Robots

Rating PG Formats DVD Genre animated Starring Featuring the voice talents of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey and Robin Williams Directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha Publisher Twentieth Century Fox Home Video External Links Official Site

Blue Sky, the animation studio that brought us the enjoyable Ice Age, has returned with its second full-length feature film, Robots. While the stars of Ice Age were talking prehistoric animals filled with wit, sarcasm and offbeat wackiness. Robots is an entirely different world! It's a futuristic and gadgety environment overflowing with talking...robots...that are filled with wit...sarcasm...and...uhh...offbeat wackiness (it's the standard character template for all American animated family flicks! What do you expect?!!)

Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) is a small town robot that with big dreams of becoming a distinguished inventor, just like his hero, Bigweld (Mel Brooks). With the blessing of his parents (a dishwasher and the robotic Betty Homemaker), Rodney leaves to town and heads to off to Robot City, where he hopes to meet Mr. Bigweld and make his dream a reality! When Rodney arrives at the big city, he learns that Bigweld has disappeared and his company has been taken over by Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), a greedy corporate slime who plans to "outmode" every robot in the world by destroying all available spare robot parts, leaving only expensive and sleek upgrades that very few Robots can afford. With the help of a few friends, such as the wacky screwball Fender (Robin Williams) and the spunky Piper (Amanda Bynes), Rodney hopes to find the missing Bigweld and halt Ratchet's dreadful scheme before every robot becomes a heaping pile of scraps!

Like all of these digitally animated films, Robots is a true feast for the eyes! The movie's world and its characters are colorful, imaginative and full of personality! The film soundtrack, provided by The Blue Man Group, is an innovative musical treat filled with the "bell and whistle" sounds that we all associate the high-tech industry with. The voiceovers are well done, as they not only give the characters a voice, they also run hand-in-hand with the facial expressions, gestures and mannerisms of each robot. Robin Williams, making his first full-length voiceover in ten years, shows us why he is one of the best at this tricky craft.

With all this positive gloat, you would think that Robots is a breakthrough in animated films. Umm...not quite While its visual and audio mechanics are sweet candy for its eyes and ears, it contains a narrative and a brand of humor that has been seen in almost every full-length animated film that has been released in the past several years (Shark Tale ,Valiant, Shrek 2). You know the type, filled with childish fart jokes and pop culture references taken from other mediums of entertainment. I was actually expecting robotic versions of Brittany and K-Fed to pop up, concluding the film with some choreographed dance routine featuring all the characters in the film. The references were fun during Shrek and Monsters Inc. initial runs but now its gotten to point where it seems that these ideas are copied and thrown together from a cook-cutter assembly line!

However, its an animated film designated for a general family audience; to pan it for its lack of deep characterization and originality is unfair. Films like this are designated to make the audience laugh, cheer the good guys, jeer the villains and leave the theater feeling happy. In that concept, Robots succeeds. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this film. I laughed, hell, I even cried a little!!

What DVD for an animated film is complete without oodles of special features?! Unsurprisingly, Robots is crammed with enough extras to please both youngsters and animation fanatics! Included is an animated Robots short entitled "Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty". You also get 2 commentary tracks, one from the filmmakers and a technical track from the Blue Sky group. You also get deleted scenes, interactive robot profiles, a featurette centering on the Blue Man Group's brilliant soundtrack, interactive games, a demo for the Robots XBox video game and a sneak peak at Ice Age 2!! Its enough to keep any kid (or adult) satisfied for hours!!!

Yes, Robots is very run-of-mill when it comes to story but its an entertaining one that looks very pretty!! And with a boatload of DVD supplements, this film is enough to make any kid smile on Christmas Day!