Robots

[Exhaust Port]

So anyone seen Robots yet? I made it to the theater today without much previous knowledge of the movie. All I knew was that Robin Williams was in it and had seen a few clips here and there.

I enjoyed the movie as did the sea of kids who were filling the theater. Robin Williams wasn't overbearing which was a relief and the other characters had their fun moments as well. The visuals were amazing and weren't done to a point to be distracting.

Even though I enjoyed it I don't think I'll be buying it on DVD when it comes out. The movie was good but it wasn't "repeat watching" good. Unlike Toy Story or A Bug's Life the movie experience wasn't that engrossing. I guess the reason is that even though the other characters were good they weren't memorable. The secondary characters in Toy Story were great but those in Robots just blended into the scenery for a good part of the movie. There are 6-7 or so robots in the group and other than the Robin Williams and the 1 female robot the rest are forgettable. Too bad.

The biggest highlight for me was the ROTS trailer which I hadn't seen yet. I was shocked at the excitment of the kids watching the movie. One young kid starting jumping up and down and pointing when Darth Vader made a brief appearance. I'm really getting excited about that movie.

[General_Grievous]

I was going to see "Robots", but then two things came up:

1. I had heard that the movie wasn't that great.

2. I discovered that the ROTS trailer would be shown on Fox, so I didn't even bother with going to see "Robots".

[Slicker]

I went and saw Robots tonight on a whim and enjoyed it thoroughly. The animation was top notch the story was good and I thought there was alot of humor in it. And on top of that I had totally forgotten about the ROTS trailer until I saw the Lucasfilm logo appear on screen.

This movie doesn't rank up there with Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and many of the Pixar movies but it holds it's own against any other computer animated movie out there. I'd like to see it again.

[stillakid]

Blah. The overriding problem with a lot of these animated marvels is that they have become overwhelmingly self-aware. In the old days, they told a story and the animators would have a little fun by dropping in little "odes to pop culture" in the deep background. You know, little fun surprises for the audience to find upon repeated viewings. ROBOTS takes all of that and builds an entire movie around dropping in as many pop references and "in jokes" as possible. The story is excrutiatingly thin and not very inspired at all. The other 85 minutes is nothing but "Hey look at how cute our pop culture references are" moments punctuated by forgettable characters. While walking out of the theater, we couldn't even remember the name of the chief inventor, the guy who goes into hiding then emerges to help save everybody. I still can't remember his name even though it's all over the script. Yawn!

[Slicker]

It's Mr. Big Weld.

I realize that with your line of work you tend to look deep into movies but I'm just a surface watcher so I really enjoyed the flick. I'm sure if I looked deep into movies I wouldn't approve of many of the ones that I like.

[Exhaust Port]

I agree Stilla that CG movies are really running away with the use of pop culture references. At first they were very subtle with a distant image in the background and have evolved into upfront gags. I'm all for a few here and there but Robots really seemed to push it. I could have done without the Britney Gears joke.

Now I did enjoy the HAL 2000 tribute.... When Copperbottom was riding Mr. Big Weld and was tinkering with his "brain" to fix him as they escaped from Mr. Big Weld Industries MBW was changing voices as CB worked on him. MBW sang a line or 2 ala HAL 2000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey when Dave was deactivating him. I like more subtle references like that. (like naming the resturant Harrihausen's in Monsters Inc.)

[2-1B]

I saw it last week and enjoyed it. For the most part, I think these cartoon movies are goofy in the first place and this was one of the better ones, IMO.

How could you forget BigWeld, it was Mel Brooks for crying out loud !

[stillakid]

It's Mr. Big Weld.

I realize that with your line of work you tend to look deep into movies but I'm just a surface watcher so I really enjoyed the flick. I'm sure if I looked deep into movies I wouldn't approve of many of the ones that I like.

I didn't really have to look that deep into ROBOTS to be annoyed by it. Actually, it was the superficial stuff that was the problem...for that matter, it was the superficial stuff that was the problem being that that's all there was to this movie.

[Rocketboy]

Then again, it is a kid's movie.
It shouldn't be that deep.

[stillakid]

Then again, it is a kid's movie.
It shouldn't be that deep.

In my opinion, that's a stupid rational for making a superficial movie. Kid's aren't that stupid. Anybody that thinks so doesn't have kids themselves. A GOOD movie is a great story well told that reaches across generations. Arguably, everybody loved the classic Looney Toons...kids because it was funny action...adults because of the "in jokes." There was something there for everyone. ROBOTS seems to take the low road and caters to the sound-bite generation who voted for Karl Rove politics. It's simple with little substance. A romping good time, but no meat.