Originally hitting cinemas in 2004, I, Robot has been resurrected in three dimensions for home video, as opposed to theatrical release. With this in mind, it represents a slight gamble on the part of Fox, who are betting on a cheap conversion cost to re-cooping its dollars. Have any corners been cut? Read on.
I, Robot is loosely (and I mean loosely) based on the Isaac Asimov book of the same name. Set in the year 2035, where robots are commonplace in society, cop Del Spooner (Will Smith) is called in to investigate the death, deemed suicide, of the co-founder of U.S. Robotics, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell). Robot Psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) assists Spooner to navigate the robot world, but when the investigation attempts to interrogate a new model robot who flees, directly contravening one of the three laws of robotics, a larger and more sinister plot begins to unravel.
With Twentieth Century Fox hitting big returns from the rather low investment to post-convert such theatrical hits, such as The Phantom Menace and Titanic, it’s no surprise that they are looking to further mine its back catalogue of successful films. But what separates those films from the conversion of I, Robot is a newly created method for conversion which significantly lessens the need for manual rotoscoping and therefore cost. This leads to obvious suspicions regarding the quality of conversion…suspicions which are extremely warranted.