Robots

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Movie Details

• Genre: Animation, Comedy, SciFi/Fantasy
• Release Date: 2005-03-11 Nationwide
• Running Time: 90 min.
• Director: Chris Wedge
• Cast: Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Robin Williams, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Giamatti
• Producer: William Joyce
• Writer: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
• Distributor: 20th Century Fox
• Official Site: Robots Official Site

Given the warp-speed technological improvements that make last year's animation look, well, so last year, it almost goes without saying that this flick's design is spectacular. However, it's not only things like dancing robots with eyes as expressive as a human's or the tin town's elaborate pinball-like mass transit system that make the animation so innovative. The filmmakers pay close attention to the minor details, too, like decorating door frames with gears and bolts and adding a Super Bowl spoof poster--"Rock 'Em Sock 'Em IV"--to the wall of a robot's room. And believe it or not, this kids' movie by director Chris Wedge (Ice Age) has a fairly subversive message: Corporations only out to make money are the real villains, while the once-disposable beings who demand change are the true heroes. Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor) is a hand-me-down robot who dreams of inventing products that will make life more manageable. When Rodney becomes an adult (suspension of disbelief is essential here, since a growing robot is the only unexplained phenomenon), he heads off to Robot City in hopes of working for the rotund national hero, Big Weld (Mel Brooks), an inventor whose company designs cheap parts for even outmoded robots. (Rising health care costs, anyone?) When he gets there, he finds Big Weld has been replaced by a suspiciously shiny Mr. Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), who wants to create expensive upgrades that would turn the outmoded robots into scrap metal. It's an adult theme, for sure, and it might make some corporate hacks (or adult robots?) squirm in their seats. Still, squirming kids and adults alike will love Robin Williams as the goofy Fender and Jennifer Coolidge as the refrigerator-bottomed Big Fanny. And even an emotionless robot is bound to feel a little gushy over the film's theme of courage and empowerment. (Molly Priesmeyer)