Since I still love cartoons and animated movies, I tend to go see many of the newly released ones. I usually end up renting the ones I don’t go to the theater to see. I first saw a preview for the new movie Robots sometime in 2004 and decided that I wanted to see it. I didn’t make it to see the movie as early as I had wanted, but I did get to see it. I was also happy to see the trailer for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith before the movie.
Rodney Copperbottom was a young robot that dreamed of becoming an inventor. He grew up in Rivet Town with his parents. Herb was a dishwasher, and Rodney wanted to create an invention that would help his dad at work. Rodney decided that he was going to Robot City to show his invention to Bigweld, a robot inventor that owned a company that encouraged inventors. Once in Robot City, Rodney encountered many new things. He met Fender, a very active robot, at the train station, and the two met up again later.
Rodney went to Bigweld’s company only to discover that things had changed there. He had to sneak into a meeting, where Ratchet was conducting a meeting. Bigweld wasn’t around and Ratchet had taken over. He had plans for the company that focused on making huge profits. He decided to stop producing replacement parts so older robots would be forced to buy expensive upgrades to stay running. Fender took Rodney to stay at Aunt Fanny’s where several other older robots were staying. Fender’s younger sister Piper also lived there. Rodney started to fix some of the older robots. He also decided that the wanted to find out what happened to Bigweld. His new friends did what they could to help him. Cappy, a female robot that worked with Ratchet, ended up helping as well. Ratchet found out that Rodney was fixing robots and was very upset about it. He and his mother, Madame Gasket, had other plans for the older robots.
Robots was a fun, entertaining movie, thought the story wasn’t the most original. There have been many movies over the years that have dealt with a character leaving the small town they grew up in to make it in the big city. The characters have some different goals in mind and go through different things, but ultimately the endings to those sort of stories are similar. That part of Robots was predictable, but animated movies are frequently predictable, so I wasn’t that bothered by that. The movie also featured a villain that was trying to rule the lives of many others, a type of character that has been featured in several other movies as well. Rodney and his friends decided to fight the big, evil, corporation, another plot that has been used many times. There were a few sequences that seemed similar to sequences in other animated movies. The only thing that made the movie a little different was that the characters were robots instead of people or even animals. Things about life as a robot were shared, like how they have to assemble a baby, which was interesting.
Robots was funny, though it isn’t the funniest animated movie I have seen. There were several things throughout the movie that made me laugh. Most of the things that made me laugh were things involving Fender, the character that Robin Williams provided the voice for. He was a little over the top a few times, but it did fit with the character. I wasn’t annoyed by him, but some people could be. The little thing that Rodney built to help his father with his job was unique and cute looking. It did make me laugh a little the first time it showed up. Rodney did a few things on his own that were funny, but his funniest moments included Fender. Some of the other robots were also funny, but Fender was the funniest. Some of humor was silly, like Fender ending up with parts from a female robot and then doing a little dance to a Britney Spears song. Some adults could think that the movie is too silly. There were some fart jokes, which seems to be normal anymore for most animated movies, especially since Shrek became so popular. There didn’t seem to be as much of that type of humor in Robots as there has been in some other recent animated movies. Before the movie started, a short cartoon played that featured the little saber toothed looking squirrel from Ice Age. Scrat was once again chasing after a nut in an attempt that didn’t work that well. I loved that cartoon. It was very funny. I laughed harder at that short cartoon than I did at the whole movie. Overall, it was a funny movie, though it did deliver the message that it is all right not to be perfect.
Robots is a computer animated movie. It was made by Fox studios, and directed by the same two men that directed Ice Age, also a movie released by Fox. The animation in Robots was wonderful. Most of the robots had a different, unique look, though some of them were similar. The upgrades that Ratchet was so intent on selling made the robots that had them look very much alike. Some of the other robots that were working with Ratchet looked a lot like Bigweld. Rodney looked like a combination of his parents, though he seemed to share more of his appearance with his father. The robots that were staying at Aunt Fanny’s all looked very different. Piper and Fender were supposed to be brother and sister, but they really didn’t look anything alike. Rivet Town looked like a typical small town. Robot City was very impressive, especially the cross town transportation system. That was very unique and creative. The animation was very well done, though it was missing some of the elements that were very impressive in some of the Pixar movies.
Rodney was the main character in Robots. The movie started out showing him as a baby, and included little snippets of his life as he grew up. He was the most developed character, but there still wasn’t a lot of character development for him. There were really too many characters in the movie for any of them to be developed that much. Herb and his wife were only in a little of the movie. She wasn’t even given a first name. Ratchet was just portrayed as a villain that was focused on getting all robots to buy upgrades. His mother, Madame Gasket, was in a few scenes. She didn’t seem to be very nice. Cappy, the female robot that ended up helping Rodney really wasn’t in much of the movie at all, and she did very little. Of the new friends Rodney made in the city, Fender probably was given the most to do. His younger sister Piper really didn’t add much to the movie at all. Some of the supporting characters could have been eliminated, or maybe combined into one character that had scenes, with no problem since they were given such small parts.
There were several well know people providing the voices for the characters in Robots. It almost seemed like there was an effort to cram as many of them into the movie as possible, which resulted in some of the characters having very little to do. Halle Berry’s character of Cappy really only had a few scenes, and for much of one sequence, she didn’t say much. Amanda Bynes provided the voice for Piper. Drew Carey provided the voice for Crank, one of Rodney’s new friends in the city. Other people that provided voices for minor characters include Jennifer Coolidge, Mel Brooks, Dianne Wiest, and Stanley Tucci. Some other people did the voices for characters that only had a line or two. Greg Kinnear did have a bit more to do with the voice of Ratchet. His voice worked for the character. Jim Broadbent did the voice for Madame Gasket, a female robot. The voice didn’t sound female, but it didn’t really sound male either. It was unique sounding, which really worked for the character. Ewan McGregor and Robin Williams provided the voices for the two characters that probably had the most screen time, Rodney and Fender. They both did fine with their parts, though Fender could seem annoying because of the way Williams did his voice.
CHARACTERS
Rodney Copperbottom - He grew up in a small town and decided to go to the city to become a successful inventor and help his father. Rodney was a bit naive, but he adjusted to life in the city. He was kind and wanted to help others.
Herb and Mrs. Copperbottom - Rodney’s parents. Herb worked as a dishwasher. His wife was a housewife. Herb encouraged his son to follow his dreams.
Fender - A robot that Rodney met in the city. Fender acted a bit crazy at times, but he ended up being a good friend to Rodney.
Piper - Fender’s younger sister.
Bigweld - The robot inventor that Rodney looked up to and hoped to meet in Robot City.
Ratchet - He was a sleek, modern looking robot thanks to an upgrade. He had worked for Bigweld for a long time, and was now in control. He wanted to make more money and came up with the idea of only offering upgrades. He stopped producing replacement parts.
Madame Gasket - Ratchet’s mother. She was involved in something Ratchet was planning. She was very bossy, and seemed to still control her son.
Aunt Fanny - Female robot with a very large backside. Several other older robots were staying with her. She was very nice. She had a crush on Bigweld.
Crank - One of the older robots that lived at Aunt Fanny’s. He ended up helping Rodney with his plan.
Cappy - Female robot that worked with Ratchet. She wasn’t happy with the way Ratchet was planning to take the company. She decided to help Rodney.
VOICE TALENT
Halle Berry - Cappy
Jim Broadbent - Madame Gasket
Mel Brooks - Bigweld
Amanda Bynes - Piper
Drew Carey - Crank
Jennifer Coolidge - Aunt Fanny
James Earl Jones - Voice Box at Store
Greg Kinnear - Ratchet
Jay Leno - Fire hydrant
Natasha Lyonne - Loretta Geargrinder
Ewan McGregor - Rodney Copperbottom
Al Roker - Mailbox
Stephen Tobolowsky - Bigweld Executive/Forge
Stanley Tucci - Herb Copperbottom
Dianne Wiest - Mrs. Copperbottom
Robin Williams - Fender
Chris Wedge - Director
Carlos Saldanha - Co-director
Robots was released in March of 2005. The movie was 91 minutes long and rated PG. There was some suggestive humor in the movie, but I didn’t think there was anything too bad in the movie. The movie really is fine for kids, though really young ones may not stay as interested in the story as older kids would.
I really enjoyed Robots. It was an entertaining animated movie, though I didn’t think it was on the same level as Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., or The Incredibles. People that still enjoy animated movies will probably enjoy it. Children should also like it.
With the help of his misfit mechanical friends, a small town robot named Rodney embarks on the adventure of a lifetime as he heads for the big city to...More at Buy.com
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