Ewan MacGregor provides the voice of Rodney Copperbottom in “Robots,” the 2005 release about a world where everything is robotic and to stay healthy, you need to upgrade. Rodney is an inventor and has big dreams of traveling to the city and meeting his idol, Bigweld, possibly the greatest inventor of all time. Rodney wants to work in Bigweld’s factory and help him make life better for robots everywhere. He says goodby to his parents and begins his journey, full of optimism.
That optimism is soon crushed when he arrives at Bigweld Enterprises and is told by the gate guard that he can’t enter. Bigweld is not available and won’t be, and besides, they aren’t hiring. Rodney is disappointed but not crushed. He decides to find a way to sneak into the building, only to be thwarted in that as well.
However, he discovers that Bigweld hasn’t actually been to the office for some time, and things are now being run by Rachet (Greg Kinnear), a cranky and hard-hearted bot who believes that shinier is better, and that everyone should buy all new parts instead of fixing the ones they already have. This will make Bigweld Enterprises a lot of money, and since he is now running the company, that wealth will be his.
Rodney teams up with a group of ragtag robots he meets on the street and they devise a plan – they have to tell Bigweld what’s going on. With his best friend Fender (Robin Williams) at his side, Rodney crashes the Bigweld Ball, only to find that Bigweld didn’t bother to show up there, either. Something is terribly wrong. With the help of Cappy, a pretty bot who works for the corporation, Rodney goes to see Bigweld, to find that the inventor has all but given up on life. No one needs inventions any more, he sorrows, but when Rodney explains what Rachet is up to, he manages to get Bigweld (Mel Brooks) out of his funk and into action.
This movie features some amazing special effects, pushing the previous bounds of computer animation. Robin Williams provides comic relief, as does Drew Carey in his lesser role.
I have to admit, though, that I didn’t love this movie. I thought it was amusing, but the plot is rather sinister and I didn’t feel that the comedy offset that darkness quite enough. Maybe it’s because I’m not mechanically inclined; I don’t know. But my kids love it.
This film is rated PG for mild peril.
Related Blogs: