Robots (2005)

 

After the immense success of 'Ice Age', the people behind Blue Sky Studios wanted something different. So what we got was 'Robots', a highly colourful and frenetic film that is fun to watch and rewatch, but isn't all that memorable in the long run. Impressive voice cast, though.

Rodney Copperbottom grows up in Rivet Town and has the desire to become an inventor, as he wants to make life easier for other people and especially his parents. He just wants to do good. He invents a little robot who can do very different tasks and wants to present this to Bigweld, a legend among robots who lives in the big city at Bigweld Industries. But once Rodney gets there, it seems that not all is as advertised, as Bigweld is nowhere to be found and the company is now run by Ratchet, who wants to stop producing spare parts and force every robot to upgrade, making a ton of money in the process. But many robots are too poor to afford these upgrades, which is why Ratchet wants them destroyed and scrapped. But Rodney, together with a band of misfits decides to fight back, help the poor bots and look for Bigweld to set things right. 

Kudos to the makers for making everything insanely colourful and fun to watch. Literally anything and everything is shaped like nuts, bolts and other mechanical parts, so the eye for detail is great. Sometimes, not so logical, though: the city transport system makes no sense and even if it's visually stunning, you'd be hard pressed to get how it works as it depends more on luck than anything else. 

Jokewise, it's a bit of a mixed bag. There are jokes that land, but some of them are way too dirty for little kids to understand and some are based on references that get outdated as soon as they are spoken. Robin Williams is wonderful as Fender, but that's all thanks to the talent of the late, great mister Williams.  Other ones, not so much. I never knew fart jokes were a thing when it came to robots, but there you go anyway. Luckily, the balance does shift towards more good jokes than awful ones. 

But storywise? Nothing much to find here. The same can be said for the voice acting. Some people are wonderful (especially a lot of the side characters and Greg Kinnear as Ratchet), but a lot of people are also unbelievably bland. Halle Berry is really flat, and there are several other performances that phone it in just too much. Heck, even our leading man Ewan McGregor doesn't sound that invested half of the time. 

All in all, it isn't horrible and can be used as a lighthearted timewaster, but don't expect something mindblowing. It's okay, nothing more.