Meet the Robinsons (March 30, 2007)

Meet the Robinsons is the 47th Disney animated feature film and is loosely based on the characters from the children’s book A Day with Wilber Robinson by William Joyce. It was also the first film released after then-Pixar executive John Lasseter became chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. The plot follows Luis, an orphan who, because of his genius Luis, was shunned by all potential foster families. This happened repeatedly until he gave up and decided to focus fully on his inventions. He becomes fixated on creating a memory machine in order to probe his mind to figure out who his mother was. He presents this invention at a school science fair, but it is hijacked by a mysterious villain who we come to know as Bowler Hat Guy. This event puts Luis into contact with Wilber, a young boy from the future, who has come to the past to prevent Bowler Hat Guy from steeling Luis’ invention and destroying the future. This sets up a wonderful journey through the future as Luis is tasked with repairing both his invention and the time machine that Wilber picked him up in (and then crashed) as it is one of only two in existence (Bowler Hat Guy is in possession of the other). The computer animation is delightfully charming, with fantastic character designs and great effects (the future is incredibly wacky, wild, and imaginative) but their moments are a jerky and the textures are fairly simplistic. Wilber and Luis make a great duo with the former providing encouragements, humorously sarcastic commentary while the latter is an ingenious prodigy with a bit of a temper and inferiority complex (who is also able to respond with biting retorts). Wilber, I think is the better character but drives the plot and serves as more of a blank canvas the audience can sympathize with. The rest of the Robinson family are weird and strange, reminding me strongly of a bright, colorful, and futuristic version of the Adam’s Family. The film plays fast and loose with the concept of time travel but. It also can be quite preachy at times with its message of “keep moving forward” but it is an important message for children and adults alike. Unlike the villain of the film, “Bowler Hat Guy” who asks “take responsibility for my actions or blame it all on you? [Luis] I choose you, every time” Luis decides to put his past behind him and instead keep looking towards the future with the hope that it will be a brighter place than today. This is something that resonated with me as a child and continues to as a young adult. I think more people should watch Meet the Robinsons for this moral alone. It also is a heartwarming family adventure film that keeps your interest the whole way through (and makes you smile and laugh too). It can feel disjointed at times, switching from heartwarming one second to endless zaniness the next, but overall, it holds together pretty well. The film closes with a quote from Walt Disney which I think perfectly caps the theme of the movie, “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

Final Rating 8.5/10