Robots (2005) Review

 Robots (2005) 6.5/10

Hello and welcome to another movie review. Today, I’ll be going over Blue Sky’s second film, Robots. Robots was released on March 11, 2005 with the director being Chris Wedge. I have seen this movie before, just like with a lot of the movies that I have been reviewing lately. The last time I saw this was back around when it first aired in theaters. Rewatching this gave me a blast of nostalgia because I loved the whole concept of this movie. Mechanical, automaton robots in their own functioning society. That and I loved the toys for the movie. But does it still hold up? Let’s find out.

Our story takes place in a world that runs on robots. No humans or any other animals at all. Everything is metallic, mechanical, and robotic. And not modern day iterations of robots. Robots reminiscent of the mid-late 1900’s. Our story follows aspiring robot Rodney as he chases his dreams of becoming an inventor. From a young age, Rodney looked up to his hero, Mr. Bigweld, the greatest robot ever. This guy brought about new inventions and ideas to this robot society, but after corporatism strikes, Mr. Bigweld lost his spark and went into isolation. Ratchet, the new president of Bigweld Industries is going to be taking the company to a new direction. A direction of no more spare parts. Only upgrades and the new. Rodney, trying to figure out what had happened to his childhood hero, goes on a journey through Robot City that will lead to him stopping the evil Ratchet and his all-too-clingy mother. Along the way, Rodney will meet some new friends that will aid him on his journey.

The plot for this is decent at best, but its lesson is a great one: never give up on your dreams, even if the odds are stacked against you. We’ve all seen this lesson done a thousand times over, but what makes this lesson hit different for Robots is that they give it to you straight out within the first 20 minutes of the film and it keeps at it throughout the film. Anyway, how are the characters? They’re okay. The only ones that stick out are Rodney, Fender, Piper, and Ratchet. Everyone else is forgettable except for Aunt Fanny, and that is only because she has a massive ass. Not even joking. That’s her entire character.

The comedy is actually pretty good. You can tell the writers were thinking about the poor adults that were dragged by their kids to see this shit. In the first fucking scene, Rodney’s parents talk about “oh you missed the delivery, but the best part is making the baby!” and then sexy music starts playing as they are assembling baby Rodney together. Or there was a fart joke where the group is bonding over armpit farts and then Aunt Fanny just rips a fat one, killing the street light robot that was right outside. In the morning, there was a chalk outline of his body. And don’t even get me started on Robin Williams being his crazy self and his skits.

So the worst scene for the movie is the final confrontation between our heroes and Ratchet and his mother. This entire battle scene was so retarded and poorly paced. Now, I wasn’t expecting high caliber choreography, but holy shit was this bad. NONE OF THE CHARACTERS KNOW HOW TO FIGHT! It’s just stupid bullshit happening. They’re throwing punches and kicks and shit but it’s the most cringey shit ever. And Fender busting out fucking Brittany Spears to take down his group of enemies is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in a movie in the longest time. Jfc this scene is going to haunt my dreams now. God I hate this scene so much.

One thing this movie excels at is the art direction. I love the way this world works. It’s so different and unique compared to almost every other movie out there. The only thing I can compare it to would be the robot planet from Star Wars: KOTOR II and even then it's not the same (I know this is a deep cut lmao). Anyway, the way the world runs on the classic idea of robots is very interesting. Everything is mechanical, similar to cars. Everything needs oil, grease, and magnets to work, not modern day mechanisms with microchips and realistic looking designs that’s more reminiscent of humans and minimalism. Tiny details like the neighbor waxing his lawn instead of cutting it, the robots pouring grease into their bodies instead of drinking coffee, and all of these other tiny details makes this world for me. I will say, how travel works in the movie is batshit crazy. OSHA would have a field day with how this society works.

Why did John Powell go so hard for the movie? It’s a fucking kids movie about robots and he gave us one of the most underrated movie scores in animated history. Now, it’s certainly not on the same level as Tarzan or The Prince of Egypt, but the movie’s score needs to be commended here. “Meet the Rusties” has no right sounding that smooth. Sounds like a discount Daft Punk did it lmao. I will say, some of the licensed songs felt unnecessary and dated the movie (like the Brittany Spears song I mentioned).

The voice acting for the film is really good. Ewan McGregor (yes, my boy Obi-Wan) was a great Rodney, Amanda Bynes was a great Piper, and Greg Kinnear was a great evil corporate president, Ratchet. And how can I forget the late Robin Williams who stole the show with his performance as Fender. All of his jokes land and it’s great.

Overall, this is a forgotten gem and needs more love. Is it the best thing ever? Fuck no. But if you are looking for an old animated movie to go check out, I recommend this film. This movie has charm and is good for both children and adults alike.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you later.

This is Zorgak, signing off.