Delightful futuristic Disney fun with quick humor and faster plot twists, 27 July 2009Pixar, headed by John Lasseter, has slowly been reviving Walt Disney Feature Animation back to its quality days of the early 90s, when Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, and others rocked the box office and captured the hearts of audiences everywhere. One of the first collaborations of Disney Animation receiving the Pixar touch is Meet the Robinsons. Of course, while Pixar's films are far superior, Meet the Robinsons is a very hyper, friendly, and eccentric film that will entertain the family without ever being offensive. While the pacing and plot twists might be a bit much for younger kids to swallow, the message and humor make up for it.
The film follows 12-year-old orphan Lewis desperately trying to find a family to fulfill his desire for a family that would care about him. At the same time however, he scares off potential parents with his plethora of ideas and inventions. One of his inventions however begins to draw people from the future, leading to a crazy ride of a story that takes you through different timelines and dozens of unique encounters with a family from the future that despite the craziness seems to enjoy Lewis' company. This movie awkwardly (and to an extent successfully) combines very fast-paced humor with deep story lines and a massive assortment of characters that will leave you entertained but then forgetful as to whom is named whom. That's what happens when you have half a dozen writers working on the screenplay.
The writing in Meet the Robinsons is its main strength and its main weakness. Its fast-paced humor (that sometimes occurs out of nowhere---try to explain the martial arts sequence at the dinner table please) hits more than misses, and really keeps the movie fresh and engaging. Yet, there is very little character development, resulting in the main hero and main villain as the only dimensional characters in the movie. The rest of the cast is just like the humor; hit and miss. The frogs were rather annoying and unfunny, but the uncles in front of the door were hilarious and much underused.
Animation is a strong point in the movie, despite not matching to Pixar standards. The art style of the future has a retro feel; exactly like Tomorrowland in Disneyland and Disney World (we can even see Space Mountain for a brief moment). The rest of the movie is quite colorful and animated with plenty of energy and pizazz. Unfortunately though, we didn't see enough of the future, as the focus is purely on the family and its antics. One would have hoped to see more of Walt Disney's 50s and 60s visions of the community of tomorrow that he expressed so dearly in Disneyland and eventually in Epcot.
One of the most interesting aspects of Meet the Robinsons is its uncanny amount of plot twists and sudden revelations; especially towards the third act. While some of it can be predicted (the more movies you see, the quicker you can catch details) the usual audience will be quite thrilled at the inability to predict how the bumpy ride of a movie is going to end. But one can't help but feel sorry for the kids—who would be utterly lost in the third act by the time changes that run rampant. Then the fast pacing doesn't help the kids at all. At least they have some wonderful music to listen to while being lost, courtesy of Danny Elfman.
Bottom Line: Meet the Robinsons is one of the deeper rated-G films seen in recent times. Basically Meet the Robinsons is the inferior yet happier version of Wall-E; it's a children's film with deep adult values and a detailed vision of the future. The difference is, Wall-E's future looks very depressing, and we didn't see enough of Robinson's future. The zany humor is what keeps the movie afloat and the kids awake, while throwbacks to retro-future imagination and an engaging plot covering decades and different timelines will be sure to keep the parents and adults in check. After a slew of disappointing projects (Dinosaur, Atlantis, especially Chicken Little) Pixar has breathed new life into Disney animation. Maybe in the future we will see a new Disney Renaissance. In the meantime, Disney "moves forward" with a delightful family film that isn't spectacular, but will not disappoint either.
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