Although it was a moderate success, no one really remembers Ice Age (although there is a sequel to it coming out). The studio combination who did that movie now have done Robots. They obviously must have read my Ice Age review, with my criticism of the humans in that movie, because there are none here in Robots. Instead, Blue Sky creates characters that basically look like whatever they want. And I have to say, it's a big improvement.
Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) is a lower-class robot who is made from hand-me-down parts. He, along with most of the other robots, look up to and idolize Bigweld (Mel Brooks), the friendly, helpful leader of the corporation that makes all of the robot parts. Rodney decides to invent something and show it to Bigweld, so he goes to Robot City to try and meet him. However, Bigweld has become reclusive and the company's been taken over by Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), an evil robot. Rodney's taken under the wing of Fender (Robin Williams), a bum of a robot, and his friends, who include a smattering of pseudo-celebrity voices. Rodney has to go find Bigweld, stop Ratchet and his evil plans, and go deeper into an amazingly animated world.
Animation's basically staying the same these days. Ever since Toy Story, studios have gone with the "if it ain't CGI, don't make it" strategy, and it's seemed to hold up well box office-wise. Robots is a CGI animated film. And it's not as groundbreaking animation-wise as, say, Shrek was. But the sheer complexity of the film completely overwhelmed me. There are a few sequences that are just breathtaking, such as the public transportation in Robot City and Bigweld's dominoes. During those scenes, you just think to yourself, "Why aren't other movies this fun?" And that's all Robots is-fun. It's a simple movie that can be enjoyed by kids and adults. Not only can everyone enjoy the visuals, but the script (by those bad boys of comedy Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) has both adult and child humor (such as "making a baby" and the onslaught of fart noises, respectively).
People have also said that Robin Williams adds a lot to the comedy, which is a total lie. Williams has been going downhill ever since his magnum opus Mrs. Doubtfire, and Robots is here to prove it. Williams seems to just keep on talking and talking without really knowing what he's saying, and most of it isn't funny. Luckily, there's an amazing supporting cast to pick up his pieces. Although McGregor's accent comes and goes, there's Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent (playing a woman), Brooks, Amanda Bynes (although I'm not sure if that's an asset to the movie...her lines just seemed embarrassing), Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Giamatti, Kinnear, Stanley Tucci, Dianne Wiest, Harland Williams...the list goes on. The superb cast really adds a lot to the movie. They play off of the animation, and the combination works really well.
Have I any complaints, you ask? I would have liked to have seen more, but it's an animated movie, not Apocalypse Now. Also, at the end, there's the obligatory huge dance scene at the end. If there's a more blatant rip off of Shrek's unnecessary dance scene, I haven't seen it. Still, though, Robots is a true family movie, something we haven't seen for a long time.
My rating: 8/10 Rated PG for some brief language and suggestive humor.
Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) is a lower-class robot who is made from hand-me-down parts. He, along with most of the other robots, look up to and idolize Bigweld (Mel Brooks), the friendly, helpful leader of the corporation that makes all of the robot parts. Rodney decides to invent something and show it to Bigweld, so he goes to Robot City to try and meet him. However, Bigweld has become reclusive and the company's been taken over by Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), an evil robot. Rodney's taken under the wing of Fender (Robin Williams), a bum of a robot, and his friends, who include a smattering of pseudo-celebrity voices. Rodney has to go find Bigweld, stop Ratchet and his evil plans, and go deeper into an amazingly animated world.
Animation's basically staying the same these days. Ever since Toy Story, studios have gone with the "if it ain't CGI, don't make it" strategy, and it's seemed to hold up well box office-wise. Robots is a CGI animated film. And it's not as groundbreaking animation-wise as, say, Shrek was. But the sheer complexity of the film completely overwhelmed me. There are a few sequences that are just breathtaking, such as the public transportation in Robot City and Bigweld's dominoes. During those scenes, you just think to yourself, "Why aren't other movies this fun?" And that's all Robots is-fun. It's a simple movie that can be enjoyed by kids and adults. Not only can everyone enjoy the visuals, but the script (by those bad boys of comedy Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) has both adult and child humor (such as "making a baby" and the onslaught of fart noises, respectively).
People have also said that Robin Williams adds a lot to the comedy, which is a total lie. Williams has been going downhill ever since his magnum opus Mrs. Doubtfire, and Robots is here to prove it. Williams seems to just keep on talking and talking without really knowing what he's saying, and most of it isn't funny. Luckily, there's an amazing supporting cast to pick up his pieces. Although McGregor's accent comes and goes, there's Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent (playing a woman), Brooks, Amanda Bynes (although I'm not sure if that's an asset to the movie...her lines just seemed embarrassing), Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Giamatti, Kinnear, Stanley Tucci, Dianne Wiest, Harland Williams...the list goes on. The superb cast really adds a lot to the movie. They play off of the animation, and the combination works really well.
Have I any complaints, you ask? I would have liked to have seen more, but it's an animated movie, not Apocalypse Now. Also, at the end, there's the obligatory huge dance scene at the end. If there's a more blatant rip off of Shrek's unnecessary dance scene, I haven't seen it. Still, though, Robots is a true family movie, something we haven't seen for a long time.
My rating: 8/10 Rated PG for some brief language and suggestive humor.