A few years ago it seemed that Disney had the whole Computer Generated Animated film thing all wrapped up thanks to the geniuses at Pixar Studios. But then Fox attempted to get into the picture and teamed with Blue Sky Animation to produce “Ice Age”, a wonderful little story of a group of outcast animals trying to return a little child to his family. The animation in “Ice Age” was beautiful, and while the story was pretty funny and well told, it didn’t quite live up to the quality of screenplays coming out of Pixar. (In defense of “Ice Age”, it’s important to point out that it is still a terrifically funny movie that I’ve watched over 2 dozen times now thanks to my 2-year year old daughter.) Earlier this year, Blue Sky and Fox re-entered the CGI Animated film arena with “Robots.” This time the filmmakers took us into a world where Robots live and work, just like the rest of us. The story revolved around Rodney (Ewan McGregor), a young inventor who becomes entranced with the idea of traveling to Robot City in the hopes of going to work for the great Bigweld (Mel Brooks).

Bigweld is considered to be the greatest Robot who ever lived and according to commercials lives in a factory that is open to all who wish to meet him. He offers opportunities for anyone looking to get ahead.

But unbeknownst to Rodney, Bigweld has long been held in a kind of exile by the ‘Board of Directors’, headed up by the egocentric Rachet (Greg Kinear), who in turn is under the control of his evil mother Madame Gasket (Jim Broadbent). Their idea is one born of the corporate heads in this world, where they would no longer make parts in order to fix older models, but instead will only make new and expensive upgrades, further separating the haves and the have nots. Once Rodney gets to Robot City, he learns of this nefarious plot and must team with a bunch of misfit robots in order to save the day. Along the way, he meets Cappy (Halle Berry), the requisite love interest.

“Robots” on the whole is a wonderful film, more so for its intricate design than it story however. The plot is one that has been done to death, and admittedly there is nothing really new here. Even some of the voice talent, which is immense, fails to really make “Robots” into a great film. Most of the laughs are generated by Robin Williams, who plays Fender, a robot that is constantly falling apart and stealing new parts. The performances by McGregor and Berry are rather tame, with no real push for character. Even the terrific cast that makes up Rodney’s team, which is made up of Drew Carey and Amanda Bynes fail to create characters that are distinguishable.

But where “Robots” really shines is in the overall look and feel. I have to hand it to the animators as far as the unbelievable amount of detail that went into the creation of the locations and characters. Watching the movie, your senses are almost put into overload just trying to catch every little nuance, every little rivet. As a matter of fact, so much is going on at any given moment, I couldn’t believe my wife picked out a robotic version of ‘Sid the Sloth’ from ‘Ice Age” in one particular crowd scene.

I missed the film in theatres, but watched it with my wife and daughter right after the DVD hit store shelves. In spite of some of the weaknesses of the script, we were admittedly totally entranced by the whole experience of watching it. But where I can watch “Ice Age” over and over again without getting tired of it, I’m not sure the same is true for “Robots.”

The DVD, as I expected also turned out a lot of extra features, which in some ways really overshadow the film in terms of content and quality. I found two separate commentaries, the first by director Chris Wedge and producer Williams Joyce. The second was with the animators from Blue Sky. Both are really funny commentaries, but I have to lean towards the first as to being the more interesting.

There is also a newer short animated feature called “Aunt Fanny’s Tour of Booty”, where she takes us on a tour of Robot City, and concept demo that was created to sell the idea of the film to the studio. Both are pretty short, and again a little more entertaining than the film itself. This is followed by three deleted scenes and a really nice documentary feature on the making of the film. It only runs a little shy of 20 minutes, but offers up some great behind the scenes footage.

As the movie is about Robots, the filmmakers wisely chose to go with highly industrialized sound to the musical score. This fact is highlighted in a short featurette that focuses on the use of the famed “Blue Man Group”, who performed much of what was used in the film. You’ll also find a few set-top activities and a demo for the X-box game. I was also pleased to find out there is going to be an “Ice Age 2”, the news of which is given to us here via a short behind the scenes look hosted by John Leguizamo (who does the voice for Sid the Sloth).

One of the best features overall though, is one I’d like to see on more DVD for animated features. In “Meet the Robots”, we are offered the opportunity to use an interactive menu to introduce each character. We are allowed to see 3-D renderings, read biographical information, and best of all, see who performed the voices. If you click on the character and then the actor behind the voice, we are treated to video of each actor talking about their character. And in some cases we get to see them behind the microphone performing as the character. It’s great stuff!

Overall I have mixed feelings about “Robots.” There was so much I liked about the movie, from the look of it to the details. It was a fun family movie to watch, but I’m just not sure it was good enough to offer up multiple viewings. If this tells you anything, my daughter has only asked to watch it again once. It might be a better movie for the adult kids in the house.

Directed by: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha
Starring (the voices of): Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Greg Kinnear, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge
Extras: Commentary by: director Chris Wedge and producer William Joyce,the Blue Sky technical team, "Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty" animated short, Inside Look at the Making of Ice Age 2 - exclusive to DVD, Discontinued Parts (deleted scenes) with Optional Commentary by Chris Wedge, The Original Robots Short (original short that sold the movie to the studio), "You Can Shine No Matter What You're Made Of" (character inspiration featurette), Blue Man Group music featurette, Meet the Bots (interactive): Character Bios, Characters 3-D Turnaround, Character Interviews Profiles, Character Design Gallery, Xbox Exclusive Multi-Player Racing Game, Interactive games: Robot Dance, Invent-a-Bot, Fender Photo Shoot
Specifications: Widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 9/27/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG (For Some Brief Language and Suggestive Humor)
Website

We'll give Robots a B-.