Somewhere Walt Disney must be smiling. "Meet the Robinsons" is the perfect, unlikely marriage of manic, absurd humor, eye-popping visuals and honest-to-goodness emotional depth. It is a close cousin to the first "Back to the Future," yet it feels completely original at the same time. The 3-D animation works seamlessly within the story. It is not played for a cheesy gimmick (like, for example, "Spy Kids 3-D"...groan). In fact, it is so well integrated into the narrative that you could almost take it for granted, so it's a good thing that at the heart of "Meet the Robinsons" there is a wonderfully entertaining story. In typical Disney fashion the central character is a motherless (and in this case, fatherless) youth -- however this time it is not merely a device whose sole purpose is to leave him unencumbered to embark on his own adventure. In fact, his orphaned status and quest to find the mother that left him at the orphanage as a baby IS the point of his journey. But there's no room for sugary sap here, thanks to an almost unending stream of quirky characters and plot twists. Of course stories like this can't succeed without a great villain. In this case the filmmakers have managed to craft a bumbling villain who is simultaneously hilarious, sympathetic and just menacing enough to keep the tension going. He reminded me of Snidely Whiplash, Mack the Knife, and the magician from Rankin-Bass' "Frosty the Snowman," all rolled into one.
This movie has all the seat-of-your-pants fun of a great amusement park ride and still manages to make you (well...me) cry at the end. The deft combination of love and laughs results in a movie that stays with you well after the lights have come up, leaving you wanting more. It is rare nowadays for and entire audience of moviegoers to spontaneously burst into applause at the end, but that's what occurred when the credits began to roll for this film. "Meet the Robinsons" is loaded with enough heart, rapid fire jokes and blink-and-you'll-miss-them sight gags to make it worth repeated viewings. We can't wait for the eventual DVD release -- hopefully in 3-D. Come to think of it, we REALLY can't wait, so we're going to see it again on the big screen.
This movie has all the seat-of-your-pants fun of a great amusement park ride and still manages to make you (well...me) cry at the end. The deft combination of love and laughs results in a movie that stays with you well after the lights have come up, leaving you wanting more. It is rare nowadays for and entire audience of moviegoers to spontaneously burst into applause at the end, but that's what occurred when the credits began to roll for this film. "Meet the Robinsons" is loaded with enough heart, rapid fire jokes and blink-and-you'll-miss-them sight gags to make it worth repeated viewings. We can't wait for the eventual DVD release -- hopefully in 3-D. Come to think of it, we REALLY can't wait, so we're going to see it again on the big screen.
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