"Robots" is Fun and Subversive

With the arrival of computer animation, the cartoon has entered a golden age that is, in some respects, superior to the heyday the form knew in the 1930s. "A Toy Story" not only had a good plot and a few fine actors providing voices, but it also had animation more detailed and liquid than anything before it. In "Robots," the animation is less gob-smacking because audiences have grown used to almost-life-like cartoons, but it has a rather formidable cast. What is truly interesting is its pro-capitalist, anti-corporate theme.

The plot revolves around a young robot named in rather Dickensian fashion Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) leaves his dishwasher father and housewife mother in Rivet Town to go to Robot City, where he hopes to show is invention (a little robot that cleans kitchens) to Mr. Bigweld (Mel Brooks), the Thomas Edison of his world. He finds Mr. Bigweld's company is now run by an MBA type who is interested in maximizing profits by eliminating spare part production -- robots must pay for expensive upgrades or go to the chop shop. The new and appalling motto is "Why be you when you can be new?" In the end, all is well, good triumphs, and everyone lives happily every after. It is a Hollywood film, after all.

But along the way, the young inventor makes a name for himself by repairing broken down robots. As his father told him, "Find a need and fill it." This is the creed of every entrepreneur. And even those suspicious of capitalism must concede that solving problems with practical solutions is a positive for any society.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bigweld's company has acted so as to maximize profits by acting immorally. Forcing robots to spend more to keep themselves in working order by denying them cheaper alternatives is the crux of the bad-guy's evil. Apologists for corporatism will argue that the market wouldn't let this persist for long, that someone would start making such parts, as indeed, young Rodney does. But how many visit the chop shop needlessly in the meanwhile?

This is perhaps making far too much out of a film that features Robin Williams as a cartoon character, but the fairy-tales children adopt early on do carry values with them. If it is wrong for a corporation to profit not by filling a need, but by creating it first, there might just be hope for the 21st century.

Even without the philosophical lesson, the film is loaded with vivid action, pop references for Mom and Dad to chuckle through, and enough silliness for the average 10-year-old. It even has Aunt Fanny with a large bottom, and a very good fart joke. It isn't "A Toy Story," but there are worse films for kids in the cinema right now.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home