ROBOTS

Director: Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha (Co-directors Ice Age)
Starring: voices of Robin Willliams, Ewen McGregor, every other famous person in Hollywood at one point or another.

A digitally animated kid's movie with Robin Williams and Ewen – don’t call me Obi Wan - Macgregor? Sounds like a winner, right? Well, this ain't no winner, but it's not entirely a loser, either. This film is about machines; machines you are supposed to love. Personally, I happen to find machines very, very difficult to love. You may feel the same. Have you ever loved a riding lawnmower? If you have, I’m sorry. The film never overcame this hurdle for me. And if I can’t love the main characters in a children’s story, it’s hard to love the story itself. Much was done well enough in this film, but I always found this separation from the characters to be palpable. In terms of craft, the film also suffered from far too many characters. In Aladdin, the fantastic animated Disney film, and a Robin Williams classic, there were 5 major characters, plus 2 comic sidekicks that couldn't speak. There was something along the lines of 12 main characters in this film, although I've forgotten a couple already (and I just saw the movie). With that many characters, it divides out to only a few lines of dialog each. Bad script. Otherwise this was a vaguely funny, thematically so-so, and visually unspectacular motion picture. A very, very average bit of cinema.

Standouts: The animation, although by degree.
Blowouts: The script – including the original concept.

Grade: C