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ROBOTS / Chris Wedge (2005)

January 19th, 2008 by Scott Marks

robots.jpg

Robots (2005)
Directed by Chris Wedge
Screenplay by: Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel from a story by Jim McClain & Ron Mita
Running Time: 91 min.
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rating: ★★★☆☆

“We’re cartoon characters. We can do whatever we want!” – Heckle…or was it Jeckle?

Hanna & Barbara’s The Flintstones transformed The Honeymooners into primitive cartoon characters in just about every sense of the word. Since then, the majority of animated TV shows and features have transgressed into little more than dialogue-driven sitcoms. Instead of logic-defying lunacy or surrealism squashed-and-stretched, we were left with upright (and uptight) characters exchanging set-ups and punch lines. It was the anthropomorphic equivalent of reverse angles and zoom lenses.

Even less thought went into the creation of a cartoon universe. Look at the cost-cutting rock/tree/house backgrounds behind Fred and Wilma next time you see them driving. Was this what Chuck Jones meant by “limited animation” when he coined the term for his groundbreaking 1942 The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall? The cheapening was a long time coming and cost-effective cyclical drawings were destined to endlessly repeat themselves.

With the exception of their prehistoric inventions, The Flintstones really didn’t need to be animated. Watch Brian Levant’s live-action update and you will see there isn’t much Fred and Barney do that Goodman and Moranis weren’t able to recreate on the Universal backlot. Imagination took a back seat to necessity. Network and cable outlets starved for filler sparked a resurgence in televised animation. No matter how funny you may find The Simpsons, it is still animated dialogue; radio with pictures. Character movement and animation had all but ceased. By comparison, South Park makes Clutch Cargo and Gumby look like Fantasia. What point is there to movement-less moving pictures?

Theatrical animation hasn’t fared much better. Disney was still on top, but the period between The Jungle Book, Walt’s final project, and The Little Mermaid reveal a marked loss in quality. Of the eight features released between 1970 and 1989 only The Black Cauldron came close to upholding the studio’s legacy. The cartoon powerhouse, forever capable of easily overcoming all competitors, was about to encounter a few spitballs.

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