Marc Beurteaux’ “Robota” is a wildly imaginative stop-action animation triumph set in an alternative robot world. The hero is a small wheelchair-bound robot who begs for coins on a busy street. Achieving a single coin from a passing robot biker, he makes his way to a venue where the robotic version of c**k fights take place. The wheelchair-bound robot places his coin in a bet on a small red robot rooster who is matched against a huge monster of an opponent. This turns out to be the sole winning bed in a stunning upset match that leads to a riotous fight. The robot collects his winnings amidst the violence and commotion of the fracas and heads off to a surgeon’s practice where he can pay for the attachment of new legs that enable him to walk again.
“Robota” is made entirely from Lego pieces and it is truly an astonishing achievement. Everything from the intimidating vehicles of the city’s traffic to the battling roosters to the various brawling robots are made brilliantly conceived from a seemingly endless number of Lego pieces. Beurteaux’ stop-action timing is flawless, and every movement is a miniature work of art.
“Robota” runs a mere 10 minutes and is proof of achieving more with less. This superb short puts many a feature-length animated flick to shame.
