Robots

I'll admit that I did not want to see this. I thought the trailers were utter crap. I mean I saw too many robot movies when this first came out. I thought I would only stick with I, Robot, but I was forced to see this. I was pleasantly surprised how good this was, so I bought the DVD.

This is about a robot named Rodney Coperbottom. He decides to go to the city to show off this invention to the famous Mr. Bigwald. Unfortunately, Bigwald is out of business and in order to get to him, he must face some evil corporate execs.

This film featured a magnificent voice cast noticeably Robin Williams. I could recognize his voice in about anything, even in Happy Feet.

The animation is good, nothing special. This is a good film to have the kids watch. I rate this film 8/10.

I don't think that (with the notable exception of one thread here on IMDb) this movie gets enough credit. The animation was darn good, and the humor had me laughing an awful lot. As a comedy this certainly hit the spot. I think if you enjoyed Ice Age, you could certainly find yourself enjoying this film as well.

Sure, as some have pointed out the "characters weren't really developed" and "there were a lot of characters involved". *shrug* Who cares? I didn't sit down to watch this expecting to have a well-written Shakespeare play acted out before me. I sat down expecting to enjoy myself, laugh, and forget about the world around me (for the time being, at least). This movie gets a check in all three columns.

I attended an advance screening for this film with my daughter and her friend (both 3). They enjoyed it, but I think older kids will be much more into it. There was also a lot of humor that will be appreciated by adults. I have seen all the computer animated films of recent years(Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Nemo, etc.) and I feel this one ranks up there with the best. This movie is visually stunning. The robot world created for this movie is unbelievable. There are some pinball like sequences that I found fascinating (Rube Goldbergesque for the older folks). This movie is quite funny. I am usually not a big Robin Williams fan, I find that he can be too in your face and distracting. That really was not the case in this film. The plot of Robots was good, but I did not walk out of the theater talking about the story lines. It was all about the visuals.

'Robots' is an entertaining animated film that is both funny and delightful. The animation is wonderful and has its own style. Even though it's not exactly of the Pixar quality, that actually works for the film especially with the motions. Colour has also been impressively used. The robot world is spectacular to watch. The designing is brilliant e.g. the train station and robot city.

It includes a huge impressive ensemble of voice actors (sadly most of the cast is wasted) but not all the actors were efficiently used and many suffer due to poor character development. Ewan McGregor and Robin Williams have most of the lines and they do reasonably well.

The film has a soul but the screenplay doesn't stick to the main plot. There are several plot holes and perhaps (as fun as they are) too many characters that lack development. In spite of its flaws, it's very much watchable, especially with the family. It is visually stunning and there are many funny moments, but there's surely something missing. You don't take anything away with you after the film's finished.

Animated movies are usually pretty good but nothing that great to me. However, this one is a "keeper." It gets high marks for all the jokes in here, lots of which are adult-style but not sleazy or filled with sexual innuendos, although there are a few of those, enough to make this PG, not G. However, the vast amount of clever lines is the main attraction here.

Actually, the jokes come so hard and fast, it's hard to keep up with all of them. The visuals aren't gorgeous, as many modern-day animated films have become, but they are interesting. Not only is there a ton of gags to hear, but there are to see, too. You almost have to stop it frame-by-frame to see all the funny stuff penciled in the artwork.

The story couldn't be simpler but it manages you keep your attention and doesn't overstay it's welcome, although I think animated films are more effective it they don't go over 80 minutes. This one is closer to 90.

There is a good message in here, too. Maybe I'm mistaken but what I heard was the idea that just because people might be old, decaying and not as productive for society, it doesn't mean you have to discard them. Life has value and is precious from conception to dying of old age. Amen to that!