MEET THE ROBINSONS

"Wilber Robinson, what have you done?"

Lewis has always dreamed of having a family. Growing up in an orphanage and missing out on being adopted, he threw all his passion and effort into his inventions. When he makes a break through and designs a device that can show you your memories on a TV screen, a man in a bowler hat starts to take an interest in Lewis's invention. That's when Wilber Robinson turns up and tells him that if doesn't enter an inventing competition the future is in jeopardy.

When Disney release an animated movie of late the only way that you can guarantee that it will be good is if it has a Pixar logo at the start but can 'Meet the Robinson's' change that?

Disney has not released a decent animated feature since their renaissance the late 80s, early 90s with hits like 'The Lion King', 'The Little Mermaid', 'Aladdin' and 'Beauty and the Beast'. With the 2D animated department shutting down and the studio concentrating fully on computer generated animation, trying to recreate the success of their partner Pixar but films like 'Chicken Little' and 'The Wild' haven't really taken the box office by storm. There future fortunes will change however now that Pixar's John Lasseter has been made the head of Disney animation but over the next few years Disney will still be releasing features that were given the green light before he took over. This means that unfortunately 'Meet the Robinson's' is not very good.

The premise behind 'Meet the Robinson's' is fine. Time travel is a solid concept for any science fiction movie to employ and the film uses it to take Lewis into a fantastical future that looks like the vision of what is to come that world's fairs of the 1950s predicted all those years ago. This is a stylised vision of the future with flying cars, buildings that are constructed in seconds and robots a plenty. With the setting and the concept in place, all you need a story to utilise them to the maximum but unfortunately this is what 'Meet the Robinson's' is lacking.

With the title 'Meet the Robinson's' you would expect to actually meet them but the size of the family and the limited amount of time available in a ninety minute animated feature means that we don't really spend much time with them. The only Robinson we really get to meet is the slightly annoying Wilber, who comes into Lewis's life and turns it upside down. The rest of the family don't have enough time to make an impact. We don't see enough of octopus butler, the frog band and most of the human Robinson clan. There are interesting characters here but you just don't get too meet them. This makes you think that the movie was just a set for a spin-off TV series or straight to video sequels.

'Meet the Robinson's' is another example of how Disney Animation had lost its way. With a lacklustre story and only one sequence that stands out, the funny T-Rex chase, the movie is just not good enough to have the Disney logo at the beginning. Hopefully the next movie to bare Walt's name can be suitable to be called a classic.

Inventing The Robinsons (Making of)
Out-takes
Deleted Scenes
Audio Commentary from the director Stephen Anderson plus as characters from the film he voiced!
Family Tree Game
Easter Eggs: Exclusive to this DVD, 4 short interviews with some of the characters from the film

The Incredibles

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2007