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Pixar meets Disney in ‘Meet the Robinsons’
When Disney purchased Pixar last year, the uninformed cried, “Oh no! Disney’s going to ruin Pixar!” In fact, the opposite/inverse is happening.
As the fun and touching Meet the Robinsons proves, Pixar guru John Lasseter is on his way to helping Disney restore its glory.
What many people did not understand about the Disney/Pixar merger is that Lasseter, Pixar’s creative chief and the director of the Toy Story movies, was charged with reviving Disney’s animation unit, which had been on a cold streak.
Meet the Robinsons is the first fruit of his labor, and although Lasseter did not direct the film, he left his imprint on it, giving Robinsons a resonant emotional core that has been lacking in Disney’s most recent efforts.
That core, based on the book by William Joyce, has to do with a brainy little inventor named Lewis who laments the fact that he’s still an orphan after more than 100 interviews with would-be parents.
After his latest science experiment goes awry, a dejected Lewis meets an older boy named Wilbur who turns out to be from the future. Lewis agrees to help Wilbur defeat the villain known as Bowler Hat Guy if Wilbur will take Lewis back in time to meet his real mom.
When Lasseter came in, Robinsons was mostly complete, but Lasseter asked director Stephen J. Anderson to overhaul it. Lasseter knew that Anderson himself had been adopted, so he gave Anderson a simple edict: “Tell your story.”
One of Lasseter’s strengths is his way with pathos - the parts of the movie that make you cry or go “aawww.” Witness “When She Loved Me,” the broken-hearted cowgirl’s song in Toy Story 2. Robinsons doesn’t boast anything that strong, but in Lewis it has a winning little hero whose longings are quite affecting.
Lasseter couldn’t completely salvage the movie, though. At times Robinsons is so frenetic it feels like it’s trying to be four movies at the same time. It’s part cute family drama, part zany slapstick comedy, part colorful comic strip, and part zippy sci-fi adventure.
The inconsistent approach bears all the hallmarks of too many cooks in the kitchen. The fact that there are seven credited writers bears this out. Robinsons is a real Frankenstein monster of a movie sometimes.
Thankfully, Robinsons gets two body parts right: the eyes and the heart. The movie looks terrific, especially in the future sections, which are like Robots crossed with Candy Land, but with sharper wit. If you can see the movie in one of the theaters showing it in 3D, do not pass it up. The effects are much more imaginative than in Chicken Little, where the 3D felt like an afterthought.
For all of its wild changes in direction, this movie reminded me the most of a lovable, hyperactive child. It may make a mess sometimes, but I can’t help but find it endearing, maybe because I identify strongly with lonely geeks who don’t fit in like Lewis.
That doesn’t make Meet the Robinsons a great movie, but in keeping with the film’s motto, “Keep moving forward” - shared by one Walt Disney - the movie makes a step in the right direction for the company that was all started by a mouse.
GRADE: B+
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Reviews
Comments
By Bobby K
April 1, 2007 8:05 PM | Link to this
Loved the movie. Heard it is going to be part of a larger campaign by Disney and other groups to get more kids to be inventors and inspire them to think outside the box. I don’t think the campaign has launched yet (but not sure). I heard kids should check out www.inventnow.org to check the campaign. Really enjoyed the movie.By Socialwrkr
March 31, 2007 8:42 PM | Link to this
I loved the movie. I took an 8 year old boy to the 3D version and we really enjoyed it and had a great conversation after about the storyline and moral of the story. The child I took has a “built” family vs. a “born into” family and so it really hit home for him. I enjoyed the effects and was engaged in the story as well.By bob
March 31, 2007 11:30 AM | Link to this
it was a great movie!!!