In theaters

ROBOTS, directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, written by Lowell Ganz, David Lindsay-Abaire and Babaloo Mandel, 90 minutes, rated PG.

In an animated movie, anything is possible. Do it right and a film about two damp dishrags headed straight for the wringer could be the main squeeze of the year – so long as there is a spark between them, a personality within them, a compelling story behind them.

The tricky thing about today’s computer-animated movies is that the temptation always is there to push the terabyte into overload. There are obvious dangers to that. If a director is too seduced by the visuals to focus on what really matters – the characters, their relationships, the stories that bind them – the film’s soul can be lost.

That was the case in “The Polar Express” and it’s now the case in “Robots,” a technically fine looking yet dull-as-drill-bits movie whose busy animation creates 90 minutes of chaos onscreen.

As directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha from a script by Lowell Ganz, David Lindsay-Abaire and Babaloo Mandel, the film begins with the hopeful young robot Rodney Copperbottom (voice of Ewan McGregor) leaving his quaint hometown of Rivet to become an inventor in Robot City, a sprawling metropolis that makes Manhattan look like prairie land.

The hand-me-down son of a robot dishwasher, Rodney has something to prove, all right, but the good news is that he has the goods to backup his dreams. He’s a talented visionary who wants to become as great an inventor as his idol, Big Weld (Mel Brooks). But with the evil Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) undermining all at every turn, Rodney finds himself in a pinch. Ratchet plans to rid the world of old robots made of spare parts, which includes Rodney, his family, all of Rodney’s friends, and millions of others ‘bots. What to do? Let’s just say that when it comes to these buckets of bolts, someone is going to get screwed.

For kids, a worthwhile message is tucked within “Robots” – you can shine no matter what you’re made of. But this doesn’t turn out to be true for the film, which is made of a similar computer code that created the superior “The Incredibles,” “Monster, Inc.,” “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.” It’s nowhere near their levels of excellence.

There isn’t a moment in the movie when the dense visuals aren’t overwhelming the already thin story, which itself borrows too liberally from “The Wizard of Oz,” “Metropolis,” “Star Wars” and other films. As such, it struggles to mine an identity of its own. The brassy animation, while intricate, is pure overkill, computer-generated oneupsmanship that gets in your face and slaps it.

With the story and characters caught in cliche hell, the kids at my packed screening weren’t exactly riveted to the screen. Their noninterest was palpable. Most squirmed, some wandered the aisles, others spoke throughout. And who can blame them? Watching “Robots” is like watching someone else play a video game, for awhile you’re enchanted by the graphics but once the weak game play reveals itself, all interest is lost.

Grade: C-

On video and DVD

THE INCREDIBLES, written and directed by Brad Bird, 115 minutes, rated PG.

The bright, Academy Award-winning “The Incredibles,” on the other hand, knows exactly how to do computer animation right. As written and directed by Brad Bird, the film was far and away last year’s best computer-animated tale, achieving the perfect balance between compelling animation, story and characters.

In it, big, hulking superhero Mr. Incredible (voice of Craig T. Nelson) is sidelined from the job he loves when superheroes everywhere start becoming targets for major lawsuits. It all becomes too much for Mr. Incredible, who is eventually swept into a government-run Superhero Protection Program that demands he change his name to Bob Parr and relocate to the suburbs with his wife, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter).

There, they try to be ordinary citizens raising a family – sons Dash (Spencer Fox) and Jack Jack (Eli Fucile, Maeve Andrews), and teenage daughter, Violet (Sarah Vowell). The problem? All have superpowers that are difficult to suppress.

No facade like this can last, and it doesn’t. Soon, crime comes knocking again and Bob, longing for the call, secretly decides to answer. Apparently, one nasty little zealot named Syndrome (Jason Lee) plans to destroy the world from his private island in the Pacific. He’ll do so with his vast army of spiderlike robots, and he’ll show no mercy.

Enter Mr. Incredible – a little stiff with the extra weight, but still just as strong as ever – who eventually gets himself in so far over his head, only his incredible family with their incredible gifts can help him save the day. With its punchy humor, terrific animation and voice work, “The Incredibles” is a blast that boils onscreen in ways that are unabashedly crowd-pleasing but never slight.

Bird directed 1999’s “The Iron Giant,” a small, beautiful film that also tackled issues of tolerance and acceptance but in ways that were either too subtle or too retro to connect with the masses. This time out, Bird skewers subtlety to deliver a movie whose sly, perceptive comments on society, youth culture, middle-age and the importance of family are tucked within the exhilarating action. The flashy result doesn’t cheapen those messages. It’s just a more entertaining way to hear them.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, and are archived at RottenTomatoes

.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Alfie – C-

Alien vs. Predator – B

Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy – B+

Being Julia – B+

The Bourne Supremacy – B

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason – C

Catwoman – B-

Cellular – B+

Collateral – B+

Dawn of the Dead – A-

De-Lovely – B

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – B

Elf – B+

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A-

Exorcist: The Beginning – F

Fahrenheit 9/11 – A-

Fat Albert – C+

Finding Neverland – C

Flight Of The Phoenix – C-

The Forgotten – D

Friday Night Lights – B+

Hero – B+

I Heart Huckabees – C-

The Incredibles – A

I, Robot – B+

Kill Bill Vol. 2 – B

King Arthur – B

Ladder 49 – B

The Manchurian Candidate – B+

Man on Fire – B

Maria Full Of Grace – A

Mean Girls – B+

The Motorcycle Diaries – A-

Napoleon Dynamite – B+

The Notebook – B+

Open Water – A-

Paparazzi – D-

Ray – A

Saw – D

Shall We Dance? – B

Shark Tale – B-

Shaun Of The Dead – B+

Shrek 2 – B

Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow – A-

Spider-Man 2-A