Robots (2005)
Animation, Adventure, Comedy |.
Robots is a American computer-animated steampunk dieselpunk comedy adventure produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Chris Wedge and produced by Jerry Davis, William Joyce, and John C. Donkin, and stars the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Stanley Tucci, and Robin Williams.
Development began in 2001, when Wedge and Joyce failed to adapt Joyce’s book Santa Calls and they decided to do a story on robots. It is also the second film to be based on or written by William Joyce, with the first one being Buddy in 1997, as well as the first completely computer animated film to based on or written by Joyce.
In a world populated by sentient robots, Rodney Copperbottom is an aspiring young inventor who idolizes Bigweld, a famous inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose company provides robots with spare parts. Following Bigweld’s example to “see a need, fill a need”, Rodney invents Wonderbot to assist his dishwasher father Herb. When Herb’s supervisor confronts them, Wonderbot malfunctions and wreaks havoc in the kitchen, leaving Herb in debt. To help Herb pay for the damages, Rodney decides to move to Robot City, hoping to present Wonderbot to Bigweld Industries in order to get a job there. Upon arrival at Robot City, Rodney is ejected from Bigweld Industries by the company’s new head Phineas T. Ratchet, who in Bigweld’s absence has stopped producing spare parts in favor of expensive “Upgrades”, thereby “outmoding” robots who are unable or unwilling to pay for them. Ratchet’s mother, Madame Gasket, runs the Chop Shop, an integrated metal producer that collects scrap and spare parts (and sometimes outmoded robots) and melts them to create ingots for Upgrades.
Directors: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha (co-director)
Writers: Ron Mita (story), Jim McClain (story), David Lindsay-Abaire (story & screenplay), Lowell Ganz (screenplay), Babaloo Mandel (screenplay)
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent
Cast:
| Paula Abdul | … | Watch (voice) |
| Halle Berry | … | Cappy (voice) |
| Lucille Bliss | … | Pigeon Lady (voice) |
| Terry Bradshaw | … | Broken Arm Bot (voice) |
| Jim Broadbent | … | Madame Gasket (voice) |
| Mel Brooks | … | Bigweld (voice) |
| Amanda Bynes | … | Piper (voice) |
| Drew Carey | … | Crank (voice) |
| Jennifer Coolidge | … | Aunt Fanny (voice) |
| Dylan Denton | … | Youngest Rodney (voice) |
| Will Denton | … | Young Rodney (voice) |
| Marshall Efron | … | Lamppost / Toilet Bot / Bass Drum / Microphone (voice) |
| Damien Fahey | … | Stage Announcer (voice) |
| Lowell Ganz | … | Mr. Gasket (voice) |
| Paul Giamatti | … | Tim the Gate Guard (voice) |
| Dan Hedaya | … | Mr. Gunk (voice) |
| Jackie Hoffman | … | Water Cooler (voice) |
| James Earl Jones | … | Voice Box at Hardware Store (voice) |
| Greg Kinnear | … | Ratchet (voice) |
| Jay Leno | … | Fire Hydrant (voice) |
| Natasha Lyonne | … | Loretta Geargrinder (voice) |
| Brian Scott McFadden | … | Trashcan Bot (voice) (as Brian McFadden) |
| Ewan McGregor | … | Rodney Copperbottom (voice) |
| Tim Nordquist | … | Tin Man (voice) |
| Jansen Panettiere | … | Younger Rodney (voice) |
| Al Roker | … | Mailbox (voice) |
| Alan Rosenberg | … | Jack Hammer (voice) |
| Stephen Tobolowsky | … | Bigmouth Executive / Forge (voice) |
| Stanley Tucci | … | Herb Copperbottom (voice) |
| Chris Wedge | … | Wonderbot / Phone Booth (voice) |
| Dianne Wiest | … | Mrs. Copperbottom (voice) |
| Harland Williams | … | Lug (voice) |
| Robin Williams | … | Fender (voice) |
| Crawford Wilson | … | Young Rodney (voice) |
| Lara Cody | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Cooper Cowgill | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| David Crommett | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Darin De Paul | … | Additional Voices (voice) (as Darin DePaul) |
| Dann Fink | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Timothy Gulan | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Alex Haney | … | Additional Voices (voice) (as Alexander Haney) |
| Angela Haney | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Ray Iannicelli | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Sondra James | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Vanessa Lemonides | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Anthony J. Lewis Jr. | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Marcus Maurice | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Jennifer Perito | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Kristin Reeves | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| David Rossmer | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Lyla Stone | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Bruce Winant | … | Additional Voices (voice) |
| Chris Moyles | … | Stage Announcer (voice) |
| James Brown | … | Diesel (uncredited) |
| Chingy | … | DJ Robot (uncredited) |
| Sean Garnhart | … | Diesel (uncredited) |
| Randy Jackson | … | Watch #2 (voice) (uncredited) |
| Paul Urmson | … | Diesel (uncredited) |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia