	layout artist
Moonsung Lee	....	animator
Alex Li	....	layout artist
Peter Nash	....	animator
David S. Peng	....	animator
Andreas Procopiou	....	animator
Mika Ripatti	....	animator
Elliott Roberts	....	animator
Amber Rudolph	....	animator
Jessica Sances	....	character animator
Tom Saville	....	character animator
Melvin Tan	....	character animator
David Tart	....	animator
Kevin Thomason	....	layout artist
Mike Thurmeier	....	supervising animator
Zachary Torok	....	animator
David Torres	....	lead animator
Michael C. Walling	....	animator
Steve Warbrick	....	animatic artist
Royce Wesley	....	animator
Alexander Williams	....	animator
Ryan Williams	....	layout artist

Casting Department
Bruce Winant	....	casting: adr group

Editorial Department
Todd Baillere	....	post-production consultant
Kent Beyda	....	additional editor
Gary Burritt	....	negative cutter
Natasha Leonnet	....	digital color timer
Jack Lewars	....	assistant color timer: Efilm
Curtis Lindersmith	....	digital intermediate editor
Brian Morgan	....	assistant editor
Tim Nordquist	....	associate editor
James Palumbo	....	first assistant editor
Jim Passon	....	color timer
Eric Putz	....	telecine colorist
Lorene Simpson	....	digital intermediate producer
Randy Trager	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Pete Anthony	....	conductor
Frank Bennett	....	orchestrator
Blue Man Group	....	sound: percussion, orchestration
Thomas A. Carlson	....	music editor (as Tom Carlson)
Brad Dechter	....	orchestrator
Sandy DeCrescent	....	orchestral contractor
George Doering	....	musician: guitar
Bruce Dukov	....	concert master
Robert Fernandez	....	scoring mixer
Bruce Fowler	....	orchestrator
Walt Fowler	....	orchestrator (as Walter Fowler)
Sean Garnhart	....	one musical source cue
Mark Graham	....	music copyist
Brad Haehnel	....	additional music mixer
Dorothy Joo	....	music coordinator
Randy Kerber	....	orchestrator
Jon Kull	....	orchestrator
Tim Lauber	....	score recordist
Edie Lehmann	....	vocal contractor (as Edie Lehmann Boddicker)
T.J. Lindgren	....	additional music arranger
T.J. Lindgren	....	additional music programmer
Jason Lloyd	....	scoring stage manager
Larry Mah	....	digital score recordist
Becky Mancuso-Winding	....	music supervisor
Mark McKenzie	....	orchestrator
Yvonne S. Moriarty	....	orchestrator (as Suzette Moriarty)
Shawn Murphy	....	scoring mixer
Paul Pesco	....	musician: guitar
Peter Rotter	....	music contractor
Steven L. Smith	....	music preparation
Tom Steel	....	scoring stage manager
Bill Talbott	....	scoring technician
John Ashton Thomas	....	additional music arranger
John Ashton Thomas	....	additional music programmer
John Ashton Thomas	....	orchestrator
Joshua Winget	....	music editor (as Josh Winget)
Elliott Goldkind	....	assistant music editor (uncredited)

Other crew
Jinyi Baird	....	production assistant
Jitendra Borse	....	software developer
Adam Burr	....	software developer
Danielle Cambridge	....	lead technical director (as Danielle Cambridge West)
Robert Cardone	....	3-D layout supervisor
David Channing	....	scoring editor
Alex John Cuthbert	....	lead desktop systems administrator
Stanley A. Dellimore	....	senior technical imaging artist (IMAX DMR version)
Jacques Dell	....	senior technical imaging artist (IMAX DMR version)
Aaron Dimunno	....	scene assembly technical director
Scott Farrell	....	production assistant
Xeth Feinberg	....	additional story artist
Jimmy Hayward	....	director: additional scenes
Jimmy Hayward	....	story consultant
Hugh Hitchens	....	production scheduling
Brett Hoffman	....	script coordinator
Brett Hoffman	....	story coordinator
Christopher Kappler	....	human resources
Perry M. Kimura	....	digital scanning and recording: EFILM
Patrick Kwok	....	senior DMR artist (IMAX version)
Doug Letterman	....	software engineer
Alexander Levenson	....	lead modeler
Justin Mandel	....	intern
Melanie Martini	....	production assistant
Salvatore Melluso	....	modeling department
Sean M. Murphy	....	story production assistant
Brian Oakes	....	production assistant
Paul Ohrt	....	production accountant
Sheri Patterson	....	assistant production manager: lighting and paint
Kevin Porterfield	....	programmer: software tools
Arun Ram-Mohan	....	technical assistant
Mike Reiss	....	consultant
Matt Roach	....	technical assistant
Kevin Thomason	....	additional character rigging
Joselly A. Torres	....	production assistant
Maurice Van Swaaij	....	manager software
Jon Vitti	....	consultant
Dan Weeks	....	software developer
Dan Weeks	....	system programmer
Weera Tom Wichitsripornkul	....	technical director
Bruce Winant	....	adr loop group
Rafael Zentil	....	additional story artist

Thanks
Kent Beyda	....	thanks
George Lucas	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Animation (presents)
• Blue Sky Studios

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (2005) (worldwide) (all media)
• 20th Century Fox Australia (2005) (Australia) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Netherlands (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2005) (UK) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2005) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Bontonfilm (2005) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Continental Film (2005) (Croatia) (theatrical)
• Fox-Warner (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Gemini Film (2005) (Russia) (theatrical)
• IMAX (2005) (worldwide) (theatrical) (IMAX version)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (Brazil) (all media)
• 20th Century Fox Italia (2005) (Italy) (all media)
• RTL Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing) (RTL4)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• 20th Century Fox Studios  post-production facilities (as Twentieth Century Fox Studios)
• Bridge Facilities, The  additional dialogue recording
• C-5  foley recording
• C-5  sound post-production
• EFilm  digital intermediate
• Earth Media Studios  post-production
• Henson Studios  additional score recording
• Hewlett Packard  thanks
• Howard Schwartz Recording  additional dialogue recording (as Howard Schwartz Recording)
• Jo Anne Kane Music Services  music preparation (as JoAnn Kane Music Services)
• Kessler Media Productions Ltd.  additional dialogue recording
• L.A. Studios, The  additional dialogue recording
• Loopers Unlimited  group adr casting
• Lucasfilm  thanks
• Newman Scoring Stage, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, The  score recording (as The Newman Scoring Stage, Twentieth Century Fox)
• One Union Recording Studios  additional dialogue recording
• Pacific Title  end titles
• Reel FX Creative Studios  short film and PSA production
• Sonoton Musik-Verlag  music
• The Hollywood Studio Orchestra  score recorded by
• Varèse Sarabande  score album released by
• Varèse Sarabande  soundtrack released by
• Virgin Records  soundtrack released by

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:

The net weight of the box in which the baby is delivered is 3.5kg. This would mean that Rodney would have a birth weight of 7 lbs., 11 ounces.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Rodney and Fender are pulling the lever, the rooms are located one above the other (i.e., arranged vertically). But during the "armpit farts" sequence, the light in Piper's room is to the left of the building, while Crank's is to the right.

Quotes:

Fender: [hears Rodney's signal] Oh, my darling! That is the call of the deep doo-doo bird. I must fly!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Soundtrack:

WONDERFUL NIGHT (instrumental)

Technically Amazing, laugh-out-loud funny in other parts

Robots is probably the most technically amazing computer-animated movie I've ever seen. When you stack it up against a movie like the original Toy Story, it's astounding how far they've come in about 10 years. There is a scene were a drum of tiny ballbearings falls over, and each ballbearing is rendered perfectly. Amazing.

The voice acting in Robots is just fine, with the ensemble cast providing a nice mix of auditory delights(although I saw Jim Broadbent's (the dad in Bridget Jones') name in the credits and was unable to identify him in the movie. Greg Kinnear did a fine job and Ewan MacGregor was also decent. The biggest question mark was Robin Williams. Before the movie I found myself wondering how he could top the 'Genie' performance in Aladdin. The answer is he doesn't, but his character is responsible for a few VERY funny bits and I think he pulled it off well.

Now humor in the movie... It was clear to me that at least 80% of the adults in the audience weren't getting many of the references. If you are old enough/smart enough to catch these, they are hilarious. My favorite being when Rodney is repairing Bigweld's head and Bigweld is singing 'Daisy' very slowly. Priceless.

All in all a great movie, and I also suspect this movie will improve with subsequent viewings. Where a Shark's Tale just becomes tiresome after one viewing, I am looking forward to viewing this movie again.

Lastly, my 6 year-old son LOVED the movie. We saw it in IMAX and it completely blew him away.