Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Written by Aurian Redson & Don Hall & Nathan Greno & Jon Bernstein & Michelle Bochner & Stephen J. Anderson
Directed by Stephen J. Anderson

Now, I'm a big fan of Pixar's films, but I was rather upset after hearing they got bought by Disney instead of signing a deal with a different studio, or even going off to get money on their own. I mean, imagine a Tarantino/Pixar film, or a Michael Bay/Pixar movie, or even like an Eli Roth/Pixar movie. The possibilities are endless, and while I love the Incredibles, it is just a Watchmen rip-off toned down and dummied up for families. That doesn't change the fact that it's one of the greatest movies ever made, still, but c'mon. Imagine Zack Snyder's Watchmen, produced by Pixar. They could do everything! Every shot! Anything imaginable! But I guess the execs at Pixar saw the dollar signs and not the possibilities. Oh well. This movie, Meet the Robinsons, was Disney's first venture into full CG animation on their own, without Pixar, after their contract together expired. Which makes me even more sad, because this is a terrific film, and it proves Disney can make these hits on their own, without Pixar, and Pixar should be off doing different things, instead of constantly cranking out sequels and family cartoon movies. C'mon, somebody tell me with a straight face that Yuen Woo Ping/Pixar film wouldn't be something completely spectacular. Because it would.

Anyway, onto the movie. It centers around young Lewis, a young orphan with a knack for inventions. His roommate, Mikey "Goob" Yaghoobian is kept awake all night as Lewis works on his inventions. One day, Lewis attempts to win the science fair with his invention, which by the way, are notorious for failing just slightly. He has invented a way to look into the timeline of anyone's life, to see anything that has happened to any person. A mysterious hat with spider legs, along with Bowler Hat Guy, sneakily destroy his invention, so it fails at the science fair, and Lewis is defeated again. At the same time, an odd young man named Wilbur comes to Lewis telling him he's looking for Bowler Hat Guy, who has stolen one of two time machines invented by Wilbur's father, and that Wilbur is from the future.

In search of Bowler Hat Guy, the two end up going back to the future, where Lewis meets Wilbur's crazy family, and is sad that he doesn't have a family like it. From here, I won't reveal any more of the plot, because it would ruin the movie, which truly is something worth checking out, I really enjoyed it. Especially the vision of the future, and the way the time travel plot unravels itself, this is a well written, directed, and designed movie, it has real imagination and heart, which is missing from so many kids/family movies these days. I'm 23, and I enjoyed watching this movie by myself, and at the end, it even got an emotional response from me, which most modern dramas can't do. It's too bad that stuff like this will be relegated to the backburner so Pixar can make Nemo 2, and Toy Story 3, and whatever other sequels they feel like making, in addition to the fact that Pixar has basically dedicated themselves to making solely family movies. Oh well, guess I'll just have to start my own CG animation company, if you want something done right, you have to do it your fucking self.

9.3/10