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davidahallnum5
Jun 11, 202312 min read

Meet the Robinsons 3D Blu-ray Review

Updated: Jun 24, 2023

MOVIE REVIEW

Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 animated adventure film from Disney about a young boy and inventor named Lewis. He's an orphan trying to find his mother, and in the process of creating a machine to help him do just that. But when things don't go quite as planned and he thinks about giving up, he gets approached by a boy named Wilbur who claims he's from the future and encourages him to finish his project. To prove he's actually who he says he is, he takes Lewis to the future himself, which is when things start going awry: the time machine breaks apart, Lewis ends up accidentally meeting Wilbur's family, the Robinsons, while trying to conceal the fact that he's from the past, and a bowler hat guy with his own agenda is on the tail of both boys. Will Lewis eventually learn to move forward from your past mistakes? And even more important, will the time stream survive this whole ordeal?

Of all the groundbreaking films Disney has released throughout the years, Meet the Robinsons is understandably one of the more forgettable entries in their catalogue. It came out during the mid-2000s era when Disney was switching from 2D to 3D animation and they were struggling to find their footing. That doesn't mean nothing good came from this era. But for every Lilo and Stitch, there was a Chicken Little coming out the following year. I think it's for this reason people seem to hold somewhat mixed feelings about Meet the Robinsons. And true, it doesn't exactly live up to some of the Disney classics created in the past. But in its own right, I personally think it's a pretty solid animated film and in a few areas, quite underrated.

While I think there are several main reasons as to why some people get turned off by this film, I believe its make-or-break aspect is probably its overall style. When we head to the future, we're introduced to a very neat looking and imaginative world flowing with creativity and energy. The downside, that energy makes it into the story, which moves at such a breakneck pace that most adults probably won't fully appreciate it or the world introduced to them until they've had multiple viewings. Usually, I praise movies for their fast pace because they get a lot of stuff done in a short amount of time. But whereas something like Into the Spider-Verse still tells a cohesive story one can follow easily even on their first viewing, Meet the Robinsons is constantly taking you from one unusual thing to the other without allowing much time for anything or anyone to really sink in, which in turn results in a bit less emotional investment for the side characters than maybe the creators intended. And whereas all the little details and Easter Eggs in Spider-Verse help to improve the overall story, a lot of the weirdness in Robinsons seems to just be weird for the sake of being weird. While these issues doesn't inherently make the movie bad, I still do see it becoming a big problem many mature-minded viewers might find themselves having to get pass.

With that said, for anyone who can get pass those issues, there are actually plenty of good things about it that not only help even the film out, but also help make it into something that I think doesn't get praised quite as much as it should. For starters, the main characters, ranging from Lewis to Wilbur and the bowler hat guy are genuinely developed, well-handled, and easily likable characters. They all carry the story along nicely and in a believable manner all the while being pretty charming in their own right. The plot, while a bit mind-bending at times with its time travel mechanics, does have a few pretty decent twists that'll appease the audience. While the side characters don't really add to much to the table in terms of story, the comedy some of them deliver does land quite a bit of the time, though sometimes that's because their styles are so bizarre you have no choice but to laugh. However, the bulk of the comedy comes the bowler hat guy who acts like a big scary but pretty goofy villain who in actuality is pretty oblivious to how the world works, foiled only by his bowler hat, Doris. He's a sheer fun villain that we so rarely nowadays in animated movies.

Meet the Robinson's strongest element, though, is its heart. It shines through in the moments where the film slows down, and it develops an emotional core that you probably wouldn't expect to see from a movie like this. The movie's message is one about moving from your past failures and looking to the future that you can build by learning from them. It gets summed up in a motto that gets mentioned multiple times throughout the movie, "Keep Moving Forward." Sure, that probably sounds a little trite when you read it off a review like this. But that phrase works on more than just one level in this film. It not only refers to inventing and accepting responsibility for your failures, but it also plays a crucial role in the film's themes about family, love, and adoption. I don't want to spoil how, but all I can say is if you're the least bit human, you'll find it hard to walk away from the movie without having been the least bit touched. And it's certainly helped by the movie's soundtrack which includes a brilliant score by Danny Elfman and a closing song that for a closing song that wasn't created especially for a certain movie, I have yet to see topped in an animated film.

Meet the Robinson's is far from a mixed bag. But at the same time, yes, I can understand where people would have a problem with it. By no means is its plot expertly executed or conceptually genius. And its excessive weirdness at the expensive of a consistently good story can certainly get on a few peoples' nerves. But at the same time, I can't help but have a soft spot for it. It's visuals are indeed pretty mesmerizing and the comedy works more often than not. And while it's weirdness doesn't really help the story all that much, it's still something to at the least admire just because of how ballsy it can be at times. But beyond all that though, there's a very sweet message in the film about adoption, what it means to be part of a family, and keeping your eyes set on the future and never being afraid to make mistakes. It all seems like it was written by someone who genuinely had something good they wanted to say to those looking for family or anyone to afraid to take any risks to achieve their. That alone is what makes Meet the Robinsons well worth watching. So no, this movie isn't by any means a masterpiece. It's bogged down by just enough flaws to prevent it from being must-watch. But just like the people in it, it keeps moving forward and eventually pulls together something fun and creative enough for the kids and also a bit charming and heartwarming for the adults. It's a simple enough, but ultimately effective animated film that gets my recommendation.


OVERALL FILM RATING: 3.5/5


3D REVIEW

You know, before I created the seven point rating system for 3D films on The 3D Dinosaur, I was actually considering using a nine point system and it would include a 3D rating in between "excellent" and "great" called "demo-worthy." That would cover 3D movies that weren't exactly groundbreaking or excellent enough in its 3D usage to be considered the "best of the best", but were pretty darn near close in every other respect and definitely counted as something you could use to show off your display. Eventually, this idea fell through because I figured a seven point rating system would get the job done just fine and be simple enough. However, in the time since, I've run into films like The Lorax and The Little Mermaid which have made me regret not using going with the original nine-point system. I've given them "great" ratings on the account of the fact that they aren't films that "absolutely must" be seen in 3D. But at the same time, 3D adds just so much to those films that I felt they deserved to be ranked in a slightly higher category than the same one I put Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in, a film that some people have even deemed flat.

I bring up that mini-story because now, I find myself in the same predicament again with Meet the Robinsons, a film which gets so many things right with its 3D but falls just so short of the bar created by films like Avatar and even Jaws that it makes it such a shame that my own standards don't permit me to rate it anything right than "great". In truth, it sits on the border between "great" and "excellent." Now, it's probably best I start explaining why that is before I go off and rant any more about the rating system.

In my review of War of the Planet of the Apes just recently, I started it off by quoting Tommy Boy 3D's own review of the film when he said that the 3D was "delicious." Well, if War's 3D was delicious, Meet the Robinson's 3D is simply exquisite. If I'm correct, this was Disney's third theatrically released 3D animated flick behind Chicken Little and post-conversion of the 1993 classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. This was in pre-Avatar days, which meant the only 3D movies hitting the market were essentially the ones actively using it to its advantage. That meant fewer 3D movies, but it did mean the ones we did get were 3D classics like The Polar Express and Beowulf. And such is definitely the case here with Meet the Robinsons. While it's not quite as wild with it's 3D like the aforementioned two movies, it goes to show how well and and how all around naturally 3D can work with animated films with CGI environments.

From the very first to the last shot of the film, seldom is there ever a flat scene. And in a movie with constant cityscapes, that's definitely a plus. Whether its in the glorious future or the mundane present, whenever tall buildings are in view, you feel their enormous size and distance. Some shots go a bit further and even include a couple of top down views that might upset anyone with a fear of heights. Even in indoor scenes, the staggering amount of depth makes every room, be it a gym, a bedroom, or even under a blanket feel spacious and immersive. The 3D is even accurate to the point where reflections in glass windows and metal plates, and the imperfect light reflections given off by a toaster early on in the movie are all made as evident as if they were in real life.

But of course, if the impressive depth was all there was to this 3D presentation, we'd be done here now, wouldn't we? No, Meet the Robinsons has tons of fun in its three-dimensional presence. And a lot of it is certainly helped by the surreal animated settings, especially in the future. But even in the present day, 3D certainly adds some extra oomph to something as simple as a college library, a rooftop, a science fair (which even has a brief passing reference to 3D in one shot). Gadgets, gizmos, tables, people, and even metal structures at the top of a gym take on 3D shapes that are plenty of fun to look at. But the real fun starts when Wilbur and Lewis head off in their time machine to the future when we some views that are nothing less than mesmerizing to look at. When the camera is inside the flying machine, we feel as if we could look out for miles, as if we're in the characters' shoes. But even in exterior views, the time machine flying around the sky through tall buildings, flying bubbles, and narrow pathways makes for some stupendous 3D choreography. There's even another time machine capable of turning invisible that leads to some neat transitions between visible and invisible modes involving flashes of light that take up the time machine's 3D space before appearing or disappearing. Even on the ground, the extra depth makes grassy fields stretch on forever. And sometimes, the camera angles do a good job at capturing the unusual shapes of these hills of grass. The Robinson's large home is filled with surreal, almost Burton-esque, structures that as you'd expect, look fantastic in 3D. From the large dining room to the garage to the travel tubes to the rooftops the the lawn full of bushes in the shapes of foods to the circular windows to the frog band, the Robinson's house is a 3D playground.

Now, all that's well and good. But does anything pop out at you? I'm happy to say yes. In fact, the pop outs are so constant, you might have to stand a good way aways from the screen to avoid eyestrain. Now, the pop outs aren't exactly as gimmicky as the ones in Journey to the Center of the Earth or A Christmas Carol. Instead, it's more like with Born to be Wild where the goal is to make the film more immersive by having foreground elements come out into the theater. As a result, everything from people to peoples' body parts to rain to boxes to pieces of paper to trumpets to most everything you could think of in the surrounding environment comes a good way out of the screen. But that doesn't mean there aren't times where the pop outs can be fun. Early on, we get a machine spraying peanut butter and jelly out into the audience. Carl the robot (who looks like he came straight out of robots) loves throwing his head out of the screen whenever he gets the chance. There's a cable in a boardroom scene that goes deep into the screen and also comes out right by your head. When Wilbur throws Lewis onto the invisible time machine, Lewis lands several feet in front of your face. There's also some miscellaneous material involving dirt, bubbles, lava, frogs, holograms, and more. But some of the best pop outs involve Doris, the bowler hat, who even in the main menu is showing herself in 3D glory, flying into and out of the 3D environment, tapping the invisible barrier between her and the audience, and bringing her menacing claw out of the screen. Even in the movie though, any scene with Doris is a 3D treat. Once again, she flies in and out of the 3D environment constantly, and her mechanical legs and hands do a good job of breaching the screen whenever she can. But one very neat effect that occurs with her happens when her light sticks out right into the audience and we can tell how deep the white bulb goes into the hat. There's one pretty freaky scene in which a group of people under Doris's control walk out towards the viewer and then the camera switches to a close up shot of Doris. It's small things that that make this film just as effective at throwing stuff out at you as it draws you into its own world. And oh yeah, that's also a nice pop out effect that occurs with a quote given at the end of the film right before the credits roll that really lets you know how tasteful the 3D is done here.

Now with all the praise I've just given the film? You might think, why would I give it only a rating of "great"? Well, like with the case of The Lorax and The Little Mermaid, it's not the kind of film where 3D is necessary to entirely enjoying it. That doesn't at all mean that the 3D has nothing to offer. It's quite the contrary, in fact. But it puts it out of the realm of stuff like Hugo and The Walk. That's a real shame because the 3D here is truly superb. And for any 3D fan like me, this is definitely the way to see Meet the Robinsons. Even if you're not a huge 3D buff, you'll still find much to appreciate with this 3D presentation. It's because of that that in spite of the precedents I've left by giving The Lorax and The Little Mermaid not-perfect ratings that I'm giving Meet the Robinsons a rating of "excellent." There's simply too much 3D goodness to be had here that to give it anything less would be an understatement. Does it give you quite the same bang for your buck as Avatar or Gravity? Not really, but that's only because those films have set the bar so high. By any other 3D movie standard, it doesn't get much better than Meet the Robinsons.


3D RATING: EXCELLENT


OTHER SOURCES THAT REVIEW THIS MOVIE'S 3D:



FINAL THOUGHTS


Meet the Robinsons is a movie that most people either like or they don't. As for me, I personally like it. While I do acknowledge it's not by any means a perfect film, and probably not even a great film, it makes up for its flaws with its heart, message, visuals, creativity, and all around passion. It's an all in all solid animated film that I recommend taking a look at if you're considering taking a look at it. As for the 3D version? Well, at an average selling price of around $45-60 for the 3D Blu-ray going on right about now, it'd be understandable if you'd want to pass this one up. But if you're willing to cough up enough dough for a copy, it's certainly worth the price. The depth and dimension is not only turned up to 11 in this presentation, but this movie features some of the best usage of it I've seen in a long time. It balances between being subtle and fun with its 3D in plenty of clever ways, utilizing both depth in-screen and outside the screen. And it acts as another piece of how much effort was put into 3D flicks before the days of Avatar. If you're a 3D buff, this trip to the future is one that's certainly worth taking.


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