What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that even very young children will dig this Disney animated adventure. The story revolves around Lewis, a genius orphan who can't seem to get adopted and who desperately wants to meet his real mother. There's a sense that he and his friends at the orphanage feel rejected -- he counts 124 couples he's met who don't end up adopting him. The movie's villains are a robotic bowler hat and the mysterious mustachioed man who wears it. The Bowler Hat Guy suffers from severe jealousy and bitterness, which is why he wants to ruin Lewis' future. But the future, as it turns out, is bright for all, even Lewis' nemesis.
Families can talk about how this movie compares to the William Joyce book it's based on. Kids: Had you read the book before you watched the movie? If not, did you know it was based on a book? Do you like movies that are based on books/stories more than ones that aren't? Why? Families can also discuss why the Robinsons believe that failing is good. Can you think of a time that you didn't win but you still learned something useful? And, for fun, since Lewis is an aspiring inventor, name some inventions that you think would be useful in the future.
Common Sense Media Review
Plucky orphans are perfect protagonists in children's adventures. Whether human ("Annie,""Oliver Twist") or animal ("Stuart Little," "Wilbur"), they're the ultimate underdogs, and only the most hardened heart could root against them.
In "Meet The Robinsons," Lewis (voiced by Daniel Hansen) isn't just an orphan -- he's a child genius. He invents practical gadgets, like a peanut-butter-and-jelly gun that makes sandwich preparation a cinch. He has scared off, by his count, 124 sets of potential parents (including one prospective father with a deadly peanut allergy).
So, in hopes of finally seeing the mother who left him on the orphanage doorstep, Lewis pours his energy into creating a memory machine that projects specific recollections onto a TV monitor. After a mix-up at the school science fair, he winds up having to zoom to the future with a mysterious tween boy who knows about a strange nemesis who wants to ruin Lewis' life.
Trying to explain the movie's time-traveling plot is as confusing as figuring out the implications of the "Terminator" timeline, but the point of the future is to show young Lewis that he fits nicely into a zany family: the Robinsons, who have more wacky relatives than the Addamses, the Fockers, and the Tenenbaums put together. After Lewis fails to fix a PB&J device, the Robinsons celebrate his failure as a path to success. And when the film's villain -- a mustachioed man with a robotic bowler hat -- unleashes a T-Rex on the family, the clan joins forces to defend the young inventor. At last, he has a home -- at least in the future.
It's not as touching as "Finding Nemo," as technically brilliant as "Cars," or as parent-appealing as "The Incredibles," but "Meet the Robinsons" is an entertaining step in the right direction for Disney's non-Pixar offerings. And who doesn't love an orphan hero?
Similar films the entire family will enjoy include "The Incredibles," "Annie," and "Stuart Little."
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
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