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Movie Review - Robots (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha |
| Starring: |
the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, and Robin Williams |
| Rated: |
PG (for some brief language and suggestive humor) |
| Length: |
91 minutes |
| Genre: |
Animation/Family |
| Tagline: |
Repair for adventure! |
| Studio: |
20th Century Fox |
| Website: |
Robots |
| Release: |
March 11, 2005 |
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PLOT
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Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor) is a Robot who also happens to be a young and motivated inventor. His dream
is to work for master inventor Bigweld (Brooks) of Bigweld Industries. So he packs his bags and follows his
dreams to Robot City. However, Rodney soon finds out that Bigweld has been pushed to the background and
Bigweld Industries is now being run by a corporate tyrant named Ratchet (Kinnear) and his mother.
Ratchet's plan is to force robots to buy expensive upgrades. As his new slogan says, "Why be you when you
can be new?" But what about the robots who can't afford upgrades? Well, I'm afraid they're in trouble.
They'll tinker along until finally being turned into scrap metal. Of course Rodney can't let that happen!
So he teams up with Bigweld, Fender (Williams), and others to save the robot world. A stylish but
less-than-satisfying Pixar wannabe ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Robots isn't a bad movie. It's just not a particularly exciting or compelling one. Maybe I'm just a
bit burned out on all these "stick-to-your-dreams" kid movies. After about the 32nd one within a 12-month
period, it starts to get a little old. Or you know, maybe I'm just getting bored with all of the Pixar
clones that favor style over substance. What's great about Pixar is it knows how to combine slick visuals
with fun, engaging stories (The Incredibles, Toy Story, etc.).
The problem with the clones is they sacrifice a good story for big name actors, the hippest of the hip-hop
songs, flatulence jokes galore, and really bad puns. Lots of 'em. Come on, Britney Gears? Seriously?
I can handle bad puns every now and then, but they're absolutely relentless here. One robot is called Aunt
Fanny who has a really huge robot butt. Of course, that means we're treated to a firing line of puns such
as, "He's been rear-ended," "Say hello to my dimpled friend," etc. It felt as if somebody was given a random
pun generator for Christmas and just couldn't use it enough.
Some viewers, particularly the children, won't be bothered by all this. So if you can look past the cheap,
gimmicky humor, then there are indeed some fun moments to behold. The robot world is visually remarkable,
and there are several fast-paced scenes that are the CGI equivalent of Mouse Trap, pinball, and tumbling
dominoes that you can't help but enjoy.
My favorite scene was the huge battle near the end of the movie. It actually shows signs of ambition, paying
homage to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and others. But once the action slows down and the story comes into
focus, the movie loses its steam. I even noticed that younger kids were starting to get restless at various
points in the movie. Whenever a robot would bust out a monologue about the importance of striving for your
goals I'd close my eyes and slowly drift off into dream world. Closing my eyes also allowed me the chance
to say a quick prayer asking that Robin Williams' voice would be gone by the time I opened them back up.
Alas, God wasn't granting a positive answer to that prayer on this day.
After the movie, I asked my 10-year-old brother what he thought and he responded, "It was good. It
wasn't very funny though." I agree, but I was kind of surprised he didn't think it was too funny.
So I asked him why he liked it. He replied, "Well, it was just kind of fun to watch. It looked cool.
Son of the Mask was funnier though." Ouch. Absorb that for a
moment.
My little bro makes some good points. The movie isn't all that funny (unless you just can't get enough of
that good old fashioned robot fart humor), and the story isn't engaging, but it's kind of cool to look at.
Robots is the movie equivalent of the cute dumb girl you knew in high school who couldn't carry a
conversation. Sure, they're both pretty, and they're pleasant on the eyes, but when you listen closely to
the narrative you realize the substance just isn't there.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- If you've seen the trailer then you know that it's now official: there's no limit to how much The Who will
sell out.
- Robin Williams is quite possibly the most annoying man on the planet.
- Ewan McGregor was in Nightwatch with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This is family safe all the way. Some parents might find the fart jokes a wee bit crude, but that's about as
bad as it gets.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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*shrugs* The trailer didn't do much for me. It gives you a good idea of what to expect from the movie though.
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THE GIST
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Robots will be loved by lots and lots of kids, and plenty of adults will enjoy it as well. I,
however, was only moderately entertained. Try to make it a matinee if you can because while this is a movie
that visually looks great, when held up to the light of Pixar's achievements, you can see that it doesn't
shine anywhere near as bright.
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