- “If you think your family's different, wait 'til you meet the family of the future.”
- ―Tagline
Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 computer-animated film and the 47th film in the Disney Animated Canon. It is loosely based on the 1990 children's book A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce, who also worked on the film's art design and executive produced with John Lasseter and Clark Spencer.
The film was preceded by the 1953 short film Working for Peanuts in theatrical 3D screenings, and with the 1938 short film Boat Builders in theatrical standard screenings.
Plot[]
Lewis (Daniel Hansen/Jordan Fry), is an aspiring young inventor who was left at an orphanage by his mother when he was an infant. He tries to show off his inventions to parents who come to see him but one goes wrong when a nut allergy comes up. He has yet to be adopted and fears that he never will be especially since he is almost thirteen and it's hard for teens to be adopted. Convinced that his birth mother will want him, he attempts to invent a memory-scanning machine in the hopes that he can find her. He spends all of his time on the project, causing his roommate Mike Yagoobian (Goob) to stay awake for days. This makes Goob fall asleep during his important little league game.
At Lewis' school science fair, Lewis is approached by a mysterious boy named Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), who claims to be a "time cop" from the future. Wilbur says that a man wearing a bowler hat has stolen a time machine that Wilbur wishes to recapture. The sinister 'Bowler Hat Guy' (Stephen Anderson), sends Doris (Ethan Sandler), his robotic bowler hat with mechanical arms, to sabotage Lewis' memory-scanner. As Lewis begins demonstrating the use of his machine, it explodes, throwing the science fair into chaos. After being unable to apologize to Mr. Willerstein, Lewis runs out furious with Wilbur following, and the Bowler Hat Guy steals his unattended memory scanner. At the orphanage, Lewis becomes saddened that he may never know who is mother is. After going through his many invention sketches, he furiously rips them out of his notebook and crumbles up the memory scanner drawing and throws it. Wilbur who followed Lewis to the roof throws the paper ball at him pretending to be a pigeon which Lewis doesn't fall for. Wilbur tells Lewis to go back to the science fair and fix the machine which Lewis refuses. Wilbur reminds him that he is an agent of the future but Lewis learns that Wilbur's "badge" is tanning salon coupon. While Wilbur admits he lied about being a cop he wasn't lying about the Bowler Hat Guy, Lewis remains unconvinced calling him crazy, he then decides to lock himself in a room for some time but Wilbur stops him. To prove suspicious Lewis that he is from the future, Wilbur takes him to a flying time machine to take them to year 2037, thirty years forward.
After giving Lewis a tour of the world of the future, Lewis still decides to not fix the memory scanner because he can just use the time machine to go back and see his mother. Wilbur insists he go back to fix the memory scanner, but Lewis rips up the design and starts to pilot the machine which Wilbur and Lewis fight over and while arguing, they crash the time machine. Wilbur asks Lewis to fix it since his parents will be furious when they learn that Wilbur took the Time Machine without permission, but Lewis only agrees under the condition that Wilbur takes him back to visit his mother afterwards. Wilbur tries to hide Lewis in the garage of his house (even put a fruit hat on Lewis to cover up his hair), but Lewis leaves and meets Wilbur's grandfather, Bud (Steve Anderson). Bud takes Lewis on a tour of the house, during which Lewis meets the rest of the fun-loving and overly-eccentric Robinson family. Wilbur explains that his father, Cornelius, the only member of the Robinson family that Lewis did not meet, invented several futuristic inventions earlier seen, including the time machines coining the motto "Keep moving forward". Despite being provided with blueprints, Lewis is unable to repair the time machine.
Meanwhile, Bowler Hat Guy and Doris follow Wilbur and Lewis to the future and attempt to kidnap Lewis so he can show them how his memory scanner works after failing to demonstrate it at InventCo. Meanwhile, Lewis joins the Robinsons for dinner which he enjoys, despite a food fight and a dinosaur attack (which the entire family stops). They offer to adopt Lewis but change their mind when they discover that he's from the past. Lewis runs away in misery after finding out Wilbur lied to him about going back to see his mom and the entire Robinson clan is disappointed in Wilbur with Frank even punishing him. While off on his own Lewis encounters the Bowler Hat Guy, who lures him into his time machine by promising to bring him to his mother, despite Wilbur's warnings.
Lewis shows the Bowler Hat Guy how to operate his memory scanner in a dark room, but the latter goes back on his word and ties him up. Lewis questions what the Bowler Hat Guy has against him. He reveals that Lewis is Cornelius Robinson, making Wilbur his son and the Robinsons his family. As Lewis grapples with the revelation, he repeats his previous question. The Bowler Hat Guy flips on a light, revealing that they're in Lewis' old room at the orphanage, or as he claims their old room. He reveals himself as an aged and deeply embittered Mike Yagoobian (Goob). He tells Lewis that he is to be blamed for the miserable life of Goob, having kept him sleep-deprived, causing him to lose his little league game. Goob obsessed over this defeat, scaring away his chances at adoption, shut out all of his schoolmates and stayed at the orphanage after it closed down wallowing in misery especially when hearing of Lewis' accomplishments, eventually coming to realize that it was all Lewis's fault for ruining his life and the blame has been pinned on him ever since. Goob initially intended to get revenge on him by vandalizing Robinson Industries, only to meet DOR-15 (Doris), a failed and abandoned invention of Cornelius'. They cooperate to steal the time machine, able to steal it because Wilbur forgot to lock the garage door, and plotted to use it to capture and plagiarize Lewis's first famous invention, to ruin Lewis's career as an inventor. Lewis warns that their actions may drastically alter the future, but Goob doesn't care. Lewis tells his old friend that he should just let go of his past and "Keep Moving Forward", incidentally reciting his future motto. However, Goob finds it more convenient to just blame Lewis.
Goob and Doris prepare to present the stolen invention to InventCo in the past. Wilbur and his robot Carl (Harland Williams) save Lewis and the memory scanner and escape. As they make their way back to the Robinson house, Lewis punches Wilbur in the shoulder for failing to lock the garage door, revealing that he knows he's his father. Then suddenly, Doris destroys Carl and steals back the memory scanner, returning to Goob as their time machine vanishes. The scenery around Lewis and Wilbur (still in the future) darkens, and Wilbur vanishes into oblivion as history is being rewritten. Lewis enters the derelict house and discovers the memory-scanner in the garage. Viewing its records, he discovers that after mass-producing the memory-scanner, Goob also mass-produces Doris, whereupon the multitude of robotic hats took control of their wearers, something Goob hadn't planned. The Robinsons' utopian future is replaced by a Doris-controlled, smog-darkened industrial empire, with mankind reduced to slaves.
Pursued by an army of DOR-15 hats, Lewis manages to repair the time machine and uses it to go to the precise moment and location where Goob signs the contract at InventCo. Lewis causes Doris to disappear into oblivion by promising that he will never invent her. Lewis then shows Goob the bleak future Doris would have created, which is transformed before their eyes back into the Utopian future. After they land near the Robinson house, Wilbur is brought back into existence. Lewis gets Wilbur to offer for the Robinsons to adopt Goob (after he hit Goob with karate), but Goob, ashamed of what he has done, hides and then walks off uncertain of what to do.
Cornelius (Tom Selleck) returns from his business trip and panics upon discovering the time machines to be missing before meeting his younger self. Cornelius shows Lewis his lab and points out the memory scanner, the invention he was most proud of. He reminds Lewis that the future is never set in stone and what matters is what he does in the present. Wilbur fulfills his promise to Lewis by visiting the moment at which his mother abandoned him. Lewis nearly interrupts her from leaving the infant "him" but stops, choosing his Robinson future over a childhood with his mother.
Finally, Lewis returns to his own time and prevents Goob from becoming the Bowler Hat Guy by waking him up in time to catch the ball that lets him win the game. Lewis then returns to the science fair and demonstrates his memory scanner on the science fair judge, Dr. Krunkelhorn (Laurie Metcalf), revealing that she is Lewis' adopted mother, Lucille. Lewis also meets a young Franny, who desires to make frogs sing. Bud and Lucille adopt Lewis, who nickname him Cornelius, and sets to work building Carl in an observatory bought by Bud and Lucile, which becomes the Robinson house one day. Just before Lewis/Cornelius drives off with Bud and Lucille, he turns around and waves at Goob, who is also leaving the orphanage with his own new family. Bud and Lucille move into the house Lewis saw further in time where he continues his inventing, fulfilling his future.
The film ends by showing a quote by Walt Disney: "Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
Voice cast[]
- Daniel Hansen/Jordan Fry as Lewis
- Tom Selleck as Cornelius Robinson
- Wesley Singerman as Wilbur Robinson
- Don Hall as Uncle Gaston and Gym Coach
- Ethan Sandler as DOR-15, Uncle Fritz, Aunt Petunia, Spike, Dimitri, Cousin Laszlo, and CEO of InventCo
- Harland Williams as Carl
- Jessie Flower as Young Franny
- Aurian Redson as Frankie
- Jamie Cullum as Frankie's singing voice
- Joe Mateo as Tiny
- Kelly Hoover as Aunt Billie
- Adam West as Uncle Art
- Laurie Metcalf as Lucille Krunklehorn
- Matthew Joston as Goob
- Paul Butcher as Stanley
- Stephen J. Anderson as Bowler Hat Guy, Grandpa Bud, and Cousin Tallulah
- Tom Kenny as Mr. Willerstein
- Angela Bassett as Mildred
- Dara McGarry as Mrs. Harrington and Receptionist
- John H. H. Ford as Mr. Harrington
- Tracey Miller-Zarneke as Lizzy
- Nathan Greno as Lefty
- Joe Whyte as Reporter
Music[]
- Main article: Meet the Robinsons (soundtrack)
- "Another Believer" - Rufus Wainwright
- "Little Wonders" - Rob Thomas
- "The Future Has Arrived" - The All-American Rejects
- "Where Is Your Heart At?" - Jamie Cullum (written by Wainwright)
- "The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)" - Rufus Wainwright
- "Give Me the Simple Life" - Jamie Cullum
- "The Prologue" (Score)
- "To the Future!" (Score)
- "Meeting the Robinsons" (Score)
- "The Science Fair" (Score)
- "Goob's Story" (Score)
- "A Family United" (Score)
- "Pop Quiz and the Time Machine Montage" (Score)
- "The Evil Plan" (Score)
- "Doris Has Her Day" (Score)
- "Setting Things Right" (Score)
- "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" - They Might Be Giants
- "Kids of the Future" - Jonas Brothers
Production[]
After the rights for a film adaptation of the book were acquired by Disney in 2004, Stephen Anderson was signed to direct and co-write the film with a keen connection between him and the boy Lewis as orphans who grew up being adopted in 2006, two years later, the fusion between Disney and Pixar occurred during the production of the film, John Lasseter became the chief creative officer for the Walt Disney Company. When he saw an early screening of the movie, he told the director Stephen Anderson that he didn't find the villain scary or threatening enough and suggested that he make some changes. Ten months later, almost 60% of the movie had been scrapped and redone. The villain had improved and was given a new sidekick, a dinosaur chase had been added, and the ending was changed.
Reception[]
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards the animation and story. Over its theatrical run, it grossed $97,822,171 in the United States and Canada and $71,510,863 in other territories, totaling $169,333,034 worldwide.
Cancelled sequel[]
Disneytoon Studios originally planned to make a sequel to the film, tentatively titled Meet the Robinsons 2: First Date.[1] But, when John Lasseter became Walt Disney Animation Studios' new chief creative officer, he called off all future sequels Disneytoon originally planned, including sequels to Chicken Little and The Aristocats, and refocused on spin-off films and original productions.[1]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the orphanage, there are pictures of Walt Disney and Nikola Tesla on the wall.
- Meet the Robinsons was initially scheduled to be released on December 15, 2006, but was pushed back to March 30, 2007, due to Disney's acquisition of Pixar.
- This is the first film to show the new Walt Disney Animation Studios animated logo. Beforehand, only the Walt Disney Pictures logo appears.
- As such, this is also the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to use the 2006-2022 Walt Disney Pictures logo, until Encanto in 2021.
- Many references to the Tomorrowland and Discoveryland areas at the Disney parks are shown in this movie:
- One of the main locations in the film is called Todayland. This is a reference because, as the movie was placed in the future, this represents Tomorrowland.
- Many of the inventions of the future look like Tomorrowland attractions.
- In Lewis' lab in the final scene, some of the inventions scrapped from earlier scenes are apparent. One of them is anti-gravity boots from a scrapped scene in which Wilbur uses them to battle Doris. It is seen next to the unfinished Carl the Robot.
- When Wilbur tells Lewis who Cornelius looks like, he says Tom Selleck, who voices him.
- The fate of the second time machine is never revealed since Lewis brought Goob back to the future in the first one, which means that the second machine is still in the present.
- There is a goof in this movie. Lewis took off the wheel in the time machine, making it crash-land, but a little while later, it was back on the time machine.
- This is the second CGI movie that Disney made without Pixar along with Chicken Little and also the first film by Walt Disney Animation Studios released after its acquisition of Pixar in 2006.
- However, John Lasseter who saw an early screening of the film recommended changes to be made in the film which resulted in 60% of the film being scrapped and redone.
- This was the only Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be executive produced by John Lasseter until Ralph Breaks the Internet.
- This is the second adaptation of one of William Joyce's books, the first being the Playhouse Disney TV series, Rolie Polie Olie.
- This is the second film to be adapted by William Joyce's works since Blue Sky Studios's Robots in 2005.
- There are many differences from the original book.
- Wilbur Robinson is not from the future. As a result, Mr. Robinson is not Lewis.
- Grandfather is the one with the frog band instead of Mrs. Robinson.
- Not much of the personalities of Wilbur's parents were shown and their first names were never revealed.
- Dmitri and Spike's competitiveness over doorbells is not shown.
- Lefty was green instead of purple.
- There is only one time machine.
- The Robinsons do not have any pet dinosaurs. Instead, dinosaurs visit them whenever someone leaves the time machine on.
- Although Buster appears, he is not talked about.
- Cousin Pete, Uncle Wormly, Uncle Nimbus, Uncle Orbley, and Uncle Judlow are absent from the movie.
- Fritz, Joe, and Petunia were not in the book.
- Wilbur’s sisters, Tallulah and Blanche, are merged into Wilbur’s cousin named Tallulah.
- Two of Grandfather's friends, Mr. Ellington and Mr. Armstrong, most likely (or at least a reference to) Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, do not appear in the film. However, Bud does mention Louis Armstrong at one point.
- Doris' flashback sequence shows the main characters from Disney's cancelled movie My Peoples.[2]
- This is Disney's second (and so far, final) CG animated film to be rated G after Chicken Little as starting with Bolt later CG Disney animated films would be rated PG until further notice.
- In the scene when Lizzy originally held up a piece of paper reading "Boring!" in response to Lewis' show-and-tell, the paper instead reads "ZZZZZ" in the international version. The US Google Play purchase of this film also uses the international version.
- During the scene where Lewis wakes Goob up during his baseball game towards the end of the movie, two worn out posters of Toy Story 2 and The Jungle Book are present.
- This is so far the only Walt Disney Animation Studios film to use "5.1 Surround Sound Effects" (sound effects only), which is mostly found on Pixar films.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hill, Jim (June 20, 2007). "Say "So Long !" to direct-to-video sequels : Disneytoon Studios tunes out Sharon Morrill". Jim Hill Media.
- ↑ Hood, Cooper (January 21, 2023). "2007 Disney Disappointment Secretly Teased 2 Canceled Animated Movies". Screen Rant.
External links[]
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