Robots (Widescreen Edition)

Description

Fasten your seat bolts and gear up for a hilarious,
heartwarming comedy that’s fun for the whole family. Direction: Chris Wedge
Actors: Amanda Bynes, Dan Hedaya, Drew Carey, Ewan McGregor, Greg Kinnear,
Robin Williams, Terry Bradshaw Special Features: “Aunt Fanny’s Tour of Booty”
Animated Short; Inside Look at the Making of Ice Age 2; Xbox Exclusive Multi-
Player Racing Game; 3-5 Set-Top Games; Commentary by Director Chris Wedge and
Producer William Joyce. 1.85:1, Widescreen format. Language: English / Add.
French, Spanish / Sub. English, Spanish Year: 2005 Runtime: 89 minutes.
The delightful designs of William Joyce (writer/illustrator of such
popular children’s books as George Shrinks and Bently & Egg) make Robots a joy
to behold. The round, bouncy, and ramshackle forms of hero Rodney Copperbottom
and his computer-animated friends are part of an ornate and daffy Fender
providing assistance. Rube-Goldberg universe of elaborate contraptions and
gleaming metallic surfaces. Rodney (voiced with a hint-of-Scottish lilt by
Ewan McGregor) is a young inventor who sets off for Robot City to work for Big
Weld (Mel Brooks), the supreme inventor of the mechanical world. But upon his
arrival, Rodney discovers that Big Weld has disappeared, and the slick, shiny
Ratchet (Greg Kinnear, As Good As It Gets) is phasing out the spare parts that
lumpen robots need to function and replacing them with “upgrades”–expensive
and glistening new exoskeletons. Unfortunately, from this suitable beginning,
the story degenerates into a series of action sequences that make very little
sense, though some are kinetic and fun (though others are only there to serve
the inevitable Robots video game). Most kids will enjoy the sheer visual
pleasure of the movie, but compared to the narrative richness of Pixar movies
like The Incredibles and Toy Story, that pleasure is pretty short-lived. Also
featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Amanda
Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and many, many more. –Bret FetzerDVD Features
Jennifer Coolidge returns as the voice of Aunt Fanny in a mildly amusing new
short, “Aunt Fanny’s Tour of Booty,” which allows her to again be the butt of
the joke. Fans of the characters will enjoy both a 17-minute discussion of the
robots’ creation as well as profiles of 11 of the bots, including early,
almost unrecognizable conceptual sketches and brief interviews with the voice
cast. The original short is fairly dull, and of the three deleted scenes, the
most finished is an extended version of Rodney’s initial meeting with Tim at
the gate. One other is in sketch form only but does preserve another
performance by Robin Williams. The kids’ games are pretty good. There’s a
dancing robot that will perform eight routines on command or in random order.
A memory game has a bit of replay value, and the build-a-bot segment takes
some thought and investigation. The Xbox demo is a nifty little diversion that
transforms one element (the transport-pod race) of the full-length, single-
player Xbox game into a frenetic one- to four-player free-for-all. In their
commentary track, director Chris Wedge and producer-inspiration William Joyce
have to remind each other to stop patting themselves on the back, but it is
interesting to hear them talk about old games such as Mousetrap that played a
part in developing the film. (Wedge’s frequent references to a possible
“director’s cut” might not seem like a joke to DVD buyers who have gotten
tired of DVD rereleases.) The commentary track by the Blue Sky technical team
might be better, offering insights into the characters and the creation of the
film without lapsing into too much techie-speak. –David HoriuchiStills from
Robots (click for larger image) The World of Robots The Art of Robots Robots
soundtrack Robots score Robots for Xbox Robots for PS2 Robots for GBA

Features:

Product Details:

• Genre: Kids & Family, Anime & Manga
• Format: Multiple Formats, Animated, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Color, Dubbed, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen See more
• Contributor: Lowell Ganz, Jim McClain, Halle Berry, Amanda Bynes, Dylan Denton, Jim Broadbent, Ron Mita, Bob Gordon, Ewan McGregor, Chris Wedge, Robin Williams, Jennifer Coolidge, Mel Brooks, David Lindsay-Abaire, Terry Bradshaw, Drew Carey, Paula Abdul, Carlos Saldanha, Babaloo Mandel, Lucille Bliss See more
• Language: English
• Runtime: 1 hour and 31 minutes
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.85:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.4 Ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ MFR#VG
• Director ‏ : ‎ Carlos Saldanha, Chris Wedge
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Animated, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Color, Dubbed, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 31 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ September 27, 2005
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Robin Williams, Paula Abdul