Meet The Robinsons

[DreamCaster]

My oh my, was it ever a breath of fresh air in the recent string of "ehh" Disney movies (e.g. Home on the Range... shudder)...

So, we all know the plot, yes? Lewis is a brilliant inventor - and also an orphan - decides to invent a device that will show him a memory of his true mother. As Lewis readies his memory invention, it is sabotaged by a sinister "bowler-hat-guy". Lewis just wants to give up on the project however he is approached by a mysterious black haired boy with a cowlick - and claiming to be from the future - who tells Lewis not to give up on his invention. Lewis is still bummed, so the cowlick boy promises Lewis a trip to the future if he continues inventing. Lewis skeptically agrees and spends one heck of a day in the future.

Do we have any Futurama fans on the boards? Do you like funny futuristic parodies of modern life, culture and so forth? Go see this movie.

Okay, yeah, this movie was good. I doubt it will be the next blockbuster Aladdin or The Lion King type of affair, but this movie feels right at hove with other Disney originals such as The Emperor's New Groove (humor, animation, visuals) or Atlantis (scifi-elements, visuals). Oh yea, this movie wiped the floor with Chicken Little, about a half a click above The Ant Bully or Monster House... nooooot quiiiite as good as The Incredibles (almost, but noooot quiiiite)!

The opening (about the first 20 mins) is a bit rushed, the Robinson family member introductions montage also is very quick and seems "stuck in" (but with a delightful little payoff when Wilbur questions Luis about the members... get you notepad out!), but the rest of the movie is... well... awesome (not totally freakin' "Spiderman" movies awesome, but awesome none the less)... and "dor-15's" future sequence... oh yes.

I give this movie a solid "B++" (or "A - -" )... it's one of the more finer Disney Movies, I'm even bold enough to say the first step towards Disney's triumphant rise to a second golden age, but it's juuuuuuust not there... yet (but here's some good faith and hoping )!

 

[Mediocre]

Is it funnier than it looks in the commercials? Because right now, I don't expect much from it, and almost definitely am not going to see it.

I'm not one of those people that doesn't watch children's movies just because they were made for children, but I tend to be wary of them. Recently, more often than not they've been pretty bad.

 

[DreamCaster]

Funnier than the trailer? Well, this movie isn't speciffically a comedy like Shrek or The Emperor's New Groove, it is first and formoest a sci-fi fantasy moive, but yeah, the humor in this movie is about the same level of the humor seen in trailer (yes, the corniest jokes are made by the grandfather seen in the trailer, and also suprisingly/disapointingly, Adam West's character), the best jokes/preformances are from Wilbur Robinson (who really does steals the show from the main character Luis), and Frannie Robinson (played by the funny Nicole Sullivan of Mad TV, Kim Possible, and Cone High fame). Also Goob, dor-15, and Carl are some of the more funny characters and especially the "goth girl" and "the coach" (who both have sooooo little screentime and are soooo funny). The bowler-hat-villian is a really stupid (in an "incompetent boob" sense) and his "boobery" does make you roll your eyes from time to time... but there is a reason for it all (explained later on in the movie and is tied to his motive to sabotage Luis's future).

No, this movie isn't a comedy, but it's not "lame". It had some really good writing/storytelling (about the same level as Disney's Atlantis) and even better acting.

 

[Pit 42]

It looks ridiculous. Being a strong believer that Disney hasn't made a truly good animation flick in years, I'm not going to see it. In fact, I'd rather see TMNT. And that's saying something.

 

[Chill]

What happened to the Sega Swirls?

 

[WaterTails]

Is it worth paying an extra $2 to see this in 3-D?

 

[DreamCaster]

It looks ridiculous. Being a strong believer that Disney hasn't made a truly good animation flick in years, I'm not going to see it. In fact, I'd rather see TMNT. And that's saying something.

You just gotta ditch any and all skepticism and just put some faith back into Disney. Even IGN.com's review of Meet the Robinsons (here) quotes:

Meet the Robinsons is as much a re-introduction to Disney's heyday as it is a first step towards the bright future for feature animation.

I even said something very freakishly similar to this in my Topic post:

I'm even bold enough to say the first step towards Disney's triumphant rise to a second golden age...

I didn't even read IGN.com's review of the movie until after I had seen it myself (I didn't want to "taint" the experience, so to speak), but yeah the phrase "first step towards" is a great sumation of this movie. Meet the Robinsons not quite a top tier AAA class move, but it does have a good dose of classic Disney "magic". IMO it's quality is along the lines of Disney's Atlantis or Treasure Planet. It's like if you took the sci-fi elements of the TV show Futurama and infused it with the "kid-friendly" storytelling and humor of the TV show Recess.

And since Chill twisted my arm... behold(!):

Dreamcaster gives Meet the Robinsons 3.5/5 Sega Swirls.

If you retain any faith of Disney Animation studios then this movie will prove to be a delightful treat. Also Pit 42, TMNT rocked... is it better than Meet the Robinsons? They're both pretty evenly matched... TMNT definitely beats Meet the Robinsons in the "badass movie" category has whereas Meet the Robinsons has some really, really beautiful and imaginative shots and sequences and top quality animation and visuals... action wise? TMNT has maybe just 10% more action than Meet the Robinsons... the final quarter of Meet the Robinsons has a fairly good share of action... the dor-15 future sequence in Meet the Robinsons

Spoiler

the bowler-hat villan alters the future in a very "Matrix-esque" and very dark way - even for Disney - where parasitic computerized bowler-hats end up overthrowing and enslaving humanit yto create a dark bowler-hat utopia, and it's up to Luis find a way to take down dor-15, the "bowler-hat Prime" so to speak, and repair the timeline...

(so awesome) is the equivalent of Leo's "come to daddy" quote in TMNT.

DC's $0.02: both movies rock. Go see 'em.

[EDIT] Yeah, I'd totally pay the extra two dollars (the IMAX were I live costs $12 per ticket btw) to see Meet the Robinsons again in 3D ^___^!

 

[KingMewtwo1112]

I remember checking out an ad in an insert of the new Peter Pan DVD, and I saw this. I thought the character designs looked really cool, so I'll probably check it out.

 

[ZM2004]

I saw this in 3D. It was fair, at most. The computer animation was great, and the characters designs were pretty good, but that's really all it had going for it. I wasn't very happy with the story. I figured out what was going almost at the very beginning.

As far as Disney Animation goes, I wouldn't just say that Disney is the only thing that has been poor lately. Just about all animation (film and television, computer animation and cel-animation) has been poor.

 

[Xsyven]

Maybe Disney isn't getting worse... maybe we're just getting old...

 

[ZM2004]

No... Disney, as well as American animation in general, has been declining. We may be getting old, but that doesn't mean we can't judge what is good and bad.

Ratatouille is the only animated film coming up that I think will be worth anything. The Incredibles was great, and since this is going to be another Brad Bird - Pixar film, I'm looking forward to it.