**/**** Image A Sound A Extras B-
screenplay by Michelle Spitz, Stephen J. Anderson, Jon Bernstein, Nathan Greno, Don Hall, Joe Mateo, Aurian Redson, based on the book A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce
directed by Stephen J. Anderson
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover You can't really get angry at a movie like Meet the Robinsons. Unlike most of the painfully credulous product that rolls off the Disney assembly line, it isn't interested in killing you with its dubious moral or bullying you into some dreadfully conformist position. But if it isn't ridiculously invested in all of the things that make kidpix horrible, those elements remain present and accounted for–just held at bay long enough to stop you from lobbing a brick through your monitor. Even the film's attempts at ironic wit come off as forced, as though the filmmakers could think of no other way to leaven the schmaltz. (This despite lacking the sensibility needed to pull it off.) The best you can say about Meet the Robinsons is that it appears to have been made with good intentions–but we all know about the road that's paved with those.
No Disney film is complete without a misfit towhead in ego crisis. In Meet the Robinsons, this is Lewis (voice of Daniel Hansen), a blonde, bespectacled orphan with a yen for inventing. As such, he's constantly alienating prospective parents with his crazy inventions, facilitating the pathos for which such movies live. Lewis hopes that his latest invention will make him a name at the local science fair, but alas, it's sabotaged by "Bowler Hat Guy" (director Stephen J. Anderson) and spirited away to another time. Fortunately, future boy Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman) whisks Lewis off to the same temporal place, where our boy is confronted not only with retro-futuristic items of mild awesomeness, but also the wonderful Robinson clan, headed by a famous, unseen inventor and populated by the kind of eccentrics who could only pass muster in a Disney movie. Will Lewis get his invention back before chronological disaster strikes? Moreover, after prolonged exposure to this loving, inclusive family, will he want to?
That synopsis might, perhaps, seem a little smug. Indeed, nobody involved in this thing is intent on putting one over on you. In fact, they want the experience to be as low-pressure as possible. You're not constantly battered by awe and wonder the way you are in most Disney hoo-has–a rather more modest and inviting sensibility replaces the fascistic power-play that is the studio's bread and butter. Furthermore, there are trace elements of narrative play, with apparently unrelated characters' identities suddenly being connected in the final reel. Too, there's a small amount of irreverence that goes a long way in making it all tolerable, demonstrating an awareness that you can't simply throw out some warm-fuzzy clichés and call it a night. So come on, Travis: why the snotty manner?
Because when the lights come up, you have to admit that the filmmakers are not particularly good at any of this. Whatever goodwill you invest in this thing, you find it doesn't really give back–not because it doesn't want to, but because it just plain can't. No matter how the filmmakers try to whip up ironic wit, the jokes aren't very funny; and no matter how they try to hide the upbeat Disney wisdom, it's exposed with a slight brush away of the surface noise. The effect is not so much an infuriated response to feeling cheated, but rather a sad disappointment: these people were clearly trying, whether or not they knew what to try. Kids, of course, will notice none of this, and if nothing else the movie won't depress you by emphasizing the yawning gulf between yours and your progeny's interests. Yet if Meet the Robinsons is the best the non-Pixar animation units can come up with, a trip back to the drawing board is sadly in order.
THE DVD
Disney's SD DVD release of Meet the Robinsons passes with flying colours. The 1.78:1, 16×9-enhanced image is pretty impressive, boasting bright, bold colours that still manage to articulate the not-inconsiderable range of detail; the metal sheen of the production design is rendered without the throbbing oversaturation that mars better juicily-coloured movies. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is equally fine, delivering in the surround-cue department while taking a multidimensional approach that sounds as 3-D as the animation looks. Extras begin with a film-length commentary by Anderson. Surprisingly, there isn't a shred of show-biz/Disney cynicism in anything he says–he's a genuine person who's very frank about his personal involvement in the film. Anderson baldly states his investment in the adoption angle, having been a child of adoption himself, and he's generous with his collaborators as he describes how the project took shape.
Though "Inventing the Robinsons" (18 mins.) sort of covers the project soup to nuts (including, superfluously, most of the bands/singers who contributed to the soundtrack), it's comparatively uninformative, skimming the surface and never delving deep. Meanwhile, "Keep Moving Forward: Inventions That Shaped the World" (6 mins.) whisks through millennia of inventions, somehow allowing for liberal use of Walt Disney cartoon clips. It's, you know, for kids. Three deleted scenes feature an alternate, talkier version of the boy leads entering the future, an extended version of Will being introduced to the robot, and Bowler Hat Guy enabling his own redemption–all combinations of finished footage, unfinished black-and-white shots, and storyboards. None gives a deeper appreciation of the movie. Two music videos follow: Rob Thomas's mushy "Little Wonders" (4 mins.), which intersperses Thomas with clips from the movie; and Jonas Brothers' "Kids of the Future" (3 mins.), a rewrite of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" that's completely witless and delivered by 'tweens in faux-hawks. "Family Function 5000: Family Tree Game" is a glorified trivia quiz where you have to match the Robinson to what they did in the movie. You get three chances, and the computer administering the game melts down if you fail every time. Rounding out the package are trailers for High School Musical 2, Snow Buddies, The Aristocats, Return to Never Land, Cinderella II: Special Edition, Ratatouille, Enchanted, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and an ad for Disney Movie Rewards.
THE BLU-RAY DISC
by Bill Chambers BD-capable 3-D animation buffs have hit the mother lode in recent weeks, and Meet the Robinsons holds its own against the three Pixar titles simultaneously released to the market. The difference is, where I'd classify Cars or Ratatouille as reference material, this is more accurately described as demo material: You still won't believe your eyes (there are colours here that the NTSC alternative simply cannot reproduce), but faces have a tendency to look washed-out and borderline solarized, costing the image a bit of depth–not to mention top marks. As has become the Buena Vista standard, the film's 5.1 soundmix is encoded for uncompressed (48khz/24-bit) and Dolby Digital (640kbps) playback, with the latter sounding sufficiently robust. (I'll revisit some of these PCM soundtracks whenever I finally have an opportunity to upgrade.) Some reviewers have complained that dialogue too often takes precedence over the foley work, and to them I recommend the 5.1 Effects Only track–something that's on the regular DVD as well, buried as an Easter egg. In addition to recycling all of the standard-definition platter's supplementary material, Disney has seen fit to tack on a few Blu-ray-exclusives: three additional, if no less negligible, deleted scenes (including an alternate ending director Stephen J. Anderson insists in his video intro wasn't a tactile enough mother-son reunion); the game "Bowler Hat Barrage!" (think Space Invaders with a response time guaranteed to get you killed early and often); and the obligatory "Movie Showcase" feature providing instant access to a trio of technically impressive sequences. Rounding out the disc, Blu-ray propaganda plus trailers for Enchanted, Wall-E, and Ratatouille cue up on startup. All of the extras are in 1080p save the "Keep Moving Forward" featurette, which is 480i.
- DVD – 95 minutes; G; 1.78:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1; CC; English subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; Disney
- BLU-RAY – 95 minutes; G; 1.78:1 (1080p/MPEG-4); English 5.1 LPCM, English DD 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1; English SDH, French, Spanish subtitles; BD-50; Region-free; Disney
