Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3157 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-09-19
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The delightful designs of William Joyce (writer/illustrator of such popular children's books as George Shrinks and Bently & Egg) make Robots a joy to behold. The round, bouncy, and ramshackle forms of hero Rodney Copperbottom and his computer-animated friends are part of an ornate and daffy Rube-Goldberg universe of elaborate contraptions and gleaming metallic surfaces. Rodney (voiced with a hint-of-Scottish lilt by Ewan McGregor) is a young inventor who sets off for Robot City to work for Big Weld (Mel Brooks), the supreme inventor of the mechanical world. But upon his arrival, Rodney discovers that Big Weld has disappeared, and the slick, shiny Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) is phasing out the spare parts that lumpen robots need to function and replacing them with "upgrades"--expensive and glistening new exoskeletons. Unfortunately, from this suitable beginning, the story degenerates into a series of action sequences that make very little sense, though some are kinetic and fun (though others are only there to serve the inevitable Robots video game). Most kids will enjoy the sheer visual pleasure of the movie, but compared to the narrative richness of Pixar movies like The Incredibles and Toy Story, that pleasure is pretty short-lived. Also featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and many, many more. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

Synopsis
The pixel-happy production company Blue Sky follows its successful feature ICE AGE with more animated antics in ROBOTS. Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor) is a talented inventor who hopes to make his fortune by moving to Robot City and working among the nuts and bolts of the robotics industry. Rodney fantasizes about building robots for his boyhood hero and master inventor Big Weld (Mel Brooks), but when he meets him, Rodney's dream threatens to turn rusty. Big Weld reveals that his company is now being run by the evil Phineas T. Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), a merciless moneymaker who wants to rid the world of the antiquated robots that clutter up the streets of Robot City. This leaves Rodney's aspirations needing a major oil change, and with little chance of finding work, he feels about as useful as a broken spare part. So he takes to the streets, where he finds some unlikely salvation in a group of robots lead by Fender (Robin Williams). Fender urges Rodney to help save them from the scrap heap, while Ratchet and his company create threatening new policies on robot reconstruction. The ensuing action leads to a breathtaking set of adventures in the futuristic city. A fun, dizzying delight, ROBOTS benefits from the many voices of Robin Williams, who is the perfect comic foil to Ewan McGregor's central character. The special effects are masterfully handled, and the rendering of Robot City is a true sight to behold. A film that should find a broad audience among adults and children alike, ROBOTS is fast-paced animated entertainment at its finest.

Customer Reviews

How many times can you watch the same film?!
Our son borrowed this DVD and loved it so much that he wanted his own copy. Wasn't sure how long he would enjoy it when we bought it but it has been worth every penny and then more. Since then, I've lost count of the number of times he and friends have watched it.

They all love the story, the comic one-liners and the music.

funky
Entertaining cartoon with a bit of a grown up theme about everybody having it in them to shine no matter who they are or what their background. We've progressed from rats, dogs, deer etc to having robots entertain and enlighten. Not a bad idea at all since it allows for some groovy tricks and graphics - imagine all those futuristic movies you watch tailored for kids! That said there are also jokes for us older folk if you read between the lines.

I really enjoyed this movie. It gets 4 stars simply because it doesn't quite match up to some of the spectacular cartoons hitting the screens these days.

Kids animation with a very corporate theme
Robots is a beautifully computer animated movie about... Robots. Basically, the main robot in the story, Rodney (voiced by Ewan McGregor), decides to go to the big city to meet up with his childhood hero, Bigweld (voiced by Mel Brooks), and to get his invention out to the other robots. His invention is basically another robot but this is pretty much a fairy tale anyways, right? Rodney runs into Fender (voiced by Robin Williams) upon his arrival in the big Robot City when Fender tries to take advantage of Rodney and soon after, tries to steal his foot! I guess that is the robot equivalent of stealing shoes by the thieves here in the real world. Little things like that made the movie a unique experience. You can tell that a lot of thought went into the little parts, like the "making the baby" scene at the beginning. I thought that was ingenious, especially for a kids movie and still keeping it clean. The best looking robots were the sharp looking corporate robots. Ratchet (voiced by Greg Kinnear) was the main villain here and Cappy (voiced by Halle Berry) was the female corporate robot on the side of good, eventually helping Rodney in his quest.