Movie Review - Bling

Rated PG; Running Time: 82 minutes

Arriving in select-theaters today, May 6, from Momentum Pictures, is the family-friendly robotic superhero computer-animated film Bling. Directed by Kyung Ho Lee and Wonja Lee, the film features the talented voice-cast of Taylor Kitsch, Jennette McCurdy, James Wood, Carla Gugino, Tom Green, Jon Heder and Jason Mewes.

Written by Chris Denk, Hyunjoong Kim and Kyung Ho Lee, Bling centers on Sam (voiced Taylor Kitsch), a low-paying robotic engineer at the Robo World theme park. Ever since he was just a little kid, Sam has dreamed of one thing - marrying the beautiful Sue (voiced by Jennette McDurdy), who is a popular reporter at the channel 7 news.

Sam was once told "Great Men Give Great Rings," so he is determined to find the perfect ring in time to propose to Sue on Valentine's Day.

Along with his robotic superhero best friends (a pig, a monkey, and a frog), Sam finds an engagement ring, but sadly things don't go as plan when he runs into the super villain Oscar (voiced by Jason Kravits), who is planning on proposing to Sue's aunt, Catherine (voiced by Carla Gugino).

Unfortunately for Oscar, his henchman robot, Victor (voiced by James Woods) has plans of his own.

To save the day, Sam and his friends must battle Victor's minions, locate a lost ring and race across to the city to find Sue.

Final Thoughts: While many computer-animated flicks are made for both children and adults, Bling is clearly made for younger viewers as the humor is more in the preschool range. I'm not for sure what the budget was for the film, but the animation is lower-quality than the ones released to theaters; however, it's still better than most of the direct-to-DVD ones.

The plot of a missing ring is silly, but some of robotic characters make up for the script's shortcomings. The robotic world that is shown on screen is a bit creative, but it borrows too heavily from other films. For example, the robot minours look very similar to the minions in the Despicable Me movies. Also, some of the music throughout this film sounds cheaply done and doesn't fit in with the scenes.

Overall, Bling is an odd computer-animation film that I neither truly liked or hated. There is enough silliness and action scenes to keep younger kids glued to the screens, but adults might become a little bored.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary digital screener in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.