Product Description

Fasten your seat bolts and gear up for a hilarious, heartwarming comedy that's "Fun for the whole family!" (Clay Smith, Access Hollywood)

With the help of his misfit mechanical friends, a small town robot named Rodney embarks on the adventure of a lifetime as he heads for the big city to pursue his dreams?and ultimately proves that anyone can shine no matter what they're made of.

Featuring an all-star voice cast and a groundbreaking visual style that pushes the boundaries of animated filmmaking. Robots is a dazzling, fun-filled feast for the eyes and a riveting good time for all ages!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4242 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2005-09-27
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Fender providing assistance.

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, As Good As It Gets) 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

DVD Features

Jennifer Coolidge returns as the voice of Aunt Fanny in a mildly amusing new short, "Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty," which allows her to again be the butt of the joke. Fans of the characters will enjoy both a 17-minute discussion of the robots' creation as well as profiles of 11 of the bots, including early, almost unrecognizable conceptual sketches and brief interviews with the voice cast. The original short is fairly dull, and of the three deleted scenes, the most finished is an extended version of Rodney's initial meeting with Tim at the gate. One other is in sketch form only but does preserve another performance by Robin Williams. The kids' games are pretty good. There's a dancing robot that will perform eight routines on command or in random order. A memory game has a bit of replay value, and the build-a-bot segment takes some thought and investigation. The Xbox demo is a nifty little diversion that transforms one element (the transport-pod race) of the full-length, single-player Xbox game into a frenetic one- to four-player free-for-all.

In their commentary track, director Chris Wedge and producer-inspiration William Joyce have to remind each other to stop patting themselves on the back, but it is interesting to hear them talk about old games such as Mousetrap that played a part in developing the film. (Wedge's frequent references to a possible "director's cut" might not seem like a joke to DVD buyers who have gotten tired of DVD rereleases.) The commentary track by the Blue Sky technical team might be better, offering insights into the characters and the creation of the film without lapsing into too much techie-speak. --David Horiuchi

Stills from Robots (click for larger image)

The World of Robots

The Art of Robots	Robots soundtrack	Robots score
Robots for Xbox	Robots for PS2	Robots for GBA

Customer Reviews

Not Ice Age, but still quite funny
As reviewers, it's natural for us to compare an artist's work to his/her previous album, movie, book, etc. In this case, it becomes "natural" to compare "Robots" to the previous animated hit by Fox, "Ice Age". If we do this, "Robots" comes out lacking against its frozen predecessor. It is not as novel in terms of its intent and also the script is not as powerful (perhaps because it's also tougher to relate to inanimate beings such as robots, than it is to relate to animals or humans). But still, it is a funny (though predictable) movie, with touching moments and plenty of excitement all through it. I particularly enjoyed the ride that Rodney is put through when he arrives in Robot City, in order to get to the headquarters of Big Weld, where he dreams of working.

The humor can be argued to be more adult-oriented, but still with proper supervision, I totally see it being fit for children. The fact that our 18-month old was jumping out of his seat halfway through the movie is more the result of him being hyper than the movie not being fit for children. Now I admit this is no "Finding Nemo" (which keeps him entertained all through it, time and again). So, bottom line, while not as good as or innovative as "Ice Age" and without a very powerful storyline and groundbreaking animation as "Nemo" got us used to, "Robots" is still a funny movie worth checking out.

Just fantastic
Animation is a hot genre these days, thanks to the phenomenal success of Pixar's multi-million dollar blockbusters "Toy Story," "Monsters, Inc," and "Finding Nemo," and DreamWorks' "Shrek." These studio giants have opened the door for other, smaller companies like Blue Sky Studios to release innovative and high-quality movies, such as their first film, "Ice Age" in 2002, and their new, more ambitious endeavor, "Robots."

Visually, "Robots" is stunning, both in the look of the world and the creativity of its inner workings. The colors are vivid and the setup is ripe with potential for visual gags. The first half hour of the film is especially entertaining, beginning with Rodney's "delivery" as a baby. In the robot world, babies are delivered in boxes and are put together like children's toys at Christmas.

The characters, led by an all-star cast of distinctive voices, are fun too, especially Broadbent's deliciously evil Madame Gasket and Williams's high-energy Fender, though I thought Williams could have been given more screen time and more freedom to improvise.

The film's only weak spot, if you can call it that, is in its overzealousness to please. At times, there are so many visual elements, action sequences and gags going on at once, it feels as though we have no time to breathe. But, I applaud the creators for their passion for the project. I'd much rather see a studio go too far with its enthusiasm than not far enough. The film's storyline, too, could have been a bit more complex, but kids will love it, and parents will appreciate the complexity of the visual world in exchange for what it might be lacking in story. Overall, this film is a joy to watch, primarily because its cup runneth over with creativity and delight. It's obvious the creators put a lot of time and soul into it, and it paid off-- in spades.

It's exciting, too, to see this level of animation coming more frequently to the big screen. Pixar sparked a new interest in animation with its release of "Toy Story" in 1995, and has bred an entire generation of animation lovers over the past decade with its subsequent blockbusters. This trend, in turn, has given companies like Blue Sky Studios, Fox, DreamWorks, and others an audience hungry for more of what they have to offer - and they are only too happy to deliver.

Awesomely funny
The thing I like best about robots is its originality. You keep seeing new computer animated movies coming out and they're either copied ideas from previous ones, or they're just plain not funny. Or both. Shark Tale, to name one. The Incredibles had enough action and stuff in it to make up for the lack of belly-shaking humor, but it still could've been better.

Robots has some hilarious sequences in it. Namely, Rodney and Fenders armpit moment, in which everyone in the house joins in *most memorable line* - "Aunt Fanny, we were using our ARMS!!!" Another sequence that made me split was Fender's dance moment. The idea of Robin William's robot wearing a small skirt and dancing is funny enough; combine it with Britney Spears' hit Baby One More Time and you've got serious funniness.

All in all, robots rates right up there with Shrek and Finding Nemo. Every family should own it.