by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
B+ Rated G 94 min.
After last year’s runaway hit, Cars, Disney is trying to strike gold once again with their latest animated feature Meet the Robinsons. The CGI kids flick, which has already made over $25 million, securing a #2 spot at the box office, is now in theaters.
Twelve years ago a baby boy was dropped off at an orphanage. Today, the kid is all grown up and destined for science greatness. Lewis (voiced by both Daniel Hansen and Jorden Fry) is constantly coming up with ways to make the world we live in better. Unfortunately, many of his inventions blow up in his face… literally. But, the young scientist never gives up. This trait has made it difficult for Mildred (Angela Bassett) who has been trying to place Lewis in a home for years. Its even worse for his roommate Michael “Goob” Yagoobian (Matthew Josten), who can never get any sleep thanks to all of the inventor’s late-night tinkering. Depressed over his latest failed interview with prospective parents, Lewis resolves to build a machine that would help him remember what his mother looked like in hopes that he can track her down and persuade her to take him back. Lewis spends all his time on the project and eventually perfects it, taking it to the school science fair to try it out for the first time. Once there, Lewis meets an odd kid named Wilber (Wesley Singerman), who claims to be from the future. Wilber explains that a man in a bowler hat stole a time machine and is after his invention. Lewis, of course, thinks the kid’s gone nuts and ignores his warnings. When the machine goes haywire thanks to the mysterious Bowler Hat Guy (Steve Anderson), Lewis fails to put two and two together and sulks, leaving the memory-boosting invention in the clutches of the bad guy. To convince Lewis that the future depends on getting the invention back, Wilber decides to take him back to his time, where the young scientist gets to see and experience things he’s only dreamed of, including Wilber’s wacky family.
Meet the Robinsons is the 46th animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and is based on the children’s book “A Day with Wilbur Robinson,” by William Joyce. The film can be seen in standard 2D or in 3D at select theaters here on the First Coast. At the showing I attended, the movie was preceded by a Mickey Mouse short from 1938 called “Boat Builder,” which was a really fun addition.
For a while now I’ve been really into time travel movies. Now, I’m no Steven Hawking, but I do have a very basic cinematic idea about the “rules” of time travel and Meet the Robinsons breaks all of them. Setting aside what I’ve learned from flicks like Donnie Darko, The Butterfly Effect, Primer and The Terminator, a little bit of easy logic pokes holes in, out, up and down the film’s plot. For a second or two, I was sitting in the theater getting annoyed. But, I soon realized my mistake: I was analyzing a children’s film. This is the same venue where cats and mice hit each other over the heads with frying pans and dogs are caped crusaders and children can fly with the help of magical pixie dust. Trying to fit any cartoon in some adult-loving, perfectly logical, completely realistic box is about as ridiculous as you can get. I tried to look at Meet the Robinsons from my kid’s perspective and discovered that the film is funny, smart and a lot of fun. The animation is, as I’m sure is no big surprise, out of this world and the crazy characters are hilariously endearing. Kids will love seeing Lewis save the day and moms and dads will get a kick at some of the gags that were, undoubtedly, created just for them. There was even a moment or two at the end that choked me up a little, particularly a very sweet Walt Disney quote that the film drew inspiration from. It was both touching and encouraging to see the Mouse House paying homage to their founder.
While some aspects of the story were a bit outlandish (and what cartoon isn’t?), Meet the Robinsons is a great film for families to see together. I highly recommend this charming little sci-fi picture. It’s fun without being cheesy, cute without being fluffy and touching without being syrupy.
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