Robots

From the makers of Ice Age comes this squeaky clean and vibrantly colourful animated movie. Rodney (McGregor), is an aspiring inventor who travels to Robot City to team up with big  time inventor and world’s greatest robot Bigweld (Brooks). Unfortunately, he soon discovers that a big meany named Ratchet (Kinnear), is running the corporation and is trying to scrap old robots such as Rodney and his ever-entertaining band of mechanical freedom fighters. They decide to put an end to this.

The robots are free-thinking and capable of love; with the relationship between the film’s focal character and Halle Berry’s ‘Cappy’ being especially sweet. Director Chris Wedge has given the robots many human qualities, all-in-all this movie’s rustic namesakes are easy to relate to and are full of the life and energy that must drive kids nuts, excusing the possible pun.

This film is reminiscent of the Monsters Inc. bunch, with the core characters familiar from Ice Age – though here far funnier and more starkly differing. Robin Williams steals the show, brilliantly playing ‘Fender’, the exuberant and Red Bull inspired sidekick, who teams up with his mates the Rusties, and Rodney, to take on the corporate bigwig sand save the city. Fender practically and literally can’t hold himself together, he’s a misshapen quadriplegic; a robot whose body parts fall off at the most hilariously inopportune moments.

Robots places most emphasis on the timing of gags, a steady flow of action, some truly marvellous characters all-round, and a simply awe-inspiring look. It took 5 years to create this mechanical metropolis, truly time well spent.

There’s so much to see in this film, and it’s quickly apparent that Director Chris Wedge has tailored this film to suit younger audiences, and the child within the hearts ofolder members. The dazzling, whimsical tone and flowing slapstick laughs support a film that is primarily out to entertain, and does so very well. Robots is not just the traditional  pursue-your-dream story,  but  a  youthful expression of frenzied enthusiasm, served with an entourage of glistening set-pieces, an all-star voice cast and a happy charisma that make this more than, well... robotic.

Andrew Pritchard