In a world of robots, a robot named Herb announces that he is going to become a dad. He and his wife build the baby and name him Rodney.

As Rodney grows up, he gets new parts every few years or so. At some point, he discovers a huge entrepreneur, Bigwell, who is known for inventions, hiring inventors, fixing robots, and the famous quote for all robots, “You can shine, no matter what you’re made of.”

Once Rodney is a young man, he helps his father in a restaurant. His dad’s job is to wash dishes.

Rodney brings his invention to work—only for it to create an incident. To get money to pay for what his dad needs, Rodney decides to go to Robot City. He hopes to meet Bigwell and show his invention ideas to him.

Rodney arrives in Robot City and meets this enthusiastic robot, Fender. Their first encounter doesn’t exactly go well.

When Rodney gets to the Bigwell Industries, he finds out that Bigwell is not there. Rather, he was substituted with a robot named Ratchet, who has different ideas. Ratchet is against fixing robots, and instead wants to upgrade them, whether they can afford it or not. He also replaces Bigwell’s quote with his own: “Why be you when you can be new?”

Unfortunately, Rodney gets ejected from Bigwell Industries. If that’s not bad enough, he has a magnetic force on him, and things get sucked onto him as he walks away.

Meanwhile, beneath the roads is a place called the chop shop, run by Ratchet’s mother, Madame Gasket. That is where scrap metal gets destroyed and turned into ingots for upgrades. Ratchet meets his mom, and she tells him how successful she wants him to be. And to the point where the city is renamed after him.

Rodney runs into Fender again and meets the rest of his group of outmoded robots called the “Rusties.” They include Crank Casey, Lug, and Piper, who is Rodney’s sister. They live with this friendly woman whom they call Aunt Fanny, who has a large butt.

When the citizens of Robot City go to protest at the local shop since they don’t have spare parts, Rodney offers to step in and fix the other robots himself. He gains popularity and gratuity.

However, when Ratchet and Madame Gasket find out, they are not happy. So, they come up with a plan to stop Rodney and his friends.

Later, the Bigwell Ball happens. Rodney and his pals attend it. Sadly, Ratchet has Rodney kicked out after Rodney confronts him. Luckily, his employee, Cappy, rescues him. She takes him to see Bigwell. The two find him. Unfortunately, though, he will not help them.

But can things still get better with Rodney, his friends, his parents, and most importantly, Robot City?

There are so many aspects of this film that I enjoyed. One was the humor. I laughed several times through the movie. An example was when Britney Spears’s “Baby One More Time” played as Fender fought against some threatening robots.

Another strength is the character development. Rodney was very likable. He had a good relationship with his parents and friends. Fender was a good companion for Rodney.

Fun fact: Fender was voiced by the latest Robin Williams. In fact, this movie had a lot of famous actors, such as Amanda Bynes (Piper), Halle Berry (Cappy), and Ewan McGregor (Rodney).

But the biggest perk of all was the worldbuilding. Not only were the robots alive, but also fire hydrants, watches, and streetlamps. How they reacted to certain situations was creative. An example was when a creepy vendor tried to sell Rodney a watch at the train station in Robot City. But the watches said, “Don’t buy us. We’re fakes.”

The idea of building a baby and wanting a certain gender was especially creative. It took several hours of labor. I think this references to when a woman gives birth in real life. It can take many hours.

Movies often have women go into labor and give birth within minutes. Although certain changes are necessary to keep the audience engaged, that rarely happens in real life. I’m impressed with how Robots took the labor approach within a more realistic timeline, even if it involved building an infant.

As a family-friendly movie, Robots was fast-paced. It also taught some good morals, such as how one should follow their dreams on what they want to do in life.

Overall, I really enjoyed Robots. I watched it as a kid in the 2000s and liked it back then, too. But as an adult, I understood the story better. I also had forgotten some parts, so I was excited for some twists and turns.

I give this film 5 out of 5 stars.