April 2, 2007

Time travel plots aren't necessarily new to the movies. 1964s 'The Time Machine' with Rod Taylor. The sappy, but watchable 'Somewhere in Time' with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, the conundrum of Schwarzenegger in 'The Terminiator,' and the mind-boggling twists and turns of the 'Back to the Future' trilogy.

More recently, the darkly toned 'The Butterfly Effect' with Ashton Kutcher and even the gory 'Final Destination' movies give time travel a whole new sensibility.

Even with all those varying concepts, movie makers have accepted certain time travel conventions:

1. You can't return to the past, without altering the past.
2. If you travel to the past or future, you must not interact with yourself.
3. If altered, the 'space time continuum' can have disastrous impact on the world.

In Disney's latest CGI animated release 'Meet the Robinsons,' time travel is taken on in a much more simplified fashion. While some things do cause a ripple effect, other things don't. Maybe it doesn't matter, but overall, it seems that we've been down this time travel road before.

'Robinsons' explores the life of Lewis Robinson, an orphaned pre-teen, who is so wrapped up inventing strange contraptions that he alienates prospective parents who come to adopt him.

Just as he's on the verge of unveiling a breakthrough invention at the local Science Fair, Lewis is accosted by a time traveling kid, Wilbur, who convinces Lewis to go back to the future to help him

Enter 'Bowler Hat Guy,' [left] a cross between Dick Dastardly from 'The Wacky Races' and Professor Hinkle from the Rankin-Bass 'Frosty the Snowman.'

Bowler Hat Guy bumbles around on long spindly legs, and talks with long spindly teeth, and tries to steal Lewis' latest invention.

Quicker than you can say 'flux capacitor,' Lewis and Wibur are blasted into the future.

And it's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow, in this movie. Comfy soft shapes, and vibrant kelly green grass, aquamarine skies, puffy pink clouds, Rube Goldberg contraptions, PeopleMovers, robots -- oh yeah, and a bunch of weird-os called The Robinsons.

Wilbur introduces Lewis to this bizarre extended family. [right]

Among them, a former super hero, a Disco dancing granny, a hugely obese guy who is wheeled around in a chair, a woman who has a big band orchestra of frogs, and a robot.

What do they all do? Well, we're never quite sure.

But the show must go on, to resolve all those storylines.

Can Lewis figure out what Wilbur needs him for? Will Bowler Hat Guy get away with stealing Lewis' invention? Will we figure out what the point of two guys whose heads are sticking out of the planter near the front door? Can we pretend we don't know that those characters in the future are the same characters from the past?

The short answer is yes, but not without a lot of frantic plot devices, head-spinning chase scenes, and some dinosaurs…you gotta have dinosuars. [left]

You jump on board, and go along for the ride. But even at warp speed, nothing was terribly surprising or innovative.

Story-wise, it felt like one of those dreadful play rehearsals where an actor starts horsing around on stage, and the director, much to everyone's dismay, shouts 'Yes! That's great! Leave it in!'

Animation-wise, it's good, but not cutting edge, and in some theaters, you can watch it in Disney Digital 3-D.

The scene where we meet the Robinsons family is truly one of the strangest sequences of any Disney animated movie. And what's up with Bowler Hat Guy anyway? He's fun to look at, but seems wildly out of place in this movie. Why an old-fashioned turn-of-the-20th-century, melodrama inspired villain? It's never really explained.

Frankly, not much is explained in 'Meet the Robinsons', and perhaps that's just as well. Like time travel, if you think about it too much, your brain starts to hurt.

'Meet the Robinsons' is a big step up from the dismal 'Chicken Little.' Overall, It was nice to see a story involving people who care about each other, rather than talking animals.

It's also important to note that there was no farting and not one character got cracked in the groin -- so kudos there.

This is Disney's first animated movie since new Animation Guru John Lasseter took over after Disney bought Pixar Animation. It's been reported that he made some last minute changes.

Wouldn't it have been cool if Lassiter had created his own time machine, and then went back to the past to show Walt Disney some of the footage from 'Meet the Robinsons'? Then based on Walt's suggestions, Lasseter could have come back to the present to alter the movie before it was released?

Now wouldn't that be something? I'd drive a few miles to see that in Disney Digital 3-D.

Huh. You know, I'm not too sure about this movie. Yeah, it's fun to look at, but did I like it? I didn't laugh, found it talky, and I got bored. Still, I would have to recommend it, just because it has cute colors -- families with children would find it amusing. But I'm on the fence.

I loved 'Meet the Robinsons.' I loved that it was different, that it didn't follow any of the typical conventions of some of the other Disney animated movies, and had weird, quirky characters, but it was really sweet and cute. I enjoyed it from start to finish. One of my favorites.

Not since, 'The Emperor's New Groove' has a Disney animated movie been so quirky, out-of-the-box, and downright kooky. I only wish I had enjoyed it more. For some reason, the Tom Selleck reference made me laugh. Then, on the way home, Megan asked, 'Who's Tom Selleck?' Man, do I feel old!