Gadgets (2005 film)

Gadgets is a 2005 American computer-animated science fiction adventure comedy film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Tony Leondis, co-directed by Carlos Saldanha, and produced by Jerry Davis, William Joyce, and John C. Donkin, stars the voices of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anna Faris, Jim Meskimen, Keanu Reeves, Maya Rudolph, Sean Hayes and Martin Short, and features music by John Powell. Development on the film began in 2000, when Wedge and Joyce failed to adapt Joyce’s book Santa Calls and they decided to do a story on robots. The story follows a robot named Randy BlueSwitch who seeks out his idol at his company in Gadgets City, only to discover a plot by its new owner to cheat older robots into buying expensive upgrades.

Gadgets was theatrically released on March 11, 2005. It grossed $260.7 million worldwide against a $75 million budget and received praise for its animation, humor and voice performances.

Plot
In a world populated by sentient gadget, Randy BlueSwitch, son of Stu and Mrs. BlueSwitch from Rivet Town, is an aspiring young inventor. He idolizes Moonball, a famous inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose company, Moonball Industries, hires other inventors and provides gadgets with spare parts. Following Moonball's example to "see a need, fill a need", Randy develops a small, flying robot, named Mighty Wheel, to assist his father, who works as a dishwasher at a restaurant. When Stu's supervisor Mr. Gunk confronts them, Mighty Wheel malfunctions and wreaks havoc in the kitchen, and Herb is put into debt as a result.

To help Herb pay for the damages, Randy decides to move to Gadget City, hoping to present Mighty Wheel to Moonball Industries. Upon his arrival at Gadget City, Randy is ejected from Moonball Industries by Moonball's second-in-command Scolex S. Goobot, who was the company's current head and, in Moonball is absent, has stopped producing spare parts and inventions in favor of expensive "upgrades", thereby "outmoding" gadgets who are unable or unwilling to pay for them. Ratchet's mother, Madame Gasket, runs the Chop Shop, a facility that collects scrap and spare parts (and sometimes outmoded robots) and melts them to create ingots for Upgrades.

Randy befriends Felix Exitdown, a ne'er-do-well he met at the train station. Felix takes him in to a boarding home populated by other outmodes, known collectively as the "Rusties". Word of Randy's mechanical prowess spreads, and he is hailed as a local hero after he and the Rusties fix outmodes throughout the neighborhood, although they are eventually unable to cope with the demand due to the spare part shortage. Hoping to enlist Moonball's help, Randy and Felix infiltrate the Moonball Ball – where Moonball usually makes an appearance – only for Ratchet to announce that Moonball will not attend. Enraged, Rodney publicly berates Ratchet, who orders his security team to eliminate him. Jennie, a Moonball Industries executive opposed to Ratchet's plans, rescues Rodney while Fender is captured by a Sweeper, a vehicle that collects scrap metal and outmodes, and taken to the Chop Shop where he discovers Gasket and Ratchet's plan to use a heavily-armed fleet of Super-Sweepers to destroy all outmodes throughout the city in order to make and sell more ingots.

Meanwhile, Randy and Jennie fly to Moonball's mansion, where they eventually find Moonball and tell him what has been going on. Moonball reveals that Ratchet's greed and business sense won over his idealism in the management of Moonball Industries, and orders Randy and Jennie to leave. Crushed, Rodney calls his parents and plans to return to Rivet Town. Stu encourages Randy to fight for his dreams, or he will spend the rest of his life regretting it like Herb did. Fender returns upon escaping from the Chop Shop and reveals Ratchet and Gasket's plot. Randy rallies Jennie and the Rusties to stop them. They are joined by Moonball, who has regained his resolve after realizing how much he and his ideals meant to Randy.

The group returns to Moonball Industries where Moonball fires Ratchet, who ultimately knocks him unconscious, planning on melting him down as well. Randy, Jennie, and Mighty Wheel rescue Moonball from Ratchet and escape with the Rusties in a security vehicle with Ratchet close behind. Randy unclips Ratchet’s vehicle to break free, but their vehicle loses control in front of the Chop Shop and Moonball is rolled inside. Refusing to give up, Rodney upgrades the Rusties to rescue Moonball. Randy, Jennie, and the Rusties, alongside an army of outmodes that Rodney had repaired earlier, battle Ratchet, Gasket, and their army of workers. Randy and Moonball immobilize the Super-Sweepers and defeat Ratchet, who accidentally kills Gasket by knocking her into the incinerator while trying to escape. Ratchet is accidentally stripped of his upgrades, being left chained to the ceiling with his father.

Taking control of Moonball Industries once again, Moonball promises to make spare parts available to everyone. Later, he holds a public ceremony in Rivet Town, where he nominates Randy as his new second-in-command and eventual successor. Randy provides Stu with new replacement parts and a saxophone-like instrument to fulfill his dream of being a musician. After a shaky start, Herb leads Randy, Jennie, the Rusties, Moonball and the townspeople in a rousing rendition of "Get Down on It".

Voice cast

 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Randy BlueSwitch, an idealistic young blue humanoid robot and aspiring inventor.
 * Will Denton and Crawford Wilson as Young Randy
 * Jansen Panettiere as Younger Randy
 * Dylan Denton as Youngest Randy
 * Anna Faris as Jennie, a level-headed executive at Moonball Industries and Randy's love interest.
 * Martin Short as Felix Exitdown, a troublemaking yellow toaster-like gadget who befriends Randy and is constantly falling apart.
 * Keanu Reeves as Moonball, an elderly sphere robot moon who is the jolly inventor and the leader of Moonball Industries.
 * Jim Meskimen as Scolex S. Goobot, the treacherous and greedy right-hand-man of Moonball and Ooblar's son.
 * Brian Drummond as Ooblar, the tyrannical owner of the Chop Shop
 * Drummond also voices Mighty Wheel, a small jumpy/wheel-like robot, who is Randy's invention.
 * Maya Rudolph as Cindy Pinkdot, a feisty pink tomboy robot who is Felix's younger sister.
 * Sean Hayes as Lance Spotman, a pessimistic gold vacuum cleaner/monster truck-like robot who befriends Randy.
 * Michelle Gomez as Aunt Foster (in the US version, also known as Aunt Fan in the UK version), a motherly worm-like robot who takes in outmoded gadgets.
 * David Ogden Stiers as Maurice, a large and friendly brown muscular robot who befriends Randy along with his mute companion Dante.
 * Ian James Corlett as Stu BlueSwitch, Randy's father and a dishwasher at Gunk's.
 * Kathleen Barr as Mrs. BlueSwitch, Randy's mother.
 * Cat Deeley (in the UK version) and Laura Prepon (in the US version) as Lucy Goldberg, a receptionist at Moonball Industries and Felix's love interest.
 * Conrad Vernon as Tony, the gatekeeper at Moonball Industries.
 * Bobby Cannavale as Mr. Gus, Stu's rude and inconsiderate boss.
 * Brian Scott McFadden as Ticket machine Bot
 * Bob Barker as Fire Hydrant
 * Lucille Bliss as Bird Lady
 * Edie McClurg as Telephone #1
 * Mark Gibbon as Telephone #2
 * Tommy Davidson as Mailbox
 * Breckin Meyer as Bighead Executive / Forge (in the US version), and Eamonn Holmes (in the UK version).
 * Tim Nordquist as Tin Man
 * Terry Wogan (in the UK version), Lowell Ganz (in the US version) as Mr. Gasket, Madame Gasket's husband and Ratchet's father.
 * James Earl Jones as a Darth Vader voice box.

Production
Initially, Chris Wedge and William Joyce had decided to make a film adaptation of Joyce's book, Santa Calls. After a failed animation test in 2000, Wedge and Joyce decided to develop an original story about a world of robots instead. In 2001, the duo pitched the concept to Chris Meledandri, as a visual idea. While not initially impressed, Meledandri agreed to greenlight the film, and served as the executive producer. The film began production in 2002, shortly after Ice Age was released. Wedge reunited with the crew from his first film, including Carlos Saldanha as the co-director. In June 2003, the film was announced by Fox at the Museum of Natural History’s IMAX theater. This announcement confirmed the entire cast, and slated the film for its 2005 release.

Release
Gadgets was originally scheduled for a 2004 release, but the release date was changed to 2005. The film premiered on March 6, 2005 in Westwood, Los Angeles, and it was released theatrically on March 11, 2005. The film was the first to feature the new trailer for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, where it was reported that Star Wars fans went to see the movie just to see the trailer and hear the voice of Ewan McGregor, who also played Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, as Rodney Copperbottom. The film also featured the exclusive trailer for Blue Sky's next film Ice Age: The Meltdown, then called Ice Age 2. Robots was digitally re-mastered into IMAX format (IMAX DMR) and released in select IMAX theatres around the world. It was the first 20th Century Fox film that was released on the same day on IMAX and conventional 35mm screens. It was also the first IMAX DMR film released in the spring season, and the second IMAX DMR film distributed by Fox. and the Short film after Ice Age in 2002 Gone Nutty has release in theaters in IMAX When scrat tried a Acorn and Falling in the Atmosphere Earth.

Home media
The film, released on DVD and VHS in both fullscreen and widescreen on September 27, 2005, was accompanied by an original short animated film based on Robots, titled Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty. The film was released in high-definition on Blu-ray Disc on March 22, 2011.

Box office
The film was released March 11, 2005, in the United States and Canada and grossed $36 million in 3,776 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office. It grossed a total of $260.7 million worldwide—$128.2 million in the United States and Canada and $132.5 million in other territories.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 182 reviews, with an average rating of 6.50/10. The site's consensus reads: "Robots delights on a visual level, but the story feels like it came off an assembly line." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gives the film a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, stating that "this is a movie that is a joy to behold entirely apart from what it is about. It looks happy, and, more to the point, it looks harmonious." Caroline Westbrook of the Empire Magazine gave the film a three out of five stars and said: "Kids will love it and their adult companions will be warmly entertained - but it's far from a computer-animated classic." Rob Mackie of The Guardian gave the film a three out of five stars, saying: "skilfully combines adult and kids' comedy. But For all the imaginative splendours and a sharp script, Robots is never quite as distinctive as its predecessor, Ice Age." Common Sense Media gave the film a three out of four stars and said: "Endearing 'follow your dreams' story with plenty of laughs."

Accolades
Robots won an ASCAP award in the category of top box office films. The movie received two Annie Award nominations and two Kid's Choice Award nominations. Robots was also nominated for a Teen Choice Award and a Visual Effects Society Award.[citation needed]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:


 * 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10: Nominated Animation Film

Music
Main article: Gadgets: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Video game
Main article: Gadgets (2005 video game)

Aunt Foster's Tour of Booty
Aunt Foster's Tour of Booty is a five-minute computer-animated film that was included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of Gadgets and is a prequel to the film. In the short, Aunt Fanny/Fan gives a tour of the Robot City Train Station to a motley collection of gadgets, including Felix Exitdown, Zinc, Tammy, Hacky, and an Old Lady-Bot.