Two movies

Between the house and the mismatch in our schedules, Kim and I haven't been able to see a movie for a few weeks. So, since we had almost a whole day together Saturday, we saw two movies.

First we saw Robots. Of course, I would be out of line if I weren't to mention the previews first. Robots is the first movie to show the new Revenge of the Sith trailer - the one they slapped onto the end of the OC in a vain attempt to draw nerds into the prime-time soap opera scene. Of course, most nerds either are entirely above the board and have a subscription to Hyperspace, or they dabble below the board and found the trailer on a file-sharing network a few hours later. The trailer is fantastic - I already had high hopes for the movie because of the word of mouth (despite Lucas' assurances it's wonderfully dramatic just like Titanic), but seeing it full-size on the big screen was a real treat. I'm really excited about the space battle and the showdown between Mace Windu and Palpatine. But, all we can do is wait.

Onto Robots. I've come to expect quite a bit from the animated movies these days. Pixar and the crew behind Shrek have set an incredibly high bar, and when it comes to the visuals, Robots doesn't disappoint. The story-line was reasonable, too, though there was nothing particularly original or surprising. But where it failed (to my mind) was in its delivery - where most of the previous animated movies had two levels to the story - one for adults, and one for children - Robots was aimed squarely at the kiddies. Additionally, or perhaps in support of this point, was Robin Williams. You could say he stole the show, as they say he did in Aladdin. This time, however, once he had it, he dropped it. Like Jim Carrey after The Mask, Robin Williams seems to have a hard time controlling himself - he has to keep doing more and more and more to top whatever he did before. A little bit of this might have been funny, but the director seems to have let him do whatever he want, for as long as it took, and just animated the movie around it. Too bad. I really like Brad Bird's The Iron Giant.

We also saw Be Cool. Like Robots, it was entertaining, but like Robots, the storyline paused whenever one of the characters wanted to grandstand for a bit. With all of the big names in the movie, and everyone wanting some time of their own, there wasn't too much storytime left. But, the actors are all good a their job, and they all have the potential to be cool, so the time's not wasted. The Rock is really funny; I haven't seen Standing Tall, but all of the movies I have seen him in, I've enjoyed him in. (I'm not counting The Mummy II, since he was largely animated the whole time.

Correction: Brad Bird isn't associated with Robots, he did The Incredibles, which was a terrific movie. Nobody I have any emotional investment in wrote or directed Robots, so I don't feel bad about my above comments. Thanks to Craig for correction!