Meet the Robinsons - 2007

Meet the Robinsons has always been a special film for me. It only received fairly positive criticism, and four years ago when I was a bit younger no one in my family liked the movie except for me. But something about the story I have found over the years to be so sweet, despite how predictable it is. So here is my review of the film, you may agree or disagree, but in my opinion this is one of Disney's best films, aside from Pixar, of the decade.



At the beginning of the film we are shown a mother taking a baby up to the doorstep of an orphanage, but unlike most cases similar to this one the mother shows signs a regret, implying she wishes to keep the child. This is obviously our main character Lewis, who becomes a young genius that's goal is to invent different things so that he can impress young couples wanting a child. But every attempt just goes bad and turns into Lewis being rejected over and over again. Then one day a boy takes Lewis to the future, where he meets a family that could very well change his life forever.


Stephen J. Anderson makes his directorial debut with Meet the Robinsons, and is a director that I have high hopes for in the future of animation. And four years after making the underrated film Meet the Robinsons, he has come back and made the newest version of Winnie the Pooh, which I am expecting to be a fairly well made film. But here with this film his direction is unbelievable. The screenwriters, Jonathan Bernstein and Michelle Spitz, seem to be writing a movie that is only for children with very little adult-like features, but Anderson takes what is wrong with the idea of Meet the Robinsons and makes it better. I honestly cannot figure out why so many people did not like this film. Maybe the voices could have been better, and the film could have had a script less childish, but the movie itself has so much depth I find it hard to believe more people did not enjoy this film. All of that aside, Stephen J. Anderson clearly knows what he is doing, and we will all be glad to hear his name in the future.


The animation was outstanding, the entire futuristic world was absolutely beautiful, and marks Disney at their very best. the actual people may not be as impressive of animation as other recent films like Up,  How to Train Your Dragon and Tangled, but the world surrounding everything was a joy to watch, and that I can safely say is undeniable.


The acting was not the best I have ever seen in a movie, but it was still good. The voices of Lewis (Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry) were both fairly solid, and Angela Bassett as Mildred was perfect for the role. But my personal favorite was the young Matthew Josten as "Goob". The young child who fails at baseball and can never get enough sleep is absolutely hilarious, part due to Josten's performance as him. The supporting cast and all of the family members were great, nothing to really praise but good all around.


Now the actual screenplay I am having a hard time criticising. As I mentioned the script is way too childish for me, but the actualy story I think was very good, plus the brilliant character development. As the film goes on the audience begins to grow more and more attached to the character of Lewis, and we all try and understand his pain. It may be a predictable ending, but we are all happy for these likeable characters, I think both adults and children alike can agree on that statement.


Overall, Meet the Robinsons is no doubt an imperfect film, and isn't one of the best animated films ever, but it works so well for reasons on its own. I am going to keep this last part in short words. Meet the Robinsons ends on one beautiful quote: "Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Grade: B+