Robots

Features, Shorts, Live-Action and Direct-To-Video
Post Reply
AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6636
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Post by Dacey » March 22nd, 2005, 5:05 pm

> " I even have to admit to not being as sold on Toy Story 2 as some of you are because basically I knew while I was watching that film that Pixar was being lazy with the plot -- it was a blow-by-blow replay/remake of Toy Story 1!"

Could you explain this comment a little? Because I really don't see how TS2 was a repeat of TS1.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 13
Joined: October 27th, 2004

Post by taguirre69 » March 29th, 2005, 8:55 pm

I don't post often, but I will for this movie.

I am generally a Disney only kinda person, but I really liked this movie. I have yet to see Ice Age, but after seeing Robots I am now going to have to see this Ice Age before Ice Age 2 comes out. Robots to me me was a silly sappy movie. I was thinking that Robin Williams charachter was going to be funnier, but the whole cast had their lines. I would highly recommend it for a visual and light hearted movie. There was no great big plot, but the movie flowed well I thought. I did get bored with 15-20 minutes in the middle of the movie, but that is pretty much all movies.
We're dead! We're dead! We survived but we're dead!
-The Dash from The Incredibles

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25333
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Post by Ben » March 30th, 2005, 2:59 pm

Caught Robots last night.

The look was great - on a grand scale and populated by lots of nice background things.

But the story was lacking...the film went on way too long (and they're thinking of adding some stuff back IN for the DVD?).

Overall, I loved Rodney's parents best, but the tone of the movie just seemed so overly frenetic that it wore me out! Even the quiet moments seemed "big".

Robin Williams didn't peeve me off as much as I thought he would at all, but did anyone else notice the questionable amount of sex-change gags thrown in there every five minutes? Also, the random Britney moment at the end didn't work at all - he used it as a way to put off the bad guys from chasing him, but why would they just fall in line and dance along like that? Better to have him go into the song and have them confused, then starting to get into it, and then have Fender break them up/kick 'em out as part of the act.

Final gripe: Ewan McGregor, who in Valiant that I saw the night before, was an energetic, bouncy and very fun hero. Here, he sounded tired and not very interested - any why get someone with such a distinctive voice to change it and do an American accent??

For all the whizz-bang, American slick-ness of Robots, I have to say that I found the genuine fantasy of Valiant to offer much more in terms of character and story.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 1419
Joined: October 22nd, 2004

Post by Macaluso » March 30th, 2005, 4:00 pm

I dunno. I thought the Britney Spears thing was really funny. But that was probably because it was just SO random.

Of course, random can be incredibly funny to me, as proven by how much I loved the Spongebob Movie.

Btw, anyone else LOVE the CRAP out of that little red robot that danced? Now THAT thing was TOUGH.

AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6636
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Post by Dacey » March 31st, 2005, 4:44 pm

*cough* The Britney Spears bit was one of my favorites *cough*
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25333
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Post by Ben » April 1st, 2005, 9:47 am

I've gone ahead and voted now in the "Good. Some problems, but worth seeing" category.

Spoke to several other animator friends last night, and we all agreed on Robots and the Britney moment. A little toooooo random...

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 1419
Joined: October 22nd, 2004

Post by Macaluso » April 1st, 2005, 11:14 am

toooo random = AWESOME

AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6636
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Post by Dacey » April 1st, 2005, 5:22 pm

I actually would've liked the Britney bit to be a little longer.

Not that I'm a big fan of Spears' music, of course.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 165
Joined: January 24th, 2005
Location: New Hampshire

Post by AniMan » April 3rd, 2005, 3:38 pm

I totally agree with you on that Ben. The Brittany Spears bit was way too contrived. It just seemed like they trying too hard to be "contemporary", like we needed to have this bit of pop culture thrown in to make the movie funnier (it didn't work). :roll:
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
---[i]Master Yoda[/i]

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9050
Joined: October 25th, 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY

Post by ShyViolet » April 21st, 2006, 2:56 pm

I'm sorry because this is such an old thead, but Robots finally came to HBO and I had a chance to watch some of it. I saw the last forty minutes or so, and maybe I should wait until I've seen it all to form an opinion, but judging from what I saw, the rest of the movie couldn't have been too different.

The look was incredible. And man those Robots would make such great toys. :wink:

The story didn't grab me at all though. Yeah I know I came in late but it was like everything just fell FLAT. Like Ben said, too much action and not enough heart. Sound and fury signifying...not a whole lot. :roll:
Even Ewan couldn't save this one. At least in Ice Age you kinda cared about the Mammoth and the Sloth...

And the Britney Spears moment....ugh! (and this is from someone who actually likes Britney's music.) Totally out of place. And Robin Williams was just tired. He was just doing Genie but without the sweetness, just the hypermania.

****Robots Spoiler plus spoiler of a classic film :wink: *****
Another problem was the villain....how can you be scared of a guy who's controlled by his mother? And yeah, you can say Tony Perkins from Psycho, but in that case his mom was DEAD. :wink: )His mother wasn't the least bit scary either, just ugly and annoying. BTW she sounded A LOT like Ursela, I wonder if it was the same voice artist?



It's a shame cause I'll say it again....LOVE those designs. :)

Kinda interesting about Robin Williams doing animation again though....I think he's said in an interview that he won't work for Disney or DreamWorks because of issues he had with the Katzenberg Disney managment. Fourteen years sure is a long time to hold a grudge though.... :roll: Maybe Bob Iger will "reach out" to Robin too?
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 1419
Joined: October 22nd, 2004

Post by Macaluso » April 21st, 2006, 8:29 pm

The movie really wasn't much in the way of a good story and everything, but none of my friends could deny that the movie was a blast to watch. It was just a FUN movie.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9050
Joined: October 25th, 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY

Post by ShyViolet » April 21st, 2006, 9:03 pm

Yeah it was cute.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 1347
Joined: January 23rd, 2006
Location: The Middle of Nowhere

Post by eddievalient » April 21st, 2006, 10:12 pm

I thought Robots was merely OK. I wouldn't want to buy the dvd, but if it came on FX or something, I might watch it again. Mel Brooks was great as Big Weld, but that was the only real bright spot for me. It wasn't a bad film by any means, it just didn't live up to my expectations.

AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6636
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Post by Dacey » April 22nd, 2006, 5:48 pm

I haven't really changed any of my thoughts on "Robots" since I first saw it in the theater.

And I STILL like the Britney Spears bit! :P
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 1419
Joined: October 22nd, 2004

Post by Macaluso » April 22nd, 2006, 6:36 pm

Slightly off topic, but I love the avatar WJ.

Post Reply