There are plenty of wonderful action sequences including the Rube Goldbergesque travel system in Robot City, a chase scene featuring a rolling Bigweld and a battle royale in the chop shop of Mrs. Gasket (that's Ratchet's mom and the true evil fueling the plot). There is also a lot of humor in the details of the movie. Be sure to read every sign and package for a plethora of jokes. The vocal performances range from the brilliant (Stanley Tucci as Rodney's dad, Paul Giamatti as Tim, the gatekeeper and Jim Broadbent as Mrs. Gasket) to the mediocre (Berry and Amanda Bynes).

In fact Berry and Bynes' characters are one of the bigger problems I had with the film. Cappy is apparently Rodney's love interest but we never really see why this is so. The filmmakers seem to assume that we will just believe that it should be. I know it is an animated film aimed at kids but there is no rhyme or reason to it. What makes it worse is that Bynes' character, Piper, likes Rodney and there is no explanation of why it is just a crush. For his part, Rodney doesn't seem interested in either of them and that would be fine if the filmmakers weren't so concerned with making sure we know that Cappy is Rodney's girl.

Another problem is Fender. Williams' performance ranges rapidly back and forth from funny to annoying and most of the time it stays on annoying. Some have compared this performance to the one in "Aladdin," but it's not even close. This one lacks the heart and it shows. It also smacks of being too pop-culture savvy and that brings me to my final complaint. Why are there Britney Spears and Chingy songs in this movie? It's not set on Earth, so why do we need 21st century pop songs? For me, it took me out of the moment and it happened repeatedly. It's the same problem with the Shrek movies. You didn't hear "Splish Splash" in "Finding Nemo," did you?

In the pantheon of computer generated movies, "Robots" falls somewhere in the middle. It is no "Antz," but it is also well short of "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." It is amusing and kids, with less discriminating tastes than mine, will love it. 1/2

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