Robots
Just back from seeing Robots, the latest computer-animated film not to be made by Pixar. It was rather charming. The story is absolutely nothing you haven't seen before: young Rodney Copperbottom travels to the big city to find purpose and fortune and make a difference. He plans to work as an inventor for Bigweld Industries--but when he arrives, he finds that Bigweld has been taken over by evil profit-seeking corporate types, who have dastardly plans to make anyone who can't afford exorbitantly-priced upgrades obsolete. Naturally, he and his oddball band of friends (including Robin Williams, in a rare not-annoying-all-the-time role) have to set things to rights.
The joy of the film is the visuals. I think it's probably the most emphatically creative film of this type since the original Toy Story; the world of the robots is a colourful, genuinely original, clockwork-and-chrome marvel, with some fantastic details and really enjoyable set pieces. Watch out, in particular, for the tour of the Robot City public transport system, which is something like a cross between Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball. And of course there are little winks to other movies for the benefit of grownups (including the inevitable 'daisy, daisy ...') but they don't overwhelm things. First and foremost this film shoots for sincerity, and most of the time it hits the spot.
Most notable trailer: the Wallace and Gromit movie. Which looks, well, cracking.
The joy of the film is the visuals. I think it's probably the most emphatically creative film of this type since the original Toy Story; the world of the robots is a colourful, genuinely original, clockwork-and-chrome marvel, with some fantastic details and really enjoyable set pieces. Watch out, in particular, for the tour of the Robot City public transport system, which is something like a cross between Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball. And of course there are little winks to other movies for the benefit of grownups (including the inevitable 'daisy, daisy ...') but they don't overwhelm things. First and foremost this film shoots for sincerity, and most of the time it hits the spot.
Most notable trailer: the Wallace and Gromit movie. Which looks, well, cracking.