“Robots” … Not exactly riveting

Make no mistake. This is a movie for children, little children. They are the only ones who will have enough innocence to buy into this tired tale.

And I guess that’s OK. Kids need something shiny to stare at for an hour and a half too, just like bored adults…the ones taking them to this junkheap.

Don’t get me wrong. “Robots” is fun to look at. You can marvel at all the invention and the amusement park ride-like feel of the thing. What you can’t do is sink your teeth into the story. That’s because it’s like ABC gum…already been chewed.

The same formulaic characters from every other sweetly sappy children’s animated feature people Robot City like a bunch of…well…robots. There’s the “plucky young hero in search of adventure” and the “canniving right hand man serving a questionable progress.”

They are joined by Obnoxious Stranger Man, voiced obnoxiously by Robin Williams; and Evil Ugly Crone Woman, voiced by none other than Jim Broadbent. How did they wrangle him into this? Was it his day off? Who knows? It’s one of the movies great mysteries. OK, so it’s not a great mystery. It’s just a mystery that people think this is great.

I just think it’s a giant waste of artistic and technical talent when the computer animation is a thousand times better than the story. “Shrek” managed to bridge the gap between CGI slick kiddy candy and entertaining adult fare. Even “Finding Nemo” did something interesting and memorable with a bunch of sea creatures.

Face it, “Robots” is a script that has been phoned-in from a defunct toy factory. Its heavy-handed moral that everyone should be accepted for what they are is hammered home with the subtlety of a Mack truck. If you like your story spelled out in big, colorful, plastic letters on the front of a shiny, white refrigerator, then go see this movie.

Otherwise, expect the same old thing in a different package. All the energy is put into the way this movie looks, and it looks amazingly real. However, it feels like a puppet show from the future. You can only gawk at the Rube Goldberg machinations so long until the cleverness and creativity give way to boredom and banality.

Yes, this movie is cute and clever. It also happens to be stale and stupid. It just depends on how many films you have seen before it. If the number is less than ten, knock yourself out.