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Friday, March 28, 2008

Meet the Robinsons

"None may enter lest they speak the royal password!"
"Carl, what are you talking about? We don't have a password."
"Yes we do, I made one up while you were gone."

Lewis (Fry and Hansen) is an unlucky kid. Left on the front porch of the local orphanage as a baby all he wants is a family, but his genius gets in the way. Lewis is an inventor, but his inventions always end badly (like in explosions). He comes up with his best idea yet for the school science fair, but his design is stole by the Bowler Hat Guy (Anderson) and a boy named Wilbur (Singerman) takes him to the future. After crashing Wilbur's time machine Lewis meets the rest of the crazy Robinson clan. Together they must stop the Bowler Hat Guy and his hat Doris (Sandler) and his assorted minions, including Tiny (Joe Mateo) the dinosaur.

The Robinson family: the henpecked Uncle Fritz and his cranky puppet wife Aunt Petunia. Their children are Laszlo and Tallulah, who wears a skyscraper hat. Uncle Joe works out, and his wife is Aunt Billie. Lefty, the octopus, is the butler. Spike and Dimitri are twins, and they live in the flowerpots outside the front door, but no one knows who they are related to. Carl is a robot. Grandpa Bud likes to wear his clothing backwards and loses his teeth, and his wife is Grandma Lucille. Cornelius is Wilbur's dad, and he looks like Tom Selleck (which is a joke because Cornelius is voiced by Selleck) and his wife is Franny who has a band of singing frogs fronted by Frankie. Franny's has two brothers, Uncle Gaston who has a thing for cannons and Uncle Art who has a mission: to deliver pizza all over the galaxy. Meeting the whole family is a blast.


I enjoy Disney movies. That being said I really enjoyed this film. Based on the children's book "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" by William Joyce, this is a funny story. The Robinsons are a crazy family, unpredictable but still loving. And when push comes to shove, they are there for each other. Most disfunctional family films show that, but at the end when it gets all sentimental. The Robinsons display that from the beginning and in their immediate acceptance of Lewis. The Bowler Hat Guy is the ultimate clueless villain, and his minions are hysterical: "I have a big head and little arms." The trailers for the film looked entertaining, but the film itself is even funnier. There are subtle details inserted within the film, and it is the kind of film that older audiences will enjoy (a Disney computer animated film without a farting joke...oh my!). It isn't what I thought, but I think thats a good thing. Besides that, the animation is good, and the story is uplifting: don't worry about the past, focus on the future. If this is the quality of future Disney films, then bring on the future!!

Dude, it's quotable: there are many laugh-out-loud moments and it is fun to figure out the story as it unfolds
Rent it!: it's fun for the whole family!

Meet the Robinsons (2007) 95 minutes
Director: Stephen J. Anderson
Starring: Jordan Fry / Daniel Hansen as Lewis
Wesley Singerman as Wilbur Robinson
Aurian Redson as Frankie the Frog,
Don Hall as Uncle Gaston
Ethan Sandler as Doris, Uncle Fritz, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Dimitri, Uncle Spike, Cousin Laszlo
Harland Williams as Carl
Kelly Hoover as Aunt Billie
Adam West as Uncle Art
Laurie Metcalf as Lucille Krunklehorn
Matthew Josten as Goob
Nicole Sullivan as Franny Robinson
Steve Anderson as Bowler Hat Guy, Grandpa Bud, Cousin Tallulah

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