Robots

In 2002, Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha co-directed “Ice Age,” a nice animated movie that was about prehistoric animals among them being a wooly mammoth, a sloth and saber-toothed tigers. They joined together in 2005 on another CGI family film that is set in the future about a society that is filled with robots.

The filmmakers brought together a talented cast of voice actors for the animated characters that include Halley Berry, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, Dianne Wiest, the late Robin Williams, James Earl Jones, and Greg Kineear. The movie also has the different voices of famous character actors Paul Giamatti, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Coolidge, Ewan McGregor, and Dan Hedaya, along with popular TV celebrities Drew Carey, Amanda Bynes, Al Roker, Jay Leno, Carson Daly, D.L. Hughley, Jamie Kennedy, Conan O’Brien and Terry Bradshaw.

Kam Williams said in his review, “Out of the cacophony of all these colorful accents competing for attention, it is Robin Williams' trademark stream-of-consciousness which emerges as the driving force for the film. In accordance with the current formula for animated films made for children, the hero is on an epic journey accompanied by a scene-stealing, wisecracking sidekick.” “Shrek” had Eddie Murphy as the friendly donkey, “Finding Nemo” had Ellen DeGeneres as the fish with short-term memory loss, “The Emperor’s New Groove” had David Spade as a llama, Billy Crystal did the same type of role in “Monsters’ Inc.,” and Will Smith was in “Shark Tale” (a movie I have never seen).

The story beings in Rivet Town where a creative robot named Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor), inspired by his hero, Bigweld (Mel Brooks), says goodbye to his parents, and leaves to Robot City to find work as a trainee at Bigweld’s factory.

What Rodney doesn’t know is that Phineas T. Ratchet, voiced by Greg Kinnear, has gotten complete control of the company from Bigweld, in order to plan out an evil scheme to get a lot of money by no longer making spare robot parts. Necessary upgrades, instead of repairs, will be disastrous for most of the older robot population.

Out of a job, Rodney becomes friends with Fender, voiced by the late Robin Williams, leader of the Rusties, a rebel gang that live on the suburbs of town. Williams asks, “Can these almost obsolete mechanical beings team-up to change the course of history before they all end up on the scrap heap?”

Children will love the realistic animation, and their parents will enjoy the references to “The Wizard of Oz,” “Singing in the Rain,” James Bond, “Analyze This,” “Jaws,” and “Road Trip.”

Williams ended his review by noting, “The picture has few product placements, which is a departure from the norm for children's fare. It is welcomed, since we've come to expect children's movies to be laced with cross promotions and sales pitches.”

I remember seeing this in theaters and I can’t remember a movie that I laughed so hard at until “The Lego Franchise.” It was one of the funniest animated movies I had ever seen and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This is a really fun movie for the whole family to watch and enjoy. You should definitely see this and you will love the puns in this film.

Thank you everyone for joining in on “Robots Month.” I hope you enjoyed this and I hope that I made some good recommendations. Check in next month for what I will review next.