Robots
Robots' is a lavish CGI movie from the makers of Ice Age and illustrator William Joyce.
Ambitious young robot Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor) leaves his hometown for Robot City, hoping to show his inventions to his childhood hero Bigweld (Mel Brooks). To his dismay, Bigweld has been displaced by Ratchet, who is interested only in selling shiny upgrade parts to robots, and Rodney finds himself alone and broke in the big city. Luckily (or unluckily) for him, he falls in with motormouth and kleptomaniac Fender (voiced by Robin Williams), who introduces him to his little sister Piper and his misfit collection of friends: Lug, Crank Casey and Diesel (who needs a new voice chip and is The Unintelligible for most of the movie.).
Ratchet's factory stops producing spare parts, forcing robots to upgrade worn-out components. For bots like Fender and his friends who can't afford the upgrades, this means the scrapheap -- a nightmare world beneath the city which just happens to be overseen by Ratchet's domineering mother. Rodney, as The Hero, isn't just going to sit back and let this happen. With the help of Cappy, an employee of Ratchet's who's disgusted by the way things are going, he sets out to reinstate Bigweld and defeat Madame Gasket and her son.
The voice cast also includes Greg Kinnear, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and Drew Carey.
Directed by Chris Wedge. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Japan uses "Mawaru Sora" written by Hitomi Yaida. The European theme is "From Zero to Hero" by Sarah Connor.
- Arc Words: "You can shine no matter what you're made of."
- Ass Kicks You: Aunt Fan(ny).
- Betty and Veronica: Piper (Betty) and Cappy (Veronica), to Rodney (Archie). However, their personalities are switched: Piper is a ninja-like fighter who can be short-tempered; while Cappy is much more serene and laidback. Rodney chooses Cappy, and is unaware of Piper's affections.
- Be Yourself: "You can shine no matter what you're made of."
- Big Bad: Ratchet is the public figure of their scheme and the personal antagonist to Rodney, but it's Gasket who commands an army of scavengers, though the better way to describe it from a human perspective is "cannibal butchers". The whole scheme seems to be based around giving her the parts of outmodes so she can build a bigger army and eventually Take Over the World. Ratchet pushing a classist policy where the poor are left to rot being his public cover tells miles about how screwed up this world is.
- Big Good: Bigweld.
- Big Damn Heroes:
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- Boomerang Bigot: Ratchet's mother Madame Gasket, who wants to destroy all older "outmode" robots, despite being dirty and rusty herself.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: In one scene, Rodney and Cappy briefly use their eyes as flashlights.
- Chainsaw Good: Madame Gasket's minions boast pretty impressive sawblade arms, and Rodney and Bigweld use one to destroy all the Super-Sweepers at once.
- City of Adventure: Robot City, in contrast to Rodney's hometown, Rivet Town.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Subverted with Piper. When first seeing Cappy with Rodney, she complains, but otherwise, they get along well enough to be battle partners.
- Color Coded for Your Convenience: The bad robots tend to be chrome (or rust-coated...things) while the good ones tend to have chipped paint or a distinctly retro feel.
- Crossdresser:
- Fender ends up in a skirt and heels. Fender Gender Bender.
- At one point in his adolescence, Rodney's hand-me-downs are from his cousin Veronica.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Ratchet seems to only care about money as well as the higher interests of Robot City. His endgame to make everyone in Robot City shiny screams a mixture of fascism and narcissism.
- Creation Sequence: When Rodney's parents assemble him from a kit.
- Dance Party Ending: Everyone celebrates Rachet's defeat by returning to Rivet Town and dancing to "Get Up Offa That Thing".
- Double Jump: The Video Game has the Wonderbot Trampoline.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Inverted. Madame Gasket is even more villainous than Ratchet, but she still cares about her son.
- Freudian Slip:
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Aunt Fanny: Well, hello there! What's your name? |
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- Getting Crap Past the Radar: What'd you expect when Robin Williams is part of the cast?
- "Making the baby is the fun part."
- In one scene, Rodney asks, "Who wants to get fixed?" to a group of robots. A robotic dog then covers up its crotch while whimpering.
- The hobo robot (hobot) towards the beginning has a sign that says "Got screwed".
- He does have a screw-arrow-hat-thing.
- When Bigweld comes back and is walking through Bigweld Industries, a robot walks out of the male restroom, then, upon seeing Bigweld, goes back into the bathroom, but goes in the female restroom. The sign for the male restroom has a plug and the sign for the female restroom has an outlet.
- The British dub had Aunt Fanny's name shortened to "Fan" because of this.
- "Honey? What's that extra piece?" "Oh yeah, they always put in an extra... We did want a boy, right?"
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The sweepers.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: One off-hand instance happens with Cappy and Rodney.
- Heroic BSOD: Bigweld is depressed and not even willing to go against Gasket when Rodney finally meets him. The reason behind it is given by him as the shareholders vastly preferring Gasket's profit-at-all-cost methods.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Rodney and Fender.
- Innocent Innuendo: "Making the baby is the fun part!" Rodney's parents then proceed to assemble him from a kit.
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Rodney's Dad: PUSH! |
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- Insult Backfire[context?]
- Jerkass: Tim the Gate Guard shuts the door to Bigweld Industries twice in front of Rodney. It's implied he Took a Level in Jerkass after Ratchet took over Bigweld Industries.
- Kill the Poor: Madame Gasket is revealed to be melting down lower-class robots into products for her son's company to sell.
- Larynx Dissonance: Jim Broadbent plays Ratchet's mother.
- Meaningful Name: Ample-reared Aunt Fanny (who became Aunt Fan in the UK, since 'fanny' in this country refers to a... nearby, yet different portion of the anatomy). Also Lampshaded:
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Fender: Aunt Faaaaaaannnnnny! We brought someone! |
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- Mechanical Lifeforms: Every character.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Madame Gasket, who wants to eliminate all outmodes, even though she is one.
- Misfit Mobilization Moment[context?]
- My Beloved Smother: Madame Gasket. She constantly criticizes Rachet while having the habit of treating him as if he were still a child and it's because of that the wants to be out of his mother's shadow.
- Never Heard That One Before: On the Bigweld Show, Rodney watches in his childhood, Bigweld asks Tim the Gate Guard, "Who closed this gate? You know we never close this gate!" When Rodney meets Tim in real life, years later, he asks this same question- and gets cut off with an irritable "Yeah, yeah."
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: In-Universe. On TV, Tim the Gate Guard is a cheerful-sounding puppet-like robot who guards Bigweld's main gate. The real Tim... not so much. Whether or not he was like this when Bigweld was in charge or simply became this way after Rachet took over the company is open for guessing.
- Not Helping Your Case: When Bigweld fires Ratchet, Ratchet begs for mercy claiming, "The lies I've told, the lives I've ruined! ...this isn't helping me."
- Official Couple: Bigwell and Fanny, Rodney and Cappy, and Fender and Loretta hook up at the end of the movie.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Rusties.[context?]
- Ridiculously-Human Robots: They even "grow up" exactly like humans by getting larger, even if they have to use hand-me-down body pieces.
- Robo-Family: Since this is a world of robots, robots can have their own family units and even literally "make" their own children.
- Scenery Porn: With much Benevolent Architecture, like the tracks used at the very beginning.
- Sibling Rivalry: Fender and Piper, even though they are pretty close otherwise.
- This Is My Name on Foreign: Fender claims he was called 'Bumper' before he immigrated.
- True Companions: The Rusties and Rodney.
- Urine Trouble: Subverted; the fire hydrant is sentient and tells the robotic dog "Don't you dare!"
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Rodney.[context?]
- Wind Up Key[context?]
- Zeerust: Countless robots have distinctly retro designs.