A Day With Wilbur Robinson!

I, as any nineties kid would be am a great fan of Disney animation, growing up during the Disney renaissance gave me a sense of admiration for great animation, such as The Lion King and Aladdin. I also love science fiction, a fact to which this blog should testify, given the disproportionately large number of science fiction films reviewed compared to the relatively small number released. Meet The Robinsons is a film which combines breathtaking computer animation with a science fiction inspired plot involving time travel, and great well rounded Disney characters, along with an annoyingly uplifting plot, and great message, and is a surprisingly fun romp with a great cast of characters as I'm sure that the picture below will testify!

Meet the Robinsons is loosely inspired by A Day With Wilbur Robinson, a children's picture book which despite having a slightly similar premise, and illustrations showing characters which resemble those in the film, the overall plot is wildly different to that of the book, with the book not being about time travel. The overall premise of the film is that Lewis, an orphan and inventor enters a project into a science fair which goes wrong, and then he must attempt to restore order and undo the damage done. He is intercepted by a boy called Wilbur Robinson, who reveals that he is being hunted by a man known as The Bowler Hat Man, he explains that he has a time machine and that If Lewis helps him that he will take him through time to meet his mother. Drama ensues and we meet a bizarrely crazy family.

The film has a ridiculously clever plot, and has to be one of the most complex plot yet to be featured in a film primarily aimed at children. The plot as I said involves time travel and thus has to be complex without confusing it's primarily young audience. This is done effectively by giving each time period a distinguishing visual identity, and each character in each period a distinguishing visual identity, thus allowing the audience not to become confused. The film contains numerous references to science fiction and comic book culture. Wilbur has a t-shirt with the same symbol on it as comic book legend 'The Flash', the time machines have a distinct resemblance to The Enterprise, from the Star-Trek franchise, and a series of Dystopian Futures is shown, one of which has a distinct resemblance to the harvesting fields in The Matrix.

The movie also contains a theme park know as Todayland, a reference to the Tommorowland  found at numerous Disney parks worldwide. The films characters are also more distinctive than generally found in Disney cartoons, with the characters having a certain flair than usual. Disney often gets a bad wrap when compared to Pixar, especially when it comes to computer animation, however here we are given a film with a solid and clever plot, a bunch of great and distinguished characters, and a solid visual identity, and puts zany avant-garde characters against amazingly beautiful backings, (such as the one below) augmented by the addition of wacky inventions and a modern city skyline. The film is also very optimistic, and is distinguishable from other science fiction films in that it shows us an uplifting vision of the future, and makes little reference to a post-apocalyptic future except during a flashback.

The film does have some negatives, in that many of the zany characters that Lewis meets in the future can seem to be under-developed and strangely foreign, and the fact that the film can at times be seen to be unsuitable for children, and the story is mainly adult centered. Overall this film is a fascinating romp, and as a science fiction fan is a perfect blend of sci-fi and animation, with an uplifting and heartwarming message, and is one of my five favorite Disney animation movies! Rating: A-