'Robots' too mechanical and emotionless

To the small but growing collection of computer animated feature films comes a charming, amusing but ultimately forgettable offering called "Robots." Don't let that scare you away — this is a good movie with excellent animation, a heartwarming story and some moments of genuine humor that is well worth a trip to the theater. \n"Robots" takes place in an alternate universe populated by robots of all shapes and sizes -- some shabby and a little rusty, others shiny and new, outfitted with the best upgrades money can buy. For Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor), it is a world full of possibility no matter what he's made of. Full of innocence and idealism, he leaves his parents (Stanley Tucci and Diane Wiest) and journeys to Robot City to work for the legendary inventor Mr. Bigweld (Mel Brooks). What he finds when he arrives is not quite what he expected.\nThe predictability of the plot is probably the biggest problem with "Robots," but it is an appealing story about the triumph of the little guy over corporate bigwigs and certainly contains a positive message. Far more interesting is the inventive robot world in which the film is set. Here infants are delivered before they are made (read: assembled). Health problems necessitate spare parts and the worst nightmare of any robot is to be labeled an "outmode" and swept up with the trash. One of the most memorable sequences is near the beginning as Rodney and his new friend Fender (Robin Williams) are traveling through Robot City in a spherical train car which rolls, flies and falls through a giant, city-wide rolling ball sculpture. \nWilliams is funny as Fender, but in a relatively small part in an animated film geared towards kids, he has little opportunity to flex his comic muscles. The character of Fender was obviously designed to take advantage of Williams' talents at imitating voices, and that's about all he has the chance to do. \nAn Americanized Ewan McGregor turns in an earnest performance as the squeaky-clean Rodney, who, like all the characters, is disappointingly one-sided. His disillusionment evaporates and he simply resolves to carry on with his dreams. Only Bigweld undergoes any sort of change and it is so clunky that only a robot could pull it off. \nThe reason "Robots" cannot match the more successful computer animated films such as "Monsters, Inc.," "Shrek" and "Finding Nemo" is its lack of emotional and psychological depth. Instead, Rodney and his friends will afford viewers 90 minutes of innocent fun and then quietly recede from thought and memory.