10 replies on “Movie Discussion – “Robots””

  1. So . . . Um . . .
    Yeah, so where’s the review? I’ll be seeing this movie some time in the next week or so. Ice Age was well done. The plot was relatively engaging, and appealed to me as an adult. I hope for more of the same from Robots. The animation looks a little dated at this point however (when Pixar [and Dreamworks to a lesser extent] are going all out with water, realistic fur, explosions, and other fluid dynamics renderig), sort of where Pixar was with TS2 – good, but still avoiding things that are harder to model. But if they can keep the story on par with Ice Age, I’ll like it.

    Not that this movie is Dreamworks, but I had to promise my wife that I would stop bagging on Dreamworks if Cars beats Madagascar in next year’s Oscars. I’ve been bitter since Shrek beat Monsters Inc. And after seeing Shrek 2, I am still wondering why everyone thinks it’s so wonderful. But then, I said the same thing about Home Alone. Why mention Dreamworks? Because an excellent, A-list voice cast does not a good movie make (Antz, anyone?).

  2. Just Saw It
    It is no Incredibles…. but it was a quite enjoyable movie.
    Everything looked ray traced and that gave it a more static but realistic look.
    There is a lot a small puns being thrown at you throughout the movie.
    The main story is pretty uninspired and generic.
    Robbin Williams character produced the most laught but wasn’t overdone as much as it should have been – just look at what he did with Aladdin.
    Overall I would recomend this movie …. it had me smiling pretty widely most of the time

    and best of all …. the new Episode III trailer was also shown – gave me goosebumps seeing it on the big screen

    • Re: Just Saw It

      There is a lot a small puns being thrown at you throughout the movie.
      The main story is pretty uninspired and generic.

      This is what the trailers tell me. And why I’m not in any hurry to see this. I also don’t like the character design, they look designed for sight gags, not for internal consistency.

      Rental, probably. I still want to see out of general interest in all things robotic.

      • Re: Just Saw It
        I saw it with my kid – and as an earlier poster said – I smiled throughout…but just that – I didn’t *laugh*. The robots are not in any way credible – they might as well be humans or talking animals – and the storyline is heavily sugar-coated.

        It’s nowhere close to Shrek-2 or Incredibles.

        Kids 10 and younger will love it, the older and more cynical of us come away with an empty feeling.

        The days when you can toss in some amazing CGI and some good voice acting and come up with a blockbuster are over.

        • Sigh

          It’s nowhere close to Shrek-2 or Incredibles.

          […]
          The days when you can toss in some amazing CGI and some good voice acting and come up with a blockbuster are over.

          Have you noticed that Pixar doesn’t base their advertising on their voice cast? That might be because they focus on making high-quality products, with the best actors for the job (including unknowns, kids, and in one case, the director) rather than select the voice cast for their star power.

          • Re: Sigh

            It’s nowhere close to Shrek-2 or Incredibles.

            […]
            The days when you can toss in some amazing CGI and some good voice acting and come up with a blockbuster are over.

            Have you noticed that Pixar doesn’t base their advertising on their voice cast? That might be because they focus on making high-quality products, with the best actors for the job (including unknowns, kids, and in one case, the director) rather than select the voice cast for their star power.

            Not to say the voice cast consists entirely of unknowns either. We had Samuel L. Jackson and Holly Hunter and Billy Crystal and Willem Dafoe and Tom Hanks… but yeah, none of them were “advertised” for their “star power”.

            • Re: Sigh

              Not to say the voice cast consists entirely of unknowns either. We had Samuel L. Jackson and Holly Hunter and Billy Crystal and Willem Dafoe and Tom Hanks… but yeah, none of them were “advertised” for their “star power”.

              Thank you! That’s exactly what I’ve been saying since Antz. Now . . . Toy Story was a bit of an exception. But that’s forgivable, since they were trying to get people to take a chance on the first full length, full CGI film ever. Though, if you look at Pixar’s site, of the posters, only TS2 has the big names on it. But by then, (a) everyone knew who the actors were, and (b) they probably had to dispel the usual standard of Disney replacing the voice actors for sequels.

              Point is, Pixar lets the story draw you in, not the fact that some fish is being voiced by Will Smith (who I like as an actor – not as a fish).

        • Re: Just Saw It

          I saw it with my kid – and as an earlier poster said – I smiled throughout…but just that – I didn’t *laugh*. The robots are not in any way credible – they might as well be humans or talking animals – and the storyline is heavily sugar-coated.

          It’s nowhere close to Shrek-2 or Incredibles.

          Kids 10 and younger will love it, the older and more cynical of us come away with an empty feeling.

          The days when you can toss in some amazing CGI and some good voice acting and come up with a blockbuster are over.

          I thought is was a fairly good movie. Very predictable yes, but the animation was OK, not at the Incredibles level, but still good.

          The funniest thing though was the little short with Scrat right before the movie, that was hillarious.

          And I do have to agree that the Episode III preview on the big screen was really awesome. As a trailer it was far, far , better than the long trailers for the first two were, so hopefully the movie will be the same.

          • Re: Just Saw It

            I thought is was a fairly good movie. Very predictable yes, but the animation was OK, not at the Incredibles level, but still good.

            Reminds of the speech Dash gives about “winning by only a little, I promise!” ;-)

            Pixar is spoiling us.

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