Robots could be a really, really good movie. It has a stellar cast, terrific art design and production values, and it’s from the makers of the super-funny “Ice Age” …but this is a terrible trailer for it.

And you know why? Robin Williams.

Yes, I once found Mork from Ork funny, and his snappy banter really worked in “Good Morning, Vietnam” where it seemed very appropriate. And his spin as the genie in ‘Aladdin” was a laugh riot…again, because the character of the magical metamorphic genie seemed suited to his personality. I also loved his comedy albums once.

Why does it all seem so tired now? I think it’s two things:

1) He does it so much that we expect it, and thus it is much harder to find it funny. It’s the same reason why all those Saturday Night Live characters are funny the first time you see them, and have a few absolutely brilliant skits with just the right guest hosts…and then three years later they are as tired as Hugh Hefner on a Sunday morning. The performance hasn’t gotten worse, but once that Catholic school girl is smelling her hands and saying it’s wrong for the 38th time, it’s lost all of its appeal.

But on top of that, there’s another factor.

2) The very concept of being an out of control overactor has lost its shock. It was promulgated by Williams, furthered by Pee-Wee Herman, taken to its logical conclusion by Jim Carrey, painfully offered forth in the animated form of Jar-Jar Binks and is now being strangled to death by Mike Myers in a disturbing cat costume.

Cartoonish madness for no reason just isn’t funny anymore. Whenever some character is put forth as being insane, portrayed by an actor with a penchant for manic arm-waving and funny voices, there isn’t all that much anticipation on the part of the audience as to what silly thing he’ll do next. They know he’ll still be doing it thirty minutes after it’s gotten boring.

This is the first trailer for Robots. My advice, guys? Show more of Drew Carey and Halle Berry, and cut Williams’ character down to two or three lines.