Meet the Robinsons

[akhenaten]

arghhh with shrek coming! it better hit 100 million at least!

yeah the structure of the story is what reminds me of the 90s flicks too. and no, the songs are not as forgettable as treasure planet's. another believer is a classic, so is the future has arrived.

[TM2-Megatron]

I'd give it a 9.... it lost one point because of the forgettable songs. I know Disney can give us more memorable music than this.

Not every Disney movie need be a musical in order to be good. In fact, I'm glad Disney's moved away from musicals recently. That was fine for the 90s and late 80s, but it's good to change it up every once in a while.

While I usually don't like a whole lot of pop songs stuffed into animated movies during montages and whatnot, I didn't mind the two used in MtR (for the "building the memory scanner" montage, and at the end of the movie as it showed Lewis being adopted, etc.). The lyrics of both fit the story more or less, if you listen to them... and both are fairly catchy.

Given the plot of MtR, a musical really would've seemed wrong IMO. Especially given that it took place in the real world, with humans as the central characters. Musical numbers often are less intrusive for some reason if the characters aren't human, and the setting something other than a "human world". Also, I think that if we had one musical after another the majority of us would soon get bored of them, and even turned off the entire concept. I'm certainly not overly fond of musicals these days.

Best Disney film since The Emperor's New Groove.

I'd say it's the best since The Lion King, not counting Fantasia 2000. Disney's only been putting average (at best) effort into their movies since then... hopefully MtR is a sign of change at WDFA.

[beefsteak]

The best way I can sum up this movie is mediocre. Definately better than Chicken Little. NO where near as good as Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Finding Nemo......Actually I think the best parts of the whole experience was the Mickey Mouse short at the beginning and the small tribute to Walt Disney at the end.

[Pluto Region1]

I'd give it a 9.... it lost one point because of the forgettable songs. I know Disney can give us more memorable music than this.

I didn't mention this in my original review but I have to agree- the songs were not very memorable - in fact I just don't remember any of them... far cry from Pixar's Cars which had very strong music and I bought that soundtrack (and I never buy soundtracks). And to weigh in on the Pixar debate - I don't think MTR is that strong of a movie, at least not coming close to the film that Cars was/is... but that is my opinion and I know some here feel otherwise. I'm sure there is no comparison between the budgets for a movie like Cars vs. MTR and that has got to impact the quality of a film, no?

Anyway, not to be bashing - MTR was a good movie and I will buy on DVD when it comes out (because of my continued support of Disney's 3D efforts).

[PatrickvD]

I'd give it a 9.... it lost one point because of the forgettable songs. I know Disney can give us more memorable music than this.

Not every Disney movie need be a musical in order to be good. In fact, I'm glad Disney's moved away from musicals recently. That was fine for the 90s and late 80s, but it's good to change it up every once in a while.

I never said they should strictly do musicals. I simply said I know they can attach more memorable music to their films.

Pixar movies have wonderful songs in them, but they can hardly be called musicals. When She Loved Me, is wonderful. The score to The Incredibles is fantastic as well. They always have great music.

I'm just saying there was nothing memorable in terms of music in Meet The Robinsons. The two songs I forgot about a few minutes after they ended and the score by Danny Elfman is one of his least inspired to date. He's done such great work for numerous movies including all of the Tim Burton films. Heck even his music in Desperate Housewives is more memorable.

But the movie is great. I was just pointing out the music was lacking. And that I do not believe every Disney films ought to be a musical to be good. They've done great films that weren't musicals.

[akhenaten]

what what what?? whats this i see?? MTR beating blades of glory this week!

[Prudence]

Good.

[ichabod]

Thought I'd share, HMV has a UK blu-ray release of Meet the Robinsons, for September 17th.

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProd ... sku=653974

[akhenaten]

whoah! but no 3-d features...whats the point..they'll release this title back in 7 years with 3-d extras.

[pap64]

I saw the movie again and I realized something. We know that the Bowler Hat Guy's future was changed when Louis wakes Goob up and he wins the game. But I wonder what type of future he got.

Goob mentions at the beginning that its his destiny to be a baseball player, so maybe he became a good player. That or formed a stronger friendship with future Louis.

[goofystitch]

akhenaten wrote:

whoah! but no 3-d features...whats the point..they'll release this title back in 7 years with 3-d extras.

The point is owning the film in high definition. Also, I thought I read somewhere that the digital 3D doesn't look convincing even on HD TVs with Bluray or HDDVD. I believe somebody posted about new 3D home entertainment technology that is being worked on, but it's not ready yet.

I can't wait for September 17th!

[Jules]

OH JOY!!

Tal-Lira Cinemas are showing Meet the Robinsons again in Malta. Its initial run (starting 30th March) lasted only 1 and a half weeks. Now it's made a comeback in just one theatre in Malta, that usually exhibits old are unsuccessful films!

I have to see it again while I have the chance!

[TM2-Megatron]

They haven't replicated Real D (or Disney Digital 3D) on televisions yet, and I doubt they will until a completely new type of TV comes out. First off, I doubt any TV could handle 144fps, so that pretty much ends it right there. Also, there'd be the issue of replicating the effect of the polarizing filter used on the digital projectors... while it's pretty easy to put an alternating filter in front of a projector, I'm not sure how they'd create that effect for a medium where the image is projected out from a screen as opposed to projected onto it... again, you'd probably need a completely new type of TV.

More likely are the new types of 3D TV that various companies are working on, but I don't think any of those use the exact same methods as Real D, even if they achieve a similar effect.

So, for the moment, I'd say we just take MtR on DVD and Blu-Ray as it's released. I'd rather have non-3D than have Disney remaster it as the old red/blue linear polarization technique.

OH JOY!!

Tal-Lira Cinemas are showing Meet the Robinsons again in Malta. Its initial run (starting 30th March) lasted only 1 and a half weeks. Now it's made a comeback in just one theatre in Malta, that usually exhibits old are unsuccessful films!

I have to see it again while I have the chance!

Yeah, there's an independant theatre in my neighbourhood in Toronto that plays movies a couple months after their theatrical run (as well as older movies that haven't been in theatres for decades)... and I'm likely going to see it once more on the big screen there when they get it.

[Disneykid]

DavisDVD is reporting that Meet the Robinsons is coming to DVD in September, but no date is given. I'm slightly surprised considering the average theaters-to-DVD window is 4 to 5 months unless it's a holiday movie. My guess is Disney's going to try to let the film linger on in theaters longer than usual so that it can make it to the 100 million mark. It's right now at a not-too-shabby 94 million. If Disney convinces theater owners not to remove the film for another month, it should make it to 100 million without much problem. My only concern is in regards to Shrek the Third. Meet the Robinsons is the only family film out right now (Spider-Man 3 may be too complex and brooding for some kids), which is why the numbers have been pretty steady and with little decline. Once Shrek arrives on the scene, though, Meet the Robinsons will have a harder time making it into the triple digits. We'll have to wait and see. I just hope the film gets an excellent DVD release.

[yamiiguy]

DavisDVD is reporting that Meet the Robinsons is coming to DVD in September, but no date is given. I'm slightly surprised considering the average theaters-to-DVD window is 4 to 5 months unless it's a holiday movie. My guess is Disney's going to try to let the film linger on in theaters longer than usual so that it can make it to the 100 million mark. It's right now at a not-too-shabby 94 million. If Disney convinces theater owners not to remove the film for another month, it should make it to 100 million without much problem. My only concern is in regards to Shrek the Third. Meet the Robinsons is the only family film out right now (Spider-Man 3 may be too complex and brooding for some kids), which is why the numbers have been pretty steady and with little decline. Once Shrek arrives on the scene, though, Meet the Robinsons will have a harder time making it into the triple digits. We'll have to wait and see. I just hope the film gets an excellent DVD release.

That seems to be a genuine date.
HMV.co.uk have got Meet the Robinsons Blu-Ray down for release on September 17th. (UK)

[Jules]

OK ... so today I went to watch MTR for the 2nd time with my brother, who is a lot into movies and can be a harsh critic. He hated the film. I was expecting him to love it, seeing as he detested Chicken Little.

Here are his reactions (snipped from an e-mail I sent to Netty - please forgive the grammatical and stylistic errors).

Today I watched Meet the Robinsons for the 2nd time with my eldest brother. I thought he'd like it (I loved it). On the contrary, he thought it was one of the worst animated features he has ever seen. Some of his criticisms included the messy story and complicated plot elements, which he felt were too complex for a children's film. He thought there were severe mistakes in the entire future concept of the film, in that he argued "How can you meet yourself!? It defies logic!" He also pointed out what he thought were flaws in the time-continuum element, such as the fact that one cannot revisit the past to re-alter the future. The future is in its last 'revision' all the time. I must admit he has a point, especially since (picture this) if doing something in the past can alter the future, then when Lewis leaves the past for the future, he is temporarily inexistent in the past, meaning that his future self (i.e. grown-up dad) should have evaporated while present-day Lewis was in the future - hence my brother was right when he said that you cannot possibly meet yourself! To further explain - how the hell could Franny have met Lewis and married him if he was never there!? Nevertheless, I feel going into such detail is quibbling, even if this is a seriously noticeable error.

My brother proceeded to say that the film simply has too much evil infused in it - children are impressed easily and can be nurtured into monsters if one is not careful. Finally, we touched on the animation. I've always thought that MTR is a prime example of some show-stopping animation. I was flabbergasted when my brother said hat he was less than impressed with it. He thought the animation was very weak compared to stuff like The Incredibles or Over the Hedge. He commented on the incorrect useage of colours and texturing.

He then said that the film-makers couldn't even decide whether they were making a 2D or 3D feature - he called it a cross between the two. I tried to explain that that was the whole point; to achieve the fluidity and plasticity of 2D animation in 3D CG techniques. He didn't like it and saw no point in it. He said that had this been the first ever CGI film, the animation would have looked awesome. But all in all, it's below the level of Toy Story.

How could my brother say all this!? I don't expect these kind of criticisms from him ... especially about the animation.

Oh ... and when he was talking about the influx of evil in the film, I told him that he was the only one to mention this stuff. He told me that it's important to scrutinize closely what you watch. Incidentally my brother also hates Chicken Little, and one of the things that he detests in the film is the depiction of CL as a nerd and the obvious ways in which he is bullied, even by adults (Popular vs Unpopular). He was also disgusted by the way Disney depicted Runt of the Litter. He said he was WAY too obese. Did they need to go that far!?

Oh well. He has his opinion. I have mine, Incredibly, a lot of the stuff that he didn't like about MTR was the stuff that I loved. AAAAARGH!!! But how on earth can he say that the animation is unimpressive and if viewed next to The Incredibles, kinda craptacular!!!??? GRRRR!!!!

So what do you guys think on my brother's critique?

PS: Thanks DisneyKid for that DVD update!

[yamiiguy]

So what do you guys think on my brother's critique?

I'm surprsed I never noticed that (Now that I think about it, shouldn't the same error is in the Back to the Future series)
He's certenly right about the time-continum aspect, though I loved the animation

[Disneykid]

Your brother does have a point about the time paradox. In my opinion, the only version of time travelling that works is the theory that the future is always the same and that it's the way you get there that differs. The best way for me to clarify that would be to point at Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Back to the Future Part II. In both films, the characters never actually altered their future; they only thought they did. By the time they were done interfering, their future ended up being the same as they had experienced before, they just didn't realize it.

Meet the Robinsons decided not to take that route and instead went with the idea that the future can be altered at a whim, which opens up a lot of holes. The "Lewis meeting his future self" thing didn't actually disrupt anything, in my opinion, though. If Lewis never met his adult self, he still would've gone down the same path in life. He still would've gotten adopted by Lucille and Bud, they still would've moved into the old planetarium, he still would've married Franny. All the meeting did was make Lewis self-conscious of how his future was unfolding. Of course, you could always argue that Lewis only let Lucille and Bud adopt him and only went out with Franny because he recognized them and that he may have never given them a second thought had it not been for the time travelling. I'll just conveniently ignore that theory, though.

The only time travel aspect of the film that I found weird was during the climax. My head is still reeling trying to figure it out. If Bowler Hat Guy travels to the present to sign the contract, wouldn't he run into past his self (you know, the one that couldn't turn on the machine while Doris was outside)? Does this mean that time traveling in the film can actually replace previous events with each trip made, even if you haven't yet interacted with anyone else? If so, then the theory of adult Lewis not existing while kid Lewis is around would make sense.

Also, when Lewis takes Bowler Hat Guy to the future with him, why is everything transitioning from evil to normal? By erasing Doris and stopping BHG from signing the contract, that automatically ensures the happy future. Even if Lewis decided not to travel back to the exact minute he left off and instead traveled five minutes earlier, things would still be normal. To make matters even more complicated, let's say this: let's say that in fact, Lewis did travel back to the future a couple of minutes earlier from where he left off just so BHG could see the destruction Doris would've caused. Does this mean that at that moment, there were three Lewises co-existing? You've got the Lewis who's in the machine with BHG, the Lewis that's about to board the machine to escape the brainwashed Robinsons, and the adult Lewis that's presumably somewhere not seen. That still wouldn't make any sense because how would the Lewis that's escaping Doris and the Robinsons get into the machine if the Lewis that's with BHG has it?

And all of this just made of think of a cool feature they can have on the DVD: an interactive timeline that fully explains the film's concept of time-traveling and answers questions people may have about certain character actions and interactions.

[Escapay]

He thought there were severe mistakes in the entire future concept of the film, in that he argued "How can you meet yourself!? It defies logic!" He also pointed out what he thought were flaws in the time-continuum element, such as the fact that one cannot revisit the past to re-alter the future. The future is in its last 'revision' all the time. I must admit he has a point, especially since (picture this) if doing something in the past can alter the future, then when Lewis leaves the past for the future, he is temporarily inexistent in the past, meaning that his future self (i.e. grown-up dad) should have evaporated while present-day Lewis was in the future - hence my brother was right when he said that you cannot possibly meet yourself! To further explain - how the hell could Franny have met Lewis and married him if he was never there!? Nevertheless, I feel going into such detail is quibbling, even if this is a seriously noticeable error.

Time is not limited to one linear strand...

Timeline A - Present Day: Lewis meets Wilbur (Timeline B1), who takes him to the future (Timeline B1). Because Lewis is gone, he doesn't meet Franny, they don't have Wilbur.

Timeline B - The Future: However many years its been between Timeline A and Timeline B, but this is a timestream in which Lewis has been missing for those years (due to being in the the time machine). Therefore, there are no Robinsons that Lewis could meet (what with him never meeting Franny). So Timeline B would essentially be a paradox into itself. How could Lewis travel to the future with someone who doesn't exist yet? Well, there's a deviation from the timestream...

Timeline A1 - Present Day: Lewis (from Timeline A) has returned from the future (Timeline B1) and continues his life.

Timeline B1 - The Future: Lewis (from Timeline A) is taken to the future where Wilbur lives, and where Lewis (from Timeline A1) has grown up. Therefore, it's possible for Lewis (Timeline A) to meet Lewis (Timeline A1).

Confusing? Possibly. But it makes perfect sense when one considers stuff like predestination paradox and self-fulfilling prophecy. Essentially, Lewis (Timeline A) is meant to go into the future, find out what he knows, then return to the present day to let that future actually happen.

Escapay

[PatrickvD]

So what do you guys think on my brother's critique?

that's a weird complaint. The thing about time travel is, it's fiction. It is impossible, and when you think it out it comes with all kinds of flaws.

Does this make the Back to the Future movies and Prisoner of Azkaban bad too? It's highly unlikely you'll turn into a skeleton when you steal aztec gold, but does that make Pirates of the Caribbean a bad film? It's fiction, really.

As for all the evil? what? I'd rather watch a smart, dark and funny written animated film that goes over the kids heads than one that insults the intelligence of the entire audience.

MTR wasn't perfect, but its flaws weren't in the storytelling really. It was mostly the pacing of the film that was off. The middle part was clumpsy and the scenes that introduced the Robinsons were rushed.