Screen scenes

“Robots” Directed By Chris Wedge Twentieth
Century Fox

“Robots” seems to have all the enjoyable elements of
a good, light-hearted children’s film, right down to the
necessary jokes for the parents and the voice of Robin Williams.
And there’s no chance of missing any of those elements. Each
is clearly identifiable through characters like “Villain With
Evil Laugh,” “Sympathetic Dad” or “Pretty
Girl Robot.” All the pieces are here and properly assembled;
the audience will not miss a darn thing. But you’d wish the
filmmakers had thrown away the manual and made something
interesting. As expected from the makers of a film such as
“Ice Age,” “Robots” incorporates the
reliable themes of acceptance, bravery and friendship. But this
film is different because the themes are shown through cute robots
instead of extinct animals, toys, fish, monsters or other
personified characters. Such themes are worth repeating, and
“Robots” succeeds in showing off its morals, but not
from escaping its programming. Granted, “Robots” is
often funny, but mostly in that sporadic, one-liner,
isn’t-that-a-cute-pop-culture-reference way. For example a
Billboard reads “Got Oil?” The Tin Man makes an
appearance or two. Even Chingy’s “Right Thurr” is
thrown into the soundtrack for the teenagers. And while the jokes
can be clever, they come with the feeling that the jokers know they
are being clever, and have planned exactly where to fit all that
wit into the film. The calculated cleverness is less
tongue-in-cheek and more annoying. The movie is at its best when it
is not randomly fishing for laughs, but having fun with the
robots-acting-like-humans idea. Unique sight gags and creative
storytelling provide for the most honest laughs of the film. In a
cute sequence at the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to
Mr. and Mrs. Copperbottom, a kind hearted, working-class robot
couple, as they await the birth of their son. The child is
delivered via truck, in a box, and requires assembly. The
Copperbottoms live in little Rivet Town and are happy and content
with family life. Their son, Rodney, grows up to be a talented
young inventor and dreams of meeting Big Weld, a Wizard of Oz
figure who is famous for welcoming new inventors to his big city
workshop and to his TV show. Big Weld inspires young robots
everywhere to believe that “(they) can shine no matter what
(they) are made of.” And as Mr. and Mrs. Copperbottom fall
into the “good” category of parental figures (in
children’s films, parents generally are either good, bad or
ridiculous), they encourage their son to follow his big-city
dreams, not to let anything stand in his way, and to be the best
robot he can be. Ewan McGregor brings eagerness and wide-eyed
surprise reminiscent of his dreamer character in “Moulin
Rouge” to the voice of Rodney Copperbottom. But
McGregor’s voice is soon dominated by the booming sound of
Robin Williams, who proves it is possible to be typecast as an
animated figure. He plays Genie from “Aladdin” again,
though it is not as fun as the first time. Instead of the magical
lamp-dweller, in “Robots” Williams’ wacky
personality is bottled into the form of Fender, an out-of-date
robot who is falling into mental and physical disrepair. Though
Williams is extremely talented at creating voices, this is not a
new revelation, and so every time Fender whips out a Spanish accent
or puts on the hysterics, you know it is Williams making all the
racket. It is hard to forget that and just focus on the character,
which gets distracting and tiring. The characters cannot escape
being robots; they are cliched within an inch of their lives.
Rodney, the kind-hearted dreamer, is exactly that and nothing more.
He will always try to do the right thing. It is also easy to forget
that Halle Berry is in the film, voicing the uninteresting
character of Cappy. You will be able to guess Cappy’s entire
role in the plot from her first second on screen. Perhaps
“Robots” is meant to be a commentary on technological
development. Perhaps the filmmakers were trying to say that
machines can never become feeling, understanding beings, nor can
machines replace human interaction. Maybe this movie was actually,
really, quite deep. But that seems doubtful. -Amy
Crocker