Robots


Abstract:
ShkenBlke2 (2:05:55 AM): i luked pixar
ShkenBlke2 (2:05:59 AM): ugh
ShkenBlke2 (2:06:05 AM): i liked the incredibles
Skier Wysz (2:06:07 AM): ewww you luked them?
ShkenBlke2 (2:06:12 AM): is what i meant 2 say
Skier Wysz (2:06:15 AM): oh
ShkenBlke2 (2:06:16 AM): wow, i was way off
Skier Wysz (2:06:25 AM): haha talk to ted recently?

Body:
Several people have asked me about Robots now, so I figure it's safe to assume that it's something I can write about in my blog without getting the "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE MOVIE YOU SAW" response. Alright, I'd never get that response no matter what, since my reader feedback is generally limited to a group of five people, who I simply ignore anyway. This introduction is way too long for what I'm about to say, so let's get to it.

Robots was good. I liked it. Just because I am about to criticize it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. Blake, did you hear that? Good. The visuals were great eye-candy, and I enjoyed the animation style. Mel Brooks and Robin Williams were funny, but I think the script should have left more opportunities for them to "let loose." They still managed to get in some great lines and references. Robin Williams even did a dying HAL 9000 impression at one point.

The story is where Robots left a little to be desired. There wasn't much to it at all. Robots was "Generic CG feature." It was a story about a non-human world that is pretty much human, there were lots of celebrity voices, and it contained a slew of references to other movies and pop culture. This alone is not a terrible thing, but the predictable storyline, which pretty much lets you figure out the entire movie in the first five minutes, makes it a bit tiring. I don't think there were any plot-twisting surprises in this film.

Story/screenplay is why Pixar's films do better. In fact, they have a flawless record at the box office. Blake thinks I'm hopelessly partial to Pixar, but I don't believe this is true. I liked Shrek more than I liked The Incredibles. In fact, I don't even always like Pixar's visual style the best. It can be a little flat and superclean doesn't always cut it. It worked very well for Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo, but with human characters it looks too 1980s. For more real-world settings and human characters, I prefer visuals seen in Shrek and The Polar Express, both from non-Pixar studios. Robots was from Blue Sky, the same people who made Ice Age, and has more Pixar-like animation, but for a movie about Robots this is perfect. Speaking of Ice Age, there was a trailer for Ice Age 2 before Robots. It was a sequel to the first Ice Age trailer with that squirrel guy and the acorn. I saw most of the first Ice Age (the movie, not the glacial period), and while it wasn't a bad movie and did have good characters, I think the trailer was the best part.

In any case, it's very rare that I see a film I don't like, because I simply want to be entertained. I didn't even care when Lucas made changes to the Star Wars movies. They still look good to me. I've never seen a bad CG feature, so I'm not about to start with Robots. It has my approval.

Also, please note that if this entry didn't make sense and lacked "flow," it is because I got distracted several times while writing it over a three hour period.

Posted: Tuesday - March 15, 2005 at 01:16 AM          

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