Review of Robots (2005) by Timothy S — 20 Mar 2014

The animators over at Blue Sky always put a lot of work into how their films look, and "Robots" is certainly no exception because the film looks great. You can tell by the end credits how much technical work went into the special effects and the film's visual elements, and all of that seems like such a waste when you realize just how empty the rest of the film is.

Three people are given a credit for screenwriting, including the terribly talented Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, but the script feels like an afterthought. The basic story is just that: very basic. The whole thing is littered with painfully obvious jokes about robots "Loosing their bearings" and drinking hot oil instead of coffee, and the entire picture reeks of that kind of banality.

Along with the talented writers, the makers assembled a very impressive list of actors to lend their voices to this dull and slow-moving film. A few of the characters are cute, but everyone is predictably bulldozed by Robin Williams in yet another over-the-top and exhausting performance. He's just as hard to take as a cartoon robot. He consistently steals the thunder from the lead, voiced by Ewan McGregor, and I guess considering how boring McGregor is here, that isn't hard to accomplish.

I guess there's a decent message here about never losing sight of your dreams, but the movie hits you over the head with it until you're numb. None of the robots in the cleverly titled "Robots" are very appealing, and their story isn't worth following either. This simple film absolutely reeks of familiarity.