Movie Review

Robots

"Robots" travels down the same conveyor belt as "Shark Tale.? This film, from Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky studios, is shamelessly hacked together from other films, carries a voice talent of over six big stars, and it relies on all the fart jokes and pop culture music it can get its soulless hands onto.

Kids today are getting the short end of the stick, not just because Looney Tune characters are being turned into demonic looking anime characters, but because the wonderful appeals of movies like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast have turned into the voice appeals of Ewan McGregor and Halle Berry. As an example, take the love interest subplot between McGregor's Rodney Copperbottom and Berry's Cappy. The movie merely hints that the two are somehow romantically involved, but it's not because of their chemistry, but because they are voiced by Ewan McGregor and Halle Berry. There is no magic carpet ride sung to "A Whole New World.? There is no incredible ballroom dance as in "Beauty and the Beast.? It?s just two actors being paid to lend their voices to two cartoon robots. How wonderful!

The story to "Robots" is also simplistic enough to go direct to video. Rodney (Ewan McGregor) is a young and idealistic robot living in Rivet City. Having a dishwasher for a father has made it very difficult for him to have the finer things in life, as he is always being given hand-me-down parts instead of new ones. His dream is to go to Robot City and meet Big Weld (Mel Brooks), the head of an invention company. Only that is crushed when he finds out that Big Weld has been run out by Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), a smooth new model robot looking to get rid of all the old model robots to bring in the newer, fresher robot models. Rodney also meets Fender (Robin Williams), an older model robot who, along with his friends, has been subjected to scrounging trash cans and dumpsters for parts. Rodney offers to fix them, to the chagrin of Ratchet who is trying to ground them up into spare parts.

The story offers nothing but the tired concept of believing in yourself, but it doesn't believe in offering us much in terms of comedy. In addition to a bland and sentimental plot, the jokes are mainly about spare parts, robots losing those parts and looking really embarrassed, big booties, breaking into dances to pop culture songs (Britney Spears was the worst example), and, of course, the fart jokes. The movie has a large comic cast that also includes Jennifer Coolidge and Drew Carrey, but they are only as funny as the material, which is stuck in the scrap pile of animated comedy.

If "Robots" has one bright spot, it's the animation. Much like its other animated predecessors, "Robots" makes another beautiful and unique world come alive with its richness of colors and creativity. There's a thrilling action sequence in which Fender and Rodney are placed in a circular cage and are catapulted all around town; it gives you a sense of how clever this movie could have been. Instead, the story is just dull and the jokes are of no help in making it any easier to watch. This proves, like last year's "Shark Tale,? how much better Pixar is at creating not just animated movies, but good movies. That is something that some of these other studios still haven't learned yet; and if this is successful at the box office, don't expect them to learn anytime soon.

Craig's Grade: C

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%