Robots has bells and whistles, but its mechanical

Thursday, March 17, 2005

With a group of talent that would make even the cast of Be Cool envious, Robots tries hard to please, but ultimately elicits indifference.

Robots has its moments, but like Ice Age the first film from its creators, Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha there just isnt enough to add up to a worthy experience at the movies.

The film follows the exploits Rodney Copperbottom (voice of Ewan McGregor), a young inventor intent on meeting his idol and making a name for himself in the big city. Along the way he is befriended by a group of misfit robots led by Fender (voice of Robin Williams), who help him try to stop a corporate robot (voice of Greg Kinnear) intent on advancing his own materialistic dreams.

The look of Robots is fairly impressive. There are some nice moments in which Wedge and Saldhana play have fun with the huge scale of the surroundings and create images that rival anything Pixar has done in its animated films.

Unfortunately, the screenplay is not as impressive. Like Ice Age, it is the kind of story that just doesnt appeal to everyone.

Sure, there is some fun for adults trying to identify the huge list of celebrity voices that pop up (including Halle Berry, Drew Carey, Paul Giamatti and Mel Brooks), but practically everything else is aimed more at the young audience leaving adults looking at their watches and ready to bolt when the credits come up.

Not to say Robots is a bad film. It is good enough to keep everyones interest for a while, and there is an appreciation in what the filmmakers were able to accomplish. Its just not enough to keep interest from waning by reel three.

Discount dud of the week

This weeks discount dud is Racing Stripes (D+) another filmed aimed at kids, but it makes Robots look like Toy Story or Finding Nemo in comparison.

Using the same live-action style as the much more entertaining Babe films, Racing Stripes follows the exploits of Stripes (voiced by Frankie Muniz), an abandoned zebra who grows up thinking he is a racehorse.

Stripes dreams of racing in the big race (its supposed to be the Kentucky Derby, but apparently the Kentucky Derby was smart enough to keep its name from being used in this garbage) and enlists the help of a young girl and plenty of barnyard friends (including the voices of Mandy Moore, Dustin Hoffman, Jeff Foxworthy and Snoop Dogg).

Racing Stripes has good intentions and some moments of mild entertainment, but the whole film just feels like something that belongs on the ABC Family Channel and not in theaters. There have been worse family films that have been in release in recent memory (cough, Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo 2, cough), but Racing Stripes still isnt good enough to recommend even at a discount price.

Racing Stripes opens Friday at the Plaza 6, where all movies are $1.50.

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