“Meet the Robinsons” (Walt Disney Pictures)
Too Complex For the Younger Kids
I’m not trying to underestimate the reasoning capacity of small children but it seems to me the plot of “Meet the Robinsons” is a little too complex for them. The storyline involves time travel back and forth and eventually the young hero meets himself in a future year. I was confused myself so how is a five year old supposed to reason it all out!
In the film Lewis is a twelve year old boy living in an orphanage. He is a brilliant child who has met with prospective adoptive parents over a hundred times with no success. As he gets older he becomes more and more obsessed with his inventions. This leads him to work all night and keep his roommate Goob awake.
One day at a science fair he meets a thirteen year old boy named Wilbur. Wilbur tells him he is from the future and is looking for a man wearing a bowler hat. The bowler hat guy wants to kidnap Lewis and use his invention for himself.
Lewis and Wilbur end up in the future where Wilbur introduces Lewis to his family. They are an odd group of people but they are all very loving. Lewis is very impressed with them, but realizes he has to return to the present in order to correct some things that have happened.
The time travel is the confusing part of the movie. Lewis lives in the present and the future, and his roommate Goob does too. Keeping it all straight would put an adult’s reasoning capacity to the test so it might be overly complex for a pre-teen viewer.
Stephen J Anderson, the director of the movie, voices a variety of characters in the film. Additional voice talent includes Angela Bassett, Laurie Metcalf, Adam West and Tom Selleck.
One of the most impressive features of the film is the musical score by Danny Elfman. It gives it the right amount of sentimentality and adventure. There are also some fun original songs by Rufus Wainright.
The movie is rated G.
“Meet the Robinsons” has some clever and inventive moments that will entertain teenagers and adults in the audience. It also has some cute and clever characters for the younger set. Still overall I think it is too complicated for small children to comprehend. But I do have to admit the children in the audience when I watched it were spellbound. So maybe they are more cognizant than I am aware.
I scored “Meet the Robinsons” an inventive 5 out of 10.
