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Robots: Frank's Take
01/05/2005 . Source: Frank Ochieng 
Robots are a mechanical mishap, says Frank. Sure, it’s grounded in animated family fun and some tykes will take to it with a sugar-coated natural high. However, adults will be indifferent by its familiar recycled slapstick themes. Although cutesy in its clang-inducing content, Robots lumbers on unlike the well-oiled machine it thinks it is in concept. Buy Robots in the USA - or Buy Robots in the UK  1 hour 30 minutes. 20th Century Fox 2005.Starring Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, Mel Brooks, Greg Kinnear, Halle Berry, Amanda Bynes. Directed by: Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldana.
The computer-animated effects are ambitious and the highly touted voiceover embellishments led by a manic Robin Williams are always a treat to behold. However, this tin can tale shockingly lacks the cohesiveness of a durable script to keep the cylinders rolling along.
Blue Sky Studios is the main operation behind Robots. In fact, this is the source that was responsible for the uneven but entertainingly sweet-hearted Ice Age. Co-directors Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldana’s nuts-and-bolts narrative seems to just “wing it’ without the discipline of an imaginative scripted effort. There’s a rollicking aspect to Robots that sometimes makes its spastic energy an endearing element. But for the other moments, this animated fable carries on aimlessly with its misplaced potty sense of humor. To awkwardly reference The Wizard of Oz, it appears that Robots—much like Oz’s empty-feeling Tin Man—is in search of a reliable heart.
Of course the movie’s setting takes place in a robotic world where we find an aspiring young inventor named Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor) looking to capitalize in the metropolitan area known as Robot City. The idealistic Rodney wants to meet up and work for gracious oddball tycoon Big Weld (Mel Brooks). However, Big Weld isn’t around and Rodney discovers that a crooked and opportunistic company executive named Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) is scheming to shape the corporation in his own diabolical philosophical mode. Basically, Ratchet wants to eradicate all the robots he thinks are a useless distraction and turn them into profitable scrap.
In order to defeat the evil-minded Ratchet, Rodney must locate Big Weld and prevent his empire from crumbling. Along the way, Rodney befriends a garrulous gadget named Fender (Robin Williams). Also, Rodney finds time to warm up to the shapely ‘bot executive named Cappy (Halle Berry) who in return finds his spunk very appealing. As Cappy is shaping up to be the targeted love interest for Rodney, he also has another curvy fem-bot named Piper (Amanda Bynes) whose fancy he has captured suddenly. So the remaining question remains: can Rodney and his fellow ragtag robots find his revered mentor/mogul Big Weld and save his organization from being ruined by the sinister Ratchet?
No doubt there’s a retro opulence about Robots that’s distinctive and refreshing. Still, the overall production feels so remote and flat. The forced and labored laughs are tedious and that is unforgivable coming from veteran scribers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (A League of Their Own, City Slickers). Whereas the spirit and wit from the aforementioned Ice Age flowed effortlessly, Robots noticeably struggles with its clunky convictions. Just because a fantasy is geared mainly toward the impressionable kiddies doesn’t necessarily mean that intelligence and the stimulating storytelling focus has to be at a minimal expectation. This giddy exposition is polished in its nostalgic atmospheric look but has been assembled with the simplistic precision of piecing together a Tonka toy truck.
The inferred gag about metal misfits almost being indistinguishable with their human counterparts is played for an obvious comparison of sorts. As flesh-and-blood beings, how can we be so mechanically unfeeling at times as creatures with absent souls? It’s an inherent message that youngsters of all ages should observe with amusing insight. But because Robots is stiff and formulaic and some of its humorous bits sparingly hit its stride, the movie’s fun-filled intentions are lost amid this disjointed mechanized session. Surprisingly, this staid sci-fi automaton spectacle is conventional in its cavalier concoction pertaining to the usual array of scattered bodily function jokes, etc.
Indeed the casting of voice talent attached to this project is notable based on the artists that participate behind the scenes. Somehow the run-of-the-mill material bogs down the enthusiasm of their vocal contributions. Williams, who set a standard so high previously with his brilliant over-the-top verbal gymnastics in Aladdin, is randomly overwrought here and tries to do too much to manufacture the zany vibes in uplifting this flimsy metal-induced mockery. And one is certain to get their fair share of nutritional robot-related puns and other practical put-ons. In fact, raise your hand if you successfully telegraphed the automatic winking reference in showcasing “The Robot” dance bit? Don’t worry—there is other cringe-worthy silliness where that came from to be had in this clogged comedy.
After viewing the lackluster Robots, you’ll surely have much appreciation for your household appliances that probably would supply more relevant chuckles for your money.
Frank Ochieng
(c) Frank Ochieng
2005 
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