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DVD Robots (Widescreen Edition)
The delightful designs of William Joyce (writer/illustrator of such popular children's books as George Shrinks and Bently & Egg) make Robots a joy to behold. The round, bouncy, and ramshackle forms of hero Rodney Copperbottom and his computer-animated friends are part of an ornate and daffy
Fender providing assistance.
Rube-Goldberg universe of elaborate contraptions and gleaming metallic surfaces. Rodney (voiced with a hint-of-Scottish lilt by Ewan McGregor) is a young inventor who sets off for Robot City to work for Big Weld (Mel Brooks), the supreme inventor of the mechanical world. But upon his arrival, Rodney discovers that Big Weld has disappeared, and the slick, shiny Ratchet (Greg Kinnear, As Good As It Gets) is phasing out the spare parts that lumpen robots need to function and replacing them with "upgrades"--expensive and glistening new exoskeletons. Unfortunately, from this suitable beginning, the story degenerates into a series of action sequences that make very little sense, though some are kinetic and fun (though others are only there to serve the inevitable Robots video game). Most kids will enjoy the sheer visual pleasure of the movie, but compared to the narrative richness of Pixar movies like The Incredibles and Toy Story, that pleasure is pretty short-lived. Also featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and many, many more. --Bret Fetzer
DVD Features
Jennifer Coolidge returns as the voice of Aunt Fanny in a mildly amusing new short, "Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty," which allows her to again be the butt of the joke. Fans of the characters will enjoy both a 17-minute discussion of the robots' creation as well as profiles of 11 of the bots, including early, almost unrecognizable conceptual sketches and brief interviews with the voice cast. The original short is fairly dull, and of the three deleted scenes, the most finished is an extended version of Rodney's initial meeting with Tim at the gate. One other is in sketch form only but does preserve another performance by Robin Williams. The kids' games are pretty good. There's a dancing robot that will perform eight routines on command or in random order. A memory game has a bit of replay value, and the build-a-bot segment takes some thought and investigation. The Xbox demo is a nifty little diversion that transforms one element (the transport-pod race) of the full-length, single-player Xbox game into a frenetic one- to four-player free-for-all.
In their commentary track, director Chris Wedge and producer-inspiration William Joyce have to remind each other to stop patting themselves on the back, but it is interesting to hear them talk about old games such as Mousetrap that played a part in developing the film. (Wedge's frequent references to a possible "director's cut" might not seem like a joke to DVD buyers who have gotten tired of DVD rereleases.) The commentary track by the Blue Sky technical team might be better, offering insights into the characters and the creation of the film without lapsing into too much techie-speak. --David Horiuchi
I don't know about other towns, but where I live, the malls were plastered with "Robots" placards, banners, posters, and cardboard cutouts, always a sign that the studio may be a little nervous about a product which may not sell itself well. Throw enough publicity at even the worst film, the reasoning goes, and you'll get at least a few suckers who will be lured into the theatres.
Not by choice, I was subjected to this film --- what a surprise, it was as contrived & calculated as I suspected it would be. It should hardly come as a shock that it turned in a mediocre box office performance.
Visually, it is slick enought, but isn't that the case with just about all CGI films these days. Big deal. Most of the performances were pretty much phoned in --- the only one that really stands out is Robin Williams', and that is only because that manic schtick is really getting old and annoying. The movie is noisy, overproduced, and pointless. For all of the noise & pizzazz, the kids were generally disengaged and when asked later how they liked it, gave a shrug of their shoulders in response.
All in all, a real dud of a film that will largely be forgotten in only a few years' time.
20th Centuary Fox returns with Robots
In 2002, 20th Century Fox released Ice Age starting Ray Romano. And look who else is making a comeback to animation, Robin Williams, the last animated movie that he did that was in theatres was 1992's Aladdin, even through at the time of making thier was problems between him and Disney, he returned as the voice of the Genie in the 3rd and final chapter of the Aladdin series, that was a direct to video release.
Robots has the same team that directed Ice Age, Carlos Saldanha & Chris Wedge, whom started animating this movie after the release of Ice Age. And I haven't heard of an animated movie being planned by 20th Centuray Fox for 2008, so it could be a while before we see another animated movie from them.
The movie opens with Mr. Copperbottom (Stanley Tucci) with news that he and his wife Mrs. Copperbottom (Dianne Wiest) are expecting a son. But he arrives late for the delievery, which is not a doctor that is over at the house. And soon comes their son they name Rodney, who soons notices TV-personality Mr. Bigweld (Mel Brooks) , but of course at first he doesn't know who is, but becomes a fan, and since he has his own company. Rodney (Ewan McGregor) even showx up at his dad's work, with a new invention, which causes a problem with his dad's boss (Lowell Ganz). Which leads Rodney decide to go to Robot City, to meet and show his invetion to his hero Mr. Bigweld, and even with an little engourment, even against his own mother's wishes. Whiel there he meets Fender (Robin Williams) even when he is trying to get directions to Mr. Bigweld's factory. But it seems like the gate guard (Paul Giamatti) won't let Rodney in, even after qutie a roller coaster trip to get thier. It aslo looks like Phineus T. Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) has replaced him, and his Mom's (Jim Broadbent) idea to get rid of Mr. Bigweld, and have the town's robots parts from being fix, and more of an upgrade.
3.5; proof that visuals don't always equal good movie
There seems to be 2 camps when it comes down to CGI animated films: Pixar, and everyone else. Those everyone elses' include Dreamworks(Shrek, Madagascar, Antz) and Blue Sky(this film, Ice Age). Looking at the last camp, it clearly shows they're still not at the level as Pixar, simply because the latter companies try to hard to be funny and charming. Their films are practically littered with pop culture references and puns. Well Pixar had that Jurassic Park parody in Toy Story 2 or Raiders of the Lost Ark in Toy Story 1 right? True, but at least it had other things as well. Here it's just one gag/pop culture reference after another and it becomes thin.
Rodney is a robot who wants to be an inventor, like his hero Bigweld of Bigweld Industries. When he goes to Robot City, he finds that not only does Bigweld Industries not accept inventors anymore, they actually don't even have Bigweld run the place. So Rodney is shut out and meets a ragtag group of robots. And you guessed it, he must make everyone band together to stop the corporation.
Now, if it seems like there's a certain "I've mentioned this kind of plot before" tone in my voice, well then you guessed right. Having a loner group of heroes band together against more stronger enemies has been done before but it's for the kiddies but if you're a kid, you'll most likely like this movie, if you're an adult, you might.
If there's one thing you can count on with animated films is great visuals and of course Robots look great. The images and colors are sharp, robots are really detailed and when they do that rising shot that reveals Robot City you're like "wow". And this is true throughout the film as well.
Look at the cast list for Pixar films: Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Dave Foley, Richard Kind, Allison Janney and Sarah Vowell. Half of those you can't even figure out where they're from right? We'd actually have to tell you where they're from and you go "ohhhhh right!" Well anything non-Pixar is essentially a who's-who of Hollywood talent. Look at this cast list: Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Drew Carey, Albert Brooks, Greg Kinnear. Jeez, it's like that Live Aid charity single on film. Personally a standout was Amanda Bynes, not only for being cute in general but for actually being a bit beyond just a "wow is that actually Halle Berry doing a voice?"
If you're a kid, you'll love it. If you're an adult, you might like it. And mixed reactions if you're an adult with kids but it'll do its job: keep kiddies entertained for hour and a half.
After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant, filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Holly Hunter - Samuel L. Jackson - Jason Lee - Craig T. Nelson DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Ending the most popular film epic in history, Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith is an exciting, uneven, but ultimately satisfying journey. Picking up the action from Episode II, Attack of the Clones as well as the animated Clone Wars series, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), pursue General Grievous into space after the droid kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
The Star Wars Family Tree (click for larger image)
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Co-written by the team of David S.... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Christopher Nolan DVD Release Date: Released the 18 October 2005 This item is currently not available.
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When a shark accidentally clobbers himself, a small fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith, I, Robot) just happens to be around, prompting everyone to believe that he killed the shark himself. This lie soon makes Oscar a celebrity, worshipped by the general mass of fish, wooed by a glittering golddigger (Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted), missed by his best friend (Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain)--and hunted by the godfather of great whites (Robert De Niro, Goodfellas). Can a vegetarian shark named Lenny (Jack Black, School of Rock) get Oscar out of this mess? The formulaic story of Shark Tale never reaches the giddy heights of Pixar's output (Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story) or the freewheeling comedy of Shrek,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Will Smith - Robert De Niro - Renée Zellweger - Angelina Jolie Director(s): Rob Letterman - Vicky Jenson - Bibo Bergeron DVD Release Date: Released the 08 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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