Time to Relax

We woke up quite late this morning. I felt down and we didn't start the day very well unfortunately. We had to rush to finish on time and get the house ready for company. We cleaned the whole house in a couple of hours. Then we went to the DVD store to pick up some DVDs that Jacob had put aside for us. We rented; Robots, Alexander and the Polar Express. Thanks to Jacob we had all the DVDs that we wanted, I will give him something nice next time he's at the store...

We went over to Carla's place to pick her up. She had two big bags with clothes and stuff so we chucked them in the back and drove back home where we had a quiet afternoon showing our pictures to Carla, listening to music, showing my portfolio etc. I started to prepare dinner at around 20.00. A. helped me with this [he always helps me preparing dinner unless I tell him that it isn't necessary...]. So at about an hour later it was ready and we had late dinner, mussels in wine and coriander.

We watched an excellent movie, called 'Robots', while we had coffee and chocolate after dinner. See review below, I have been laughing my ass off; too funny...

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Robots
Cast (voices): Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge, Stanley Tucci, Dianne
Directors: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha
U.S. Release Date: 03/11/05 (wide)
Screenplay: Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Music: John Powell
MPAA Classification: PG (Innuendo)
Running Length: 1:30
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Country: United States, 2005
U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Robots is every bit as visually engaging as the best of the Pixar (or Dreamworks) digitally animated fare. The landscapes are stunning, the characters are intricately formed, there's plenty of break-neck action, and Robin Williams provides a helping of belly laughs. Despite these positive qualities, Robots never seems more than passably entertaining. In fact, it more often resembles the template for a video game (with the interactivity removed in theaters - no doubt that will be restored for the X-Box and PlayStation 2 discs) than a fully realized motion picture. It doesn't take long to uncover the culprit for Robots' lack of inspiration. The pedestrian plot is aimed squarely at five-year olds.

Leave it to Robin Williams; while his vocal performance isn't quite up to the standard he established in Aladdin, it's only a rung lower. It brings life and energy to Robots. Most of Williams' dialogue has an improvisational quality to it - as if he was told the substance of his dialogue, but was given carte blanche as far as word choice and delivery. The result is a sense of spontaneity. We're never quite sure what Williams' animated alter-ego is going to say or do next. That element of the film will keep adults interested long after the storyline has shifted into autopilot. Unfortunately, when it comes to vocal performances, Williams is the only actor worth mentioning. None of his co stars - Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Drew Carrey, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, or Greg Kinnear - offer anything more memorable than a generic performance. They read their lines, but don't do more. Next to them, Williams seems fresher than he might in more favorable circumstances.

If the plot doesn't grab you, the look of the film will. Directors Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, who were in charge for Ice Age (to-date, the least impressive of the digitally animated features), have fashioned a robot world to stir the imagination. With sets looking like a wild hybrid of early Amazing Stories cover illustrations and erector sets gone mad, Robots amps up the eye candy factor to an astonishing level. Each of the robots is unique, and clearly not designed using the "form follows function" rule. (Many appear to have been inspired by the Star Wars 'droids.) Gaudy colors run riot. Rube Goldberg contraptions abound, showing up everywhere from the city's transportation system to the domino games in Bigweld's abode. The ooh/aah factor is greater in Robots than in many of its digitally animated kin, but that only partially compensates for the hollowness of the story and the lifelessness of all but one of the characters.

The movie is peppered with content guaranteed to guard against the encroachment of boredom for those with short attention spans. An action sequence intervenes about every five-to-ten minutes (most of which feel like animated roller coaster rides). There are plenty of pop culture throw-ins, like James Earl Jones' voice intoning, "The Force is strong with this one." (For those seven words, Jones earns a spot in the opening credits.) And, of course, there's the humor. 90% of this comes from Williams (and a few lines are off-color, although the innuendo will go over the heads of most young viewers), but there are also things like the mandatory staple of child-centered movies: the fart joke. And many gags come at the expense of the character named "Aunt Fanny."

© 2005 James Berardinelli
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