In Meet the Robinsons, pre-teen inventor and lonely orphan Lewis is whisked away into the future by mysterious Wilbur to prevent Bowler Hat Guy from disrupting the time-space continuum. Here, he meets the bizarre family he never had.
Stilted 3-D animation, missing the grace of Disney´s co-productions with Pixar, is off-putting at first but the retro-50´s design (with a dash of Tim Burton) eventually becomes infectious.
Kitchen sink approach to entertainment throws in everything from a T-Rex to Adam West, but pacing is all over the place; beginning and end drag on, while the midsection moves at a breakneck speed (providing some great fun if you can keep up with it).
Pic completely muddles time travel logic by the end, but the intended audience shouldn´t care (though they may be confused – I certainly was).
No classic – not by a longshot – but a pleasant enough time-waster for kids with a few choice gags for adults (the best: a completely off-the-cuff Tom Selleck reference).
Original music by Danny Elfman and Rufus Wainwright.
