| Meet the Robinsons | |
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Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Steve Anderson |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | William Joyce |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Editing by | Ellen Keneshea |
| Studio | Walt Disney Animation Studios |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 23, 2007 (United Kingdom) March 30, 2007 (United States) |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $169,333,034 |
Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 American computer-animated family film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 30, 2007. The forty-seventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, the film was released in both the United States and the United Kingdom in standard and Disney Digital 3-D versions in the United States. Its standard version in the UK on March 30, 2007. The film is based on the book A Day with Wilbur Robinson, by William Joyce. The film originally had the same title as the book. The voice cast includes Jordan Fry, Harland Williams, Tom Kenny, Steve Anderson, Laurie Metcalf, Adam West, Tom Selleck & Angela Bassett. It was released on DVD-Video and Blu-ray on October 23, 2007.
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Lewis is an aspiring young inventor at an orphanage whose inventions have been scaring off potential parents. He decides that his mother is the only one who truly loves him and works on a machine to scan his memory to locate her. Unfortunately, this keeps his roommate Michael "Goob" Yagoobian awake, which then causes Goob to fall asleep during an important Little League game.
Taking his memory scanner to his school's science fair, Lewis meets Wilbur Robinson, a mysterious boy claiming to be a time cop from the future. Wilbur needs to recover a time machine that a man wearing a bowler hat has stolen. Lewis tries to demonstrate the scanner, but it falls apart, throwing the science fair into chaos. Upset, Lewis leaves while the Bowler Hat Guy, with the help of a robotic bowler hat named Doris, repairs and steals the scanner.
Wilbur meets Lewis at the orphanage and asks him to repair the scanner. Lewis agrees to do so only if Wilbur can prove he is telling the truth, which Wilbur does by taking them to the year 2037 in a second time machine. When they arrive, however, Lewis says he can use the time machine instead of the scanner, and he and Wilbur get into an argument and crash. Wilbur then asks Lewis to fix the time machine, but Lewis has another condition: Wilbur has to take him to visit his mother afterward. Reluctantly, Wilbur agrees and hides Lewis in the garage. Lewis doesn't stay there for long, however, and ends up meeting the rest of the Robinsons except for Cornelius, Wilbur's father.
Following Lewis, the Bowler Hat Guy and Doris unsuccessfully try to kidnap him. Meanwhile, the Robinsons offer to adopt Lewis, but change their mind when they learn that he's from the past. Wilbur also admits to lying to Lewis about taking him back to see his mom, causing Lewis to run off in disgust.
Lewis then discovers that the Bowler Hat Guy is a grown-up version of Goob. After losing the Little League game, Goob had become so bitter that he was never adopted and remained in the orphanage long after it closed. Doris was "DOR-15," one of Lewis' failed and abandoned inventions. They both blamed Lewis for their misfortunes and decided to ruin his career by stealing the memory scanner and claiming credit for it. Leaving Lewis behind, they take off with the scanner, drastically altering the future to a world minus Wilbur and dominated by Doris clones. Lewis repairs the second time machine, goes to confront Doris and destroys her by promising to never invent her, restoring the future to its utopian self.
Back in Wilbur's time, Lewis finally meets Cornelius, who is a grown-up version of Lewis. Cornelius explains how the memory scanner had started their successful career, which persuades Lewis to return to the science fair. Wilbur takes Lewis back, but makes one stop first: as he promised, he takes Lewis back to when his mother abandoned him. Lewis nearly stops her from leaving the infant at the orphanage, but decides not to, explaining to Wilbur that he already has a family.
Wilbur drops Lewis off in his own time and leaves. Lewis heads to the fair, but enroute wakes up Goob just in time for him to make the winning catch. Back at the fair, Lewis asks for one more chance to demonstrate his scanner, which this time succeeds. He is adopted by Lucille, one of the science fair judges, and her husband Bud, who nickname him "Cornelius" and take him to their home. As Lewis leaves, he turns and waves at Goob, who is also leaving the orphanage with a family of his own and a Little League trophy. The movie ends with a quote by Walt Disney containing Lewis/Cornelius' motto: "Keep Moving Forward."
Additional Voices by Cameron Covell, Cooper Cowgill, David Cowgill, Makeena Cowgill, Terri Douglas, Jackie Gonneau, Mick Hazen, Shannon O'Connor, Jordan Del Spina, Lynwood Robinson, Grace Rolek, Greyson Spann, Krista Swan, and Fred Tatasciore.
As 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 for the movie, he told the director Stephen Anderson that he did not 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.[1]
Over 600 REAL D Cinema digital 3D-equipped theaters presented Disney Digital 3-D version of the film.[2] The 3D version was preceded by the 1953 Chip 'n Dale 3D short Working for Peanuts.[3] The final credits of the 3D version were left two-dimensional, except for the names of those who converted the film to 3D.
The film grossed $25,123,781 on its opening weekend, falling behind Blades of Glory. 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.
The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 66% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 132 reviews.[4] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 61 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.[5]
Realmovienews stated that it has "a snappy plot that demands close attention as it whizzes back and forth in the space-time continuum, touching on serious ideas and proposing some rather disturbing alternate realities. And the witty story twists are handled with rare subtlety and intelligence. In the end it may get a little weepy and inspirational. But it's so charming that we don't mind at all".[6] Danny Minton of the Beaumont Journal said that "The Robinsons might not be a family you want to hang out with, but they sure were fun to meet in this imaginative and beautiful 3-D experience".[7] Andrew L. Urban of Australian Urban Cinefile said that "Walt Disney stood for fantasy on screen and this is a loving tribute to his legacy".[8] Kyle Smith of the New York Post named it the 10th best film of 2007.[9]
Conversely, A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "Meet the Robinsons is surely one of the worst theatrically released animated features issued under the Disney label in quite some time",[10] while Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C" and said "This is one bumpy ride".[11]
The DVD & Blu-ray Disc versions were both released on October 23, 2007.[12] Both versions feature 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, plus music videos, the "Family Function 5000" game, deleted scenes, and other bonus features. The DVD's audio commentary contains Steve Anderson's narration, occasionally interrupted by himself as the Bowler Hat Guy. As of January 2008 the DVD had sold approximately 4,000,000 copies.[1] The Blu-ray also includes uncompressed 5.1 audio and a BD-J game, "Bowler Hat Barrage!". You can see more details on the releases here for DVD [2] and Blu-ray [3]. The UK release was in September, and became number one in the DVD charts. Although the Blu-ray features on the site said that it features a 5.1 Effects-Only Audio track, it is also on the DVD, unexpectedly to many people who buy the DVD.
| Meet the Robinsons | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | March 27, 2007 | |||
| Length | 52:46 | |||
| Label | Walt Disney | |||
| Producer | Danny Elfman | |||
| Walt Disney Animation Studios chronology | ||||
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The soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records on March 27, 2007. Contributors to the album beyond the Danny Elfman score include Jonas Brothers, Rufus Wainwright, Rob Thomas, Jamie Cullum, The All-American Rejects, and They Might Be Giants. The Track "Little Wonders", recorded by Rob Thomas, has reached #5 on the Billboard AC chart.
Track list:
All music composed by Danny Elfman, except as noted.
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Another Believer" | Rufus Wainwright | 4:39 |
| 2. | "Little Wonders" | Rob Thomas | 3:45 |
| 3. | "The Future Has Arrived" | The All-American Rejects | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Where Is Your Heart At?" (written by Rufus Wainwright) | Jamie Cullum | 2:23 |
| 5. | "The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)" | Rufus Wainwright | 2:35 |
| 6. | "Give Me the Simple Life" | Jamie Cullum | 2:04 |
| 7. | "The Prologue" | 1:24 | |
| 8. | "To the Future!" | 1:16 | |
| 9. | "Meeting the Robinsons" | 1:56 | |
| 10. | "The Science Fair" | 2:47 | |
| 11. | "Goob's Story" | 1:01 | |
| 12. | "A Family United" | 1:37 | |
| 13. | "Pop Quiz and the Time Machine Montage" | 3:45 | |
| 14. | "The Evil Plan" | 4:13 | |
| 15. | "Doris Has Her Day" | 4:58 | |
| 16. | "Setting Things Right" | 6:00 | |
| 17. | "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" | They Might Be Giants | 2:00 |
| 18. | "Kids of the Future" | Jonas Brothers | 3:18 |
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Total length:
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52:46 | ||
The song "This Much Fun" by Cowboy Mouth, which was featured in the trailer for this movie, was not featured in the movie or on the soundtrack. The song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was originally from the Disneyland attraction General Electric's Carousel of Progress.
Disney's Meet the Robinsons is available from Buena Vista Games for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, and PC. The independent England-based company Climax Group developed their own adaption for the Gameboy Advance. Nintendo created a version of the movie for Game Boy Advance Video.
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