Robots: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

In an animated movie, anything is possible. Do it right and a film about two damp dishrags headed straight for the wringer could be the main squeeze of the year--so long as there is a spark between them, a personality within them, a compelling story behind them.

The tricky thing about today’s computer-animated movies is that the temptation is always there to push the terabyte into overload.

There are obvious dangers to that. If a director is too seduced by the visuals to focus on what really matters--the characters, their relationships, the stories that bind them--the film’s soul can be lost.

That was the case in “The Polar Express” and it’s now the case in “Robots,” a technically fine-looking yet dull-as-drill bits movie whose busy animation creates 90 minutes of chaos onscreen.

As directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha from a script by Lowell Ganz, David Lindsay-Abaire and Babaloo Mandel, the film begins with the hopeful young robot Rodney Copperbottom (voice of Ewan McGregor) leaving his quaint hometown of Rivet to become an inventor in Robot City, a sprawling metropolis that makes Manhattan look like prairie land.

The hand-me-down son of a robot dishwasher, Rodney has something to prove, all right, but the good news is that he has the goods to backup his dreams.

He’s a talented visionary who wants to become as great an inventor as his idol, Big Weld (Mel Brooks). But with the evil Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) undermining all at every turn, Rodney finds himself in a pinch. Ratchet plans to rid the world of old robots made of spare parts, which includes Rodney, his family, all of Rodney’s friends, and millions of others ‘bots. What to do?

Let’s just say that when it comes to these buckets of bolts, someone is going to get screwed.

For kids, a worthwhile message is tucked within “Robots”--you can shine no matter what you’re made of. But this doesn’t turn out to be true for the film, which is made of a similar computer code that created the superior “The Incredibles,” “Monster, Inc.,” “Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story.” It’s nowhere near their levels of excellence.

There isn’t a moment in the movie when the dense visuals aren’t overwhelming the already thin story, which itself borrows too liberally from “The Wizard of Oz,” “Metropolis,” “Star Wars” and other films. As such, it struggles to mine an identity of its own. The brassy animation, while intricate, is pure overkill, computer-generated oneupsmanship that gets in your face and slaps it.

With the story and characters caught in cliché hell, the kids at my packed screening weren’t exactly riveted to the screen. Their noninterest was palpable. Most squirmed, some wandered the aisles, others spoke throughout. And who can blame them? Watching “Robots” is like watching someone else play a video game--for awhile, you’re enchanted by the graphics, but once the weak gameplay reveals itself, all interest is lost.

Grade: C-