Robots

views updated

Robots ★★½ 2005 (PG)

Standing in the shadows of Pixar, the makers of “Ice Age” return with this tale of a small-town robot in the big city. Idealistic Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor) travels to Robot City to present his inventions to Big-weld (Brooks), the beloved president of Bigweld Industries. However, Ratchet (Kinnear) and Madame Gasket (Broad-bent) have taken over the company and are forcing old robots to upgrade or perish. Rodney organizes a motley band of rejects, including Williams' predictably schticky Fender, to topple the heartless duo and the outcome is as predictable as it sounds. The CGI work is dazzling (the kitschy character design is the highlight), but the generic story and characters fail to inspire. 91m/C VHS, DVD, UMD . USD: Chris Wedge; W: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, David Lindsay-Abaire; M: John Powell; V: Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, Stanley Tucci, Dianne Wiest, Paul Giamatti, Natasha Lyonne, Lowell Ganz, Dan Hedaya, Jackie Hoffman, James Earl Jones, Harland Williams, Stephen Tobolowsky, Alan Rosenberg, Jay Leno, Terry Bradshaw, Paula Abdul