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Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2005 | ||
What do you think of this story? | Robots: Not Incredible, but goodYou can shine, no matter what youre made of. Thats the overall message of the new, computer animated film, Robots, and its not a bad one to present to the kids. Unfortunately, there isnt a lot more there. Its pretty to look at and there are laughs or, more accurately put, chuckles, but the movie leaves something to be desired. The plot focuses on the travel of young inventor Rodney Copperbottom from his small town to the big city. Rodney wants to meet Mr. Bigweld, the greatest robot ever and an inventor himself, but soon finds out that Bigweld is missing and the robot leading Bigweld Industries is Ratchet, an unscrupulous executive that wants to see outmoded robots destroyed. Rodney meets up with a number of outmodes, befriending one named Fender (Robin Williams) in particular. Rodney fixes the robots when they no longer can get parts and goes on a mission to find Bigweld and put a stop to Ratchets dastardly plans. He is helped by Fender and his friends and Cappy (Halle Berry), an employee of Bigweld Industries. There are plenty of wonderful action sequences including the Rube Goldbergesque travel system in Robot City, a chase scene featuring a rolling Bigweld and a battle royale in the chop shop of Mrs. Gasket (thats Ratchets mom and the true evil fueling the plot). There is also a lot of humor in the details of the movie. Be sure to read every sign and package for a plethora of jokes. The vocal performances range from the brilliant (Stanley Tucci as Rodneys dad, Paul Giamatti as Tim, the gatekeeper and Jim Broadbent as Mrs. Gasket) to the mediocre (Berry and Amanda Bynes). In fact Berry and Bynes characters are one of the bigger problems I had with the film. Cappy is apparently Rodneys love interest but we never really see why this is so. The filmmakers seem to assume that we will just believe that it should be. I know it is an animated film aimed at kids but there is no rhyme or reason to it. What makes it worse is that Bynes character, Piper, likes Rodney and there is no explanation of why it is just a crush. For his part, Rodney doesnt seem interested in either of them and that would be fine if the filmmakers werent so concerned with making sure we know that Cappy is Rodneys girl. Another problem is Fender. Williams performance ranges rapidly back and forth from funny to annoying and most of the time it stays on annoying. Some have compared this performance to the one in Aladdin, but its not even close. This one lacks the heart and it shows. It also smacks of being too pop-culture savvy and that brings me to my final complaint. Why are there Britney Spears and Chingy songs in this movie? Its not set on Earth, so why do we need 21st century pop songs? For me, it took me out of the moment and it happened repeatedly. Its the same problem with the Shrek movies. You didnt hear Splish Splash in Finding Nemo, did you? In the pantheon of computer generated movies, Robots falls somewhere in the middle. It is no Antz, but it is also well short of Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. It is amusing and kids, with less discriminating tastes than mine, will love it.
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