Film Reviews

Meet the Robinsons

• Rating:
• Director: Stephen J. Anderson
• Starring: Angela Bassett
• Details: US / 102mins (G).

12-year-old orphan and budding inventor Lewis (Fry) is hell-bent on finding his birth mother and invents a 'memory scanner' that will enable him to revisit his past and help identify her. At a science show, where he hopes to impress the bored judges with his latest creation, Lewis's invention is stolen by the mysterious Bowler Hat Guy (voiced by director Stephen J. Anderson). Help comes in the shape of Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), who whisks Lewis away to the future in his time machine where they encounter all sorts of bizarre characters - including the dastardly Bowler Hat Guy. Will Lewis come to terms with the future and can he rescue his beloved machine from the clutches of the bad guy? It's light and breezy and fun for all the family - they're the plus points of Meet The Robinsons - but the story itself lacks bite. If it sounds like the plot is wafer-thin, that's because it is, as Anderson and Disney seem to have concentrated on how the movie looks, first and foremost. Meet The Robinsons certainly looks the business; it's technically stylish and overloaded with bizarre-looking characters that are both weird and wonderful. The problem with having so many odd characters is that although we get to meet them, we never get to know them and as a result we don't care what happens to them. Disney are still miles behind Pixar and Dreamworks, and need to pull up their socks in the storytelling department.

Review by Gavin Burke