Meet the Robinsons
Bulldog Reviews
“Meet the Robinsons”
By: Michael Pickowicz
It’s not new news that Disney Animation has been going through rough times. Unable to produce a decent movie in the past few years, the company blamed the medium, closing down all its hand drawn studios, which were used to produce classics like “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin”. Fortunately for Disney, for the small price of $7 Billion, they are now in the loving arms of Pixar Animation Studios. “Meet the Robinsons” is the first of a few movies to receive a quick script rework by Pixar before it hit screens.
“Meet the Robinsons” is an animated comedy based on the picture book, “A Day with Wilbur Robinson”. The basic premise revolves around an orphan, Lewis, who has a knack for inventing. One of his inventions, the Memory Scanner, catches the eye of an evil man from the future, referred to as “The Bowler Hat Guy”, and his bowler hat robot, Doris, who steal a time machine to steal the invention. Lewis meets a boy from the future named Wilbur Robinson who needs Lewis’s help to retrieve the Memory Scanner so the future doesn’t alter for the worse. This takes Lewis though a crazy, time traveling adventure, where he meets the family he has always dreamed of.
As you can see from the plot description, this movie seems to be every where at once. I’m going to get right to the point and state that the pacing of “Meet the Robinsons” is very off. The beginning of the movie goes so at a decent speed, but then goes into overdrive when Lewis actually is introduced to the Robinson Family. Characters are introduced at such a fast pace, you barely get to know any of them. This makes the fact that relationships are formed between the family and Lewis hard to believe. Thankfully, while most of them are one joke wonders, they were all pretty funny in their own way.
There was a lot that worked in “Meet the Robinsons”. Firstly, the over all message of “Keep moving forward” seemed fresher then most movie morals that kids are forced upon today. Throughout the movie, I grew to like the character of Lewis as he learned from the simple phrase. It’s almost hard not to like a film that truly believes in the moral they are preaching.
Another aspect of the movie that I loved was the character, Bowler Hat Guy. While watching the movie, it’s apparent that this was the character animators had the most fun with. His movements and facial expressions are unlike anything I have ever seen in a CGI film before. Also, while I’m not a big fan of bad guys who are dumb, BHG is so stupid, it’s almost impossible not to like. Basically every scene he was in had me laughing harder then any Disney movie I’ve seen in years. His interactions with his robot bowler hat, Doris, are quite funny.
“Meet the Robinsons” is a very good family film which truly has its comedic moments, mostly thanks to the fantastic Bowler Hat Guy. At times, I could even call the film heartwarming. The movie does have serious pacing problems, which does affect having any feelings towards the Robinson Family. While not on the same level of Pixar movies, it is better then most of the recent animated features. “Meet the Robinsons”, while it does have its flaws, is a good indication that Disney is ready to learn from their mistakes and “keep moving forward”. This movie earns 3 ½ Bulldogs out of 5.
“Meet the Robinsons”
By: Michael Pickowicz
It’s not new news that Disney Animation has been going through rough times. Unable to produce a decent movie in the past few years, the company blamed the medium, closing down all its hand drawn studios, which were used to produce classics like “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin”. Fortunately for Disney, for the small price of $7 Billion, they are now in the loving arms of Pixar Animation Studios. “Meet the Robinsons” is the first of a few movies to receive a quick script rework by Pixar before it hit screens.
“Meet the Robinsons” is an animated comedy based on the picture book, “A Day with Wilbur Robinson”. The basic premise revolves around an orphan, Lewis, who has a knack for inventing. One of his inventions, the Memory Scanner, catches the eye of an evil man from the future, referred to as “The Bowler Hat Guy”, and his bowler hat robot, Doris, who steal a time machine to steal the invention. Lewis meets a boy from the future named Wilbur Robinson who needs Lewis’s help to retrieve the Memory Scanner so the future doesn’t alter for the worse. This takes Lewis though a crazy, time traveling adventure, where he meets the family he has always dreamed of.
As you can see from the plot description, this movie seems to be every where at once. I’m going to get right to the point and state that the pacing of “Meet the Robinsons” is very off. The beginning of the movie goes so at a decent speed, but then goes into overdrive when Lewis actually is introduced to the Robinson Family. Characters are introduced at such a fast pace, you barely get to know any of them. This makes the fact that relationships are formed between the family and Lewis hard to believe. Thankfully, while most of them are one joke wonders, they were all pretty funny in their own way.
There was a lot that worked in “Meet the Robinsons”. Firstly, the over all message of “Keep moving forward” seemed fresher then most movie morals that kids are forced upon today. Throughout the movie, I grew to like the character of Lewis as he learned from the simple phrase. It’s almost hard not to like a film that truly believes in the moral they are preaching.
Another aspect of the movie that I loved was the character, Bowler Hat Guy. While watching the movie, it’s apparent that this was the character animators had the most fun with. His movements and facial expressions are unlike anything I have ever seen in a CGI film before. Also, while I’m not a big fan of bad guys who are dumb, BHG is so stupid, it’s almost impossible not to like. Basically every scene he was in had me laughing harder then any Disney movie I’ve seen in years. His interactions with his robot bowler hat, Doris, are quite funny.
“Meet the Robinsons” is a very good family film which truly has its comedic moments, mostly thanks to the fantastic Bowler Hat Guy. At times, I could even call the film heartwarming. The movie does have serious pacing problems, which does affect having any feelings towards the Robinson Family. While not on the same level of Pixar movies, it is better then most of the recent animated features. “Meet the Robinsons”, while it does have its flaws, is a good indication that Disney is ready to learn from their mistakes and “keep moving forward”. This movie earns 3 ½ Bulldogs out of 5.
posted by Mikepicko at 11:51 AM
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