Meet the Robinsons - review

Meet the Robinsons (U)
Dir. Stephen J. Anderson

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

So Disney fire their first big animated blockbuster of the year into cinemas this week with just a little production help from John ‘Cars’ Lasseter. It is the story of Lewis, a brilliant young orphan who has a passion for creating weird and wonderful inventions. His latest however a Memory Scanner, which he knocked up to help him find his lost birth mother (so they can become a family in true Disney style) gets him into all sorts of bother. And when I say ‘all sorts of bother’ I mean close encounters with evil mind controlling robotic bowler hats, a hungry but none too bright dinosaur and possibly the most dysfunctional future family ever…
Meet the Robinsons blazes a fun sci-fi comedy vibe that will please adults and children alike – my two sons (aged 6 and 9) were entranced and pronounced it to be ‘very cool’ and ‘absolutely awesome’ respectively. My mate Tim laughed loud and long too – especially at the more ‘off the wall’ moments such as a fun cameo photo of Tom Selleck and various oddball family members whose antics sailed over the heads of the kids.
The plot takes in many sci-fi references from Back to the Future to The Matrix and mixes a deftly wonderful combination that succeeds in both its comedy and obligatory Disney ‘lump in throat’ climax. You’ll certainly laugh – especially at scenes such as when uber bad guy demands of his T-Rex “Why aren't you seizing the boy?!” (Lewis is trapped in the corner). The dino replies after banging his head against the wall several times: “Because I have a big head and little arms… I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through.”
It all zips along with pleasing pizzazz, limiting the musical numbers to a funky swing effort by and bunch of genetically enhanced mobster frogs – yes you did read that right!? I didn’t know what to expect from Meet the Robinsons having not read the book it is based on but I came away very pleased having witnessed the high jinks on offer here.
If you enjoyed The Incredibles, this will give you a similar buzz of feel good future action and comedy adventure. Hats off to Disney for delivering the first must see all age time travelling spectacular of the year!

Darkmatters rating system (out of 5):

Action ööö - family friendly comic action
Laughs öööö – very funny- quality stuff
Horror ö – mild tension
Babes ö – nothing animatedly sexy

Overall öööö (highly watchable fun)

"sit and stay... good boy!"

Darkmatters: H O M E