Meet the Robinsons: A Movie Review

Do you think your family is weird? They don't have a thing on the Robinson family.

"Meet the Robinsons" follows the adventures of Luis, a genius-inventor orphan who is on a quest to delve into his subconscious mind to find his mother. After a near-fatal disaster at the science fair, Luis is paired up with Wilbur, a young boy who claims to be from the future. He is looking for the mysterious "Bowler Hat Guy." Through a series of misadventures, Luis ends up stranded in the future with Wilbur with flying cars and robots. Luis meets up with the Robinsons -- Wilbur's wacky family. Between keeping Luis's identity a secret and avoiding the "Bowler Hat Guy's" minions, Luis must use every inch of his intellect to get back home.

The movie was exceptionally good with only a few negatives to point out. The story was fast-paced, almost to the point of insanity. Although it was able to keep your attention fixed on the screen, at some points the movie glazes over most of the characters. I didn't agree with this decesion because it made it feel that these characters were in the movie just for the sake of looking good. The characters lack depth, but the main characters are easy to identify with. However, there are several redeeming qualities that make this film worthwhile.

Overall, the computer animation and such made the movie look good. The first scene is an amazing view of the orphanage at night in a thunderstorm. It was absolutely gorgeous. Overall, the movie just looked good.

Despite the lack of depth in the characters, the characters were likable. The family members of the Robinsons were so quirky and off-the-wall that you couldn't help but love them. For instance, Wilbur's mother teaches frog's to sing and play music. The Robinson's butler was a giant octopus named Lefty, and another Robinson was a pizza delivery man who acted like he was a superhero. And, my personal favorite, were the two "uncles," who no one knew, who were living in the flower pots outside the front door. They would have contests between one another to see who could get the visitor to push their doorbell.

Another positive the movie had was the humor. There was hardly a dull moment in this movie. Most of the jokes were small and quick, and if you were not paying attention, you would have missed it. But a good part of the humor is slapstick. The antagonist, "Bowler Hat Guy", is amazingly stupid in the movie and makes several terribly-thought-out plans. He is the source of most of the humor within the story.

The most endearing factor in the film to me, would be the ending. After an hour or so of nothing but laugh-out-loud jokes and crazy characters who didn't recieve the credit due to them, the movie begins to tie together in a nice, satisfying conclusion. After revealing a terrible truth about the "Bowler Hat Guy" (which turns the plot upside-down), a theme about family and friendship emerges from the plot.

All in all, "Meet the Robinsons" is a fun movie for all the family. (Yes, even your psychotic second-cousin-twice-removed will enjoy it.) If a hilarious, action packed movie with an ending that makes you go "Ahhh" is what you're family needs, "Meet the Robinsons" would be the movie of choice.