Director Chris Wedge Talks 'Robots' CGI Animation

[William] Joyce's stories "have a golden era of Hollywood nostalgia to them," Wedge says. "The robots aren't futuristic or spacey transformers. They ooze personality and personify objects that we know in our world, whether a car, an outboard motor or a washing machine."

The voice cast includes Ewan McGregor as a young robot named Rodney, "who grows up on the outskirts of a huge metropolis and wants to work with the most influential character in the city, an inventor," Wedge says.

Halle Berry is Cappy, the hot executive 'bot who catches Rodney's eye. Stanley Tucci and Dianne Wiest speak for Rodney's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Copperbottom. Mel Brooks is the inventor known as Big Weld. Drew Carey and Amanda Bynes are part of the Rusties, a gang of obsolete robots.

In Robots, "People are judged by what they are made of," Wedge says. "Many themes weave in and out that comment on the state of our technical snowballing and upgrading. We're not looking at what we've left behind."