Robot Meets World, World likes Pixar Better Fox feature-length animation a poor man s stab at quality cartoons Iris Tse, The Gateway (University of Alberta) EDMONTON (CUP)—Poor Fox. Pixar has so many Oscars, they practically have to use the statuettes as doorstops around the office. DreamWorks found a franchise in Shrek, thanks to the public’s perpetual fas- cination with fart jokes. But Fox has always been the poor man’s DreamWorks, which is in turn the poor man’s Pixar. Fox’s last animated feature, Ice Age, with Ray Romano as the top-billed actor, fea- tured a humble cast when compared to the likes of DreamWorks and Pixar voice stars like Mike Myers, Will Smith, Ellen Degeneres, Billy Crystal, and the like. But with Robots, Fox wants to show that they’re not going to be third-place forev- et. Like that guy down the street with the ridiculously large Hummer, Fox obviously tries to overcompensate for its diminutive stature through their ridiculous stunt-cast- ing in Robots. It’s like a celebrity poker game. “We see Shark Tale’s Angelina Jolie and raise you a Halle Berry. “We see Shrek’s Eddie Murphy and raise you a Robin Williams and Drew Carey. Hell, we'll even throw in Paul Giamatti and Jay Leno in unrecognizable cameos.” Robots follows the formulaic, kid-friendly storyline of boy-meets- world-and-boy-learns-life-lesson. The boy, or more correctly, robot, in question is Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor, minus the accent), who dreams of being an inventor working for Big Weld (Mel Brooks). But Big Weld’s company is taken over by Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), a pinstripe-suit-wearing, spiffy- looking robot still attached to the apron strings of his mother. Rodney then embarks on a revolution of sorts to bring back Big Weld, as well as the much-need- ed spare parts that every robot requires. Throw in a requisite comedic sidekick (Robin Williams), friends and family of comedic sidekick (Drew Carey, Amanda Bynes), and a girl with a heart of gold (Halle Berry), and you’ve got every single cliché catering to the Nickelodeon demo- graphic. Though the cast brings instant name recognition to the movie, they don’t add much more than that. Only Williams, who replicates his usual brash, exuberant comedic self in his tole, is memorable. The rest manage to fit their voices to the traits of their respective characters: Brooks as the gravel-voiced eccentric mil- lionaire, McGregor as the pragmatic Rodney, and Bynes as the shrill teenage girl. But you can’t automatically associate their voices with their faces and they sound no different from any other name- less voice actors. Berry’s voice acting is by far the worst. Unlike better celebrity cartoon voices— for example, Ellen Degeneres as Dory in Finding Nemo—there is nothing unique about Berry’s inflection or the way she delivers her lines. Her generic female voice could have been easily replaced with ainMeHG RPGS =did §=BNbEP bi someone cheaper and more (or less) des- perate for work. Casting aside, the animation is much slicker than Ice Age. The shiny brush-metal surface of the upgraded robots nicely jux- taposes the enamel-coated body parts of the older robots. Details such as a hint of rust and a speck of peeled paint make these robots even more realistic. In addi- tion, the animators have given Robotcity an overwhelming cityscape full of gears, pulleys, and tracks. The public transporta- tion there resembles both a hyperactive pinball machine and a hair-raising roller- coaster ride. The writers pepper the script with subtle puns and blatant references for both the kids and their accompanying par- ents. One scene featuring Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby One More Time” choreog- raphy elicited laughs from the entire theatre. But the story still feels lacking. Perhaps it’s trying too hard to live up to Pixar and DreamWorks. But like that unpopular kid from the AV club who tries too hard to impress the cool kids with movie references, the funny lines become contrived and tiring after a while. This is not a sloppy production, but Fox has room for improvement. Considering Robots looks so cool, you can't help ponder what some of the upcoming Pixar and DreamWorks proj- ects ate going to be like. Thirsty Student and the Pinot Myth Wine selection not just for grown ups anymore Andrew Bernardo, The Athenaeum (Acadia University) WOLFVILLE, NS (CUP)—For many students, the movie Sideways was a brief introduction to the world of wine, one that many had never considered entering before that time. However, during my most recent trip to the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission, I was perturbed to overhear a conversation between two students concerning both the incredible value of all pinot noirs and the possibility of finding a food match for their wine. A few things were wrong with their conversation on a surface level. One, find- ing a good pinot noir is probably harder - than finding a needle in a haystack, and two, never match a food to the wine— match a wine to the food. Wine is probably the most complex beverage on the planet. While I have been advocating imported beer for the duration March 23/2005 of the year, the imports available to us represent only a small but fine portion of the international beer market. However, wine importing is far less selective. Both the public and private wine-and- spirit industries are clouded by slush-fund slough offs and expensive business din- ners designed to woo the importing representative. In Canada, government-run liquor stores can make or break a winemaker abroad. A small wine producer in Chile who produces 6,000 cases a year could have their entire product purchased by a public or private liquor corporation regardless of its quality—if they play their cards right. Although Sideways was an Academy Award-class film, it was primarily funded by the California Wine Bureau. Consequently, in the movie, California— especially Santa Barbara County, Sonoma County, and Napa Valley—wines receive almost infallible reviews from Paul Giamatti. His reverence for pinot noir and hatred for merlot gives the viewer a foul taste for anything but pinot when they are Kat Code purchasing wine during their next visit to the liquor store. However, pinot noir has been under ‘the greatest scrutiny in California of late. Unusually hot conditions and unsettlingly sporadic rainfall has affected the very del- icate pinot grapes. Sonoma’s pinot noirs continued on page 16 www.theotherpress.ca | 15