Robots (2005 film)

Plot

In Rivet Town, Herb Copperbottom, a dishwasher at Gunks Greasy Spoon diner, races through the streets, elated that he is going to be a father. He and his wife, Lydia, after 12 hours of "labor", construct the baby. He is named Rodney, and he becomes a young inventor who dreams of making the world a better place. Rodney idolizes Bigweld, a master inventor and owner of Bigweld Industries. During Rodneys adolescence, he invents a gadget, "Wonderbot", intended to help his father clean the dishes at the restaurant. When Herbs supervisor unexpectedly confronts them, Wonderbot breaks dishes, causing Herb to be put in debt and Rodney to be dismissed. Rodney takes his invention to Robot City to see Bigweld and get a job as an inventor at Bigweld Industries, so that he can help his father pay back his supervisor. His father encourages him and confides that he has always regretted not pursuing his dream of becoming a musician. Rodney arrives in Robot City and meets Fender, a ramshackle robot who takes souvenir photos and sells maps to the stars homes. After a spectacular but harrowing ride on the crosstown express, Rodney arrives at the gate of Bigweld Industries.

However, he learns that Phineas T. Ratchet has taken over Bigweld Industries and is about to discontinue the manufacture of spare parts. Ratchet believes the company can make a bigger profit if it focuses on selling expensive upgrades; if the robots refuse, they are sent to the underground Chop Shop, where they are shredded and melted down by Ratchets evil mother, Madame Gasket. Rodney is forced out and shares quarters with Fender at Aunt Fannys low-rent boarding house, along with an assortment of other "Rusties" — older robots threatened with the Chop Shop. When the news gets out that spare parts have been discontinued by Bigweld industries, Rodney remembers Bigwelds slogan, "See a need, fill a need", and begins fixing old robots on his own. Upon discovering this, Gasket orders Ratchet to stop Rodney and kill Bigweld.

Rodney discovers Herb needs replacement parts. Rodney contacts Bigweld directly to beg him to restart the manufacture of spare parts. Wonderbot reminds him the annual Bigweld Ball takes place that night. Rodney and Fender go to the ball in disguise, only to hear Ratchet announce that Bigweld was unable to attend. Rodney confronts Ratchet, but security robots stop him. Cappy, a beautiful robot-executive who dislikes Ratchets scheme, saves him, and together with Fender and his new girlfriend, Loretta Geargrinder, they escape from the ball.

Fender walks Loretta home, but he is taken to the Chop Shop. While escaping, he loses the lower half of his body and reluctantly attaches a new pair of female legs. Meanwhile, Rodney and Cappy fly to Bigwelds home. When Rodney inadvertently knocks over a domino, Bigweld appears. Rodney asks Bigweld to return to the helm of his company and once again make spare parts available, but Bigweld refuses. Rodney calls his parents, intending to give up his ambition of becoming an inventor and return to Rivet Town, but his father once again encourages Rodney to pursue his dreams. Rodney rallies the Rusties into fighting back against Ratchet. Fender reveals that Ratchet has built a fleet of super-sweepers with the intention of rounding up and destroying all older robots. Bigweld eventually comes with the group, having realized what Rodney meant to him.

At Bigweld Industries, Bigweld dismisses Ratchet, but Ratchet beats him senseless. This sends Bigweld insane and eventually leads into a chase. Bigweld is repaired just as they enter the Chop Shop but is captured. A desperate battle ensues between Gaskets mutant henchrobots and Rodneys repaired robots. During the chaos, Rodney rescues Bigweld, the choppers and sweepers are destroyed, Wonderbot kills Gasket by tossing her into the melting furnace, and Ratchet loses his upgrades. Bigweld goes to Rivet Town to tell Rodneys parents that their son is now his right-hand inventor and eventual successor. Rodney makes his fathers dream come true by giving him a three-bell trumpet, and the audience dances to James Browns "Get Up Offa That Thing" as a victory celebration.

Cast

Locations

Movie director Chris Wedge says New York City, Toronto and London, inspired him to make the city. There are three parts of the city: High End District: The part of the city where the rich and famous robots live. Buildings and robots are all shiny and nearly everything is futuristic. Everyone here has a metal covering that hides all their inner workings. Bigweld Industries is here. Combustion District: Low-class place. It has numerous rust spots, and robots have the internal workings similar to a 1950s car at best. Aunt Fannys house is here, and the majority of the movie takes place here. Steam District: The lowest part of the city, and therefore the rustiest. Parts of the district resemble the inventions of the Industrial Revolution, and everywhere is filled with broken machines. Sweepers grab old robots and bring them to Madame Gaskets Chop Shop, where mutant robots then break and melt robots, turning them into upgrades. Another major location of the film is Rivet Town, home to the Copperbottom family. Two of the buildings there are Gunks Greasy Spoon and Flathead Floyds. Rivet Town is based on Watertown, New York, where movie director Chris Wedge lived during his teens.

Release

Robots was released theatrically on March 11, 2005. The film was the first to feature the new trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The film also featured the exclusive trailer for Ice Age: The Meltdown, then called Ice Age 2.

The DVD and VHS of Robots were released on September 27, 2005. The film was accompanied by an original short animated film based on Robots, titled Aunt Fannys Tour of Booty. On March 22, 2011, it was released in high-definition on Blu-ray disc.

Critical reaction

The film received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has noted that 64% of critics gave the film positive reviews. The sites consensus reads: "Robots delights on a visual level, but the story feels like it came off an assembly line." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave a score of 64 based on 33 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, stating that "this is a movie that is a joy to behold entirely apart from what it is about. It looks happy, and, more to the point, it looks harmonious."

Box office

The film was released March 11, 2005 in the United States and Canada and grossed $36 million in 3,776 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office. It grossed a total of $260.7 million worldwide – $128.2 million in the United States and Canada and $132.5 million in other territories.

Accolades

The film was nominated for many awards in the category of best animated film, as well as awards for character design, best animated character, voice casting, and sound editing. However, it only won one, the MTV (Mexico) Movie Award for best song, "Un Heroe Real".

Soundtrack

Robots: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on March 1, 2005 by Virgin Records.

Score

Robots: Original Motion Picture Score was composed by John Powell and was released on March 15, 2005 by Varese Sarabande Records.