I left the theatre after seeing Robots that it was the best CG-animated film I have ever seen. In a few ways, I suppose it is, but it's still unable to surpass The Incredibles or Finding Nemo. While the characters, plot devices, setting and animation are anything but, the core story is fairly cliched. Follow your dreams and one day you'll make it big. It doesn't matter if you're robot or human, it's all the same. But other than the basic story, this movie has a whole lot going for it.
Rodney Copperbottom is the son of a dishwasher (literally), who realizes that if he ever wants to attain his dream of becoming an inventor, he'll have to leave his small town behind him for Robot City to find his idol, Bigweld. Things aren't always as they seem though. It turns out that Bigweld is missing, and in his place is Ratchet, a greedy businessman who plans on stopping the manufacturing of parts for the robots. That means they'll be forced to buy the more expensive upgrades, which they just cannot afford. After trying to sneak into the Bigweld building, he ends up with these robots, and he teaches them to follow their dreams... and so on.
The movie is fairly witty, although it is helped enormously by the fact that Robin Williams is a part of the cast. Despite this being a CG movie, I can't help but feel that many of his lines had to be ad-libbed. There are just things you wouldn't think to say, ever, and here he is spouting them off on after another. The big laughs are only a handful, it seems many of the jokes were meant to be subtle. Like the robot buffing his lawn instead of mowing it, or the wry phrase "making a baby"... which literally means building a baby in this case. The voice cast is very good, with actors like Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry and Drew Carrey. All of the robots are funny in their own way, but adults may like the more subtle jokes rather than the obvious ones.
Where the movie's genius truly lies is the animation itself. Here, it does surpass pretty much every other CG movie of this type before. The most impressive scene demonstrates Robot City's crosstown express, a little ball that is hurled, flung and hammered through a system of skyways. It's pure invention just made me want to smile with delight. A few other scenes involve Rodney being flung through the city, stuck to a magnetized tank of liquid nitrogen, or an insane struggle between Rodney and William's character, which turns into a ice skating competition. I won't tell you how it ends, although you can probably guess.
So, maybe Robots isn't the best movie out there, but it is worth seeing for Robin Williams and the sensational animation. Unlike some of the other movies like this, kids may be a little more entertained than the adults were, simply for the lack of more subtle jokes. So, go see it and have a blast.