Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Feb 11, 2016 0:33:50 GMT -5
Baron von Costume, starforge, and 1 more like this
Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Feb 11, 2016 0:33:50 GMT -5
Meet the Robinsons
Dir. Steve Anderson
46th* entry in the Disney Animated Canon
Premiered March 30, 2007
The 2000s were not a good decade for Disney. How far we’ve come.
After opening the Disney Vault and raking in the cash, CEO/chairman/used car salesman Michael Eisner undid all the good of the Disney Renaissance, firing creative professionals left and right, only for them to join the competition. Roseanne Barr played a talking cow, killing traditional animation as a populist medium, followed by the lowest-rated film in the animated canon.
After a decade of fighting, Eisner was forced out, and spent the bulk of 2007 railing against unions. Walt Disney Animation Studios– which Eisner had amazingly tried to shut down in 1987– had to pick up the pieces. There was a long way to go before the Second Renaissance we find ourselves in now, but the first step back towards respectability was this film, Meet the Robinsons.
Lewis (Jordan Fry) is a young orphan tinkerer who dreams of being adopted and getting rich off his fanciful inventions. On the day of the science fair, he encounters two people who appear to come from the future: a mysterious villain in a sentient bowler hat (director Steve Anderson), and teenager Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), who brings Lewis to the future to meet his wacky extended family and stop Bowler Hat Guy from stealing Lewis’ technology and ruining the world to come.
First, the downsides. The setup for this film is pretty standard; the family is a little too wacky and the first half of the second act is a little too scattered. There’s a stupid “liar revealed” moment to separate the main characters in order to build a climax, and there’s twist that you can see coming a mile away– I mean, it’s a time travel movie; your audience is going to connect the dots.
On the other hand, this movie makes you feel good. Yeah, the twist is obvious, but it’s still fun, and you really feel the emotion. The future world and characters are cute when the film steps back and lets you breathe, and there are some good laughs in there. Moreover, it’s not just a movie about the value of having the courage to keep working towards a better future. It’s also very explicitly a mission statement for the company that made it at the time it needed it most. Meet the Robinsons will likely continue to be a minor entry in the Disney Animated Canon, but it’s a revealing one, and it’s very pleasing that it happened in such an inspiring year for cinema.
Additional Notes
- *Meet the Robinsons was the 46th entry in the Disney Animated Canon at the time it came out; 2000's promising-looking but played out live action/CGI hybrid Dinosaur was added to the canon retroactively in 2010 so Tangled could be the 50th film on the list. Calm down guys, it's just numbers.
- Sign this was made in 2007: The overabundance of twee, mid-tempo easy listening music, including a song that prominently features the phrase “Let It Go.”
- Another weird moment of prescience: a large part of this film revolves around a bitter manchild being manipulated by a race of chauvinist hats. That should not be relevant.
- Hollywood still doesn’t know what school science projects are. At no point did Lewis or his classmates have to demonstrate an understanding and practical application of the scientific method with multiple data points, or even start with a question!
- That's it for March 2007, a surprisingly busy and fruitful end to the cinematic dregs of winter. For those keeping score, March had no fewer than five movies I actually liked. Spring should bring us an even bigger bounty of classics, but don't worry, there'll still be plenty of crap.
Also in Theaters
The Lookout, a star-studded and well-received film that wouldn't have caught my attention except that lead actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a character named Chris Pratt.
Next Time: Grindhouse
