Robots | | Cast : | Halle Berry, Mel Brooks | | Director : | Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox Home Video | | Format : | Animated, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | March 11, 2005 | | DVD Released Date : | September 27, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | (3.5 STARS) No Groundbreaking Work, But Visually Beautiful | Content
 | If you remember Chris Wedge's previous work 'Ice Age,' you know what I am trying to say. Like that enjoyable animation film, his new film 'Robots' offers striking visuals, but no orignal story. Having said that, I find 'Robots' very entertaining.
The film begins when a new member arrives to the Copperbottoms family. Actually, a robot boy is literally 'delivered' to them, and after long toilsome 'labor' our hero robot Rodney is born.
The situation is surely corny, but let's wait for a while. The film barely succeeds in concealing that fact by giving some silly sight gags when Rodney grows up (yes, he grows ... don't ask me how) to be an amateur inventor. Aspiring to be 'somebody' Rodney (voiced by Ewen McGregor without Scottish accent) goes to the big city called 'Robot City' where he thinks he can meet THE greatest inventor Doctor Bigweld (voiced by Mel Brooks).
Actually, as you know, what Rodney finds there turns out different. Instead of seeing his dream come true, Rodney is treated bad (especially by the annoying guard voiced by Paul Giamatti). Broken-hearted Rodney meets new friends there, one of whom is Fender (Robin Williams in his fast-talking mood), who gives some funny slapstick gags using his own body.
Two things are memorable. One of them is the film's visuals. The color texture of the robots (including their nuts, screws, even the shadows) are realized with delicate touch, and the long shot showing the big city is simply beautiful. Other great thing about the film is its voice cast, which includes, besides the players named above, Halle Berry, Drew Carey, Greg Kinnear, Jay Leno, James Earl Jones, Jennifer Coolidge, Diane Wiest, Stanley Tucii, Dan Hedaya, Natasha Lyonne, and Jim Broadbent. Some of them appear, however, very short -- James Earl Johns as phone booth, for instance -- so do not miss their voices.
The jokes are not particualry new, and some of them are too tired, gross, or sexual, I am afraid, for the kids. But still 'Robots' remains delightful to see throughout. Not a gorundbraking effort, but entertaining nonetheless. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 28, 2005 | | Summary | An Unforgetible Classic!!! | Content
| My Dad and I saw this and laphed our heads off! Go buy this, it rocks!!!
Awsome cast, it's perfect!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 12, 2005 | | Summary | Stinks. | Content
| This movie was the worst cartoon CGI film ever. IT had such a promising cast and crew. I mean Ice Age was hysterical. This was terrible. I mean who would of thought. It had MEl BROOKs. Who can beat that. IT looked funny from the trailer it looked like robin williams was going to be let loose. NOt the case. If it's in a second run theater and you're going to see it spare yourself your money. AND if you buy movies just cause they look good save yourself that money. This stinks. It's a load of horseStinking bugs. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 03, 2005 | | Summary | Just fantastic | Content
| Animation is a hot genre these days, thanks to the phenomenal success of Pixar's multi-million dollar blockbusters "Toy Story," "Monsters, Inc," and "Finding Nemo," and DreamWorks' "Shrek." These studio giants have opened the door for other, smaller companies like Blue Sky Studios to release innovative and high-quality movies, such as their first film, "Ice Age" in 2002, and their new, more ambitious endeavor, "Robots."
Visually, "Robots" is stunning, both in the look of the world and the creativity of its inner workings. The colors are vivid and the setup is ripe with potential for visual gags. The first half hour of the film is especially entertaining, beginning with Rodney's "delivery" as a baby. In the robot world, babies are delivered in boxes and are put together like children's toys at Christmas.
The characters, led by an all-star cast of distinctive voices, are fun too, especially Broadbent's deliciously evil Madame Gasket and Williams's high-energy Fender, though I thought Williams could have been given more screen time and more freedom to improvise.
The film's only weak spot, if you can call it that, is in its overzealousness to please. At times, there are so many visual elements, action sequences and gags going on at once, it feels as though we have no time to breathe. But, I applaud the creators for their passion for the project. I'd much rather see a studio go too far with its enthusiasm than not far enough. The film's storyline, too, could have been a bit more complex, but kids will love it, and parents will appreciate the complexity of the visual world in exchange for what it might be lacking in story. Overall, this film is a joy to watch, primarily because its cup runneth over with creativity and delight. It's obvious the creators put a lot of time and soul into it, and it paid off-- in spades.
It's exciting, too, to see this level of animation coming more frequently to the big screen. Pixar sparked a new interest in animation with its release of "Toy Story" in 1995, and has bred an entire generation of animation lovers over the past decade with its subsequent blockbusters. This trend, in turn, has given companies like Blue Sky Studios, Fox, DreamWorks, and others an audience hungry for more of what they have to offer - and they are only too happy to deliver.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 28, 2005 | | Summary | Awesomely funny | Content
| The thing I like best about robots is its originality. You keep seeing new computer animated movies coming out and they're either copied ideas from previous ones, or they're just plain not funny. Or both. Shark Tale, to name one. The Incredibles had enough action and stuff in it to make up for the lack of belly-shaking humor, but it still could've been better.
Robots has some hilarious sequences in it. Namely, Rodney and Fenders armpit moment, in which everyone in the house joins in *most memorable line* - "Aunt Fanny, we were using our ARMS!!!" Another sequence that made me split was Fender's dance moment. The idea of Robin William's robot wearing a small skirt and dancing is funny enough; combine it with Britney Spears' hit Baby One More Time and you've got serious funniness.
All in all, robots rates right up there with Shrek and Finding Nemo. Every family should own it. |
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