Robots (2005)

9.27.2005
First viewing
DVD (Netflix)
Movie: C-
Audio: A-
Video: A-

With the success Pixar has seen, I can't blame every other studio for trying to emulate them. I just wish someone could come close to besting Pixar. Not because I want to see Pixar dethroned, if you will, but because, if every studio turned out computer animated blockbusters like Pixar, we'd have more outstanding movies to watch. Alas, no one has come even close to matching the likes of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. What we get is more bright, shiny movies that lack any real substance. I guess that should be expected from Hollywood...

Robots is a visually stunning movie set in a colorful, metallic world. The creativity applied to the character and set design is first-rate. I sat in front of my TV, open-mouthed, trying to take in all of the visual information. Every minute object was detailed down to the smallest rivet. The characters were surprisingly unique visually. Unfortunately, there was no heart to hold up their colorful exteriors. There wasn't a single character that I liked enough to become attached to. None of them were fun to hate, either, which made the villains surprisingly ineffective.

The story felt like recycled leftovers. "Let's make some fun robot characters, put them in a neato city, and let them cause trouble!" "But, what about the story?" "Oh yeah, I guess we need one of those don't we? Let's see what we have here in the stock-recycled-garbage bin!" It was that bad, really. I mean, aren't we all tired of the "evil management" plots?

The voice acting was decent, I'd just like to hear actors like Paul Giamatti voice a better character, in a better story. I bet this guy could really shine in the right voice-over role. But even the best talent can't overcome shallow characters. Robin Williams comes close. I know he's voiced his fair share of animated characters (none of which will ever top the Genie in Aladdin), buy I never get tired of his performances. He's great in Robots and almost makes his character successful. Almost. He is the source of most of the humor though.

As far as humor, Robots had way to many pop-culture references for me. Those kinds of jokes get old fast. And many of the plays on robots felt forced, like the writers felt they needed a joke at a certain spot, so they inserted the next one on the list. Not that I never laughed, because I did. But the comedy was hit-and-miss, more often than not missing.

On the other hand, the DVD was of very high quality. The DTS audio deftly used the surrounds to great effect. The music was enveloping and well mixed. The video was just shy of jaw-dropping. I saw the occasional shimmer and jagged line, most likely evidence of a low bitrate. Considering how much is crammed on this one disc, I'd imagine that's the case. But overall, Robots was colorful, bright, shiny, and loud. Unfortunately, that's all it was.