Movie Review - Meet The Robinsons

Southern Man will admit that he's wanted to see this one since the first preview - any movie in which caffiene patches are worn has got to be worth something. And Meet The Robinsons was certainly worth the price of a couple of matinee tickets in spite of the lackluster reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and elsewhere.

This movie is best described as Back To The Future meets the Marx Brothers, with colorful and eye-popping visuals, absurb situations, and surprising emotional depth. The young orphan and inventor Lewis, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Jimmy Neutron in both appearance and intelligence, longs more than anything to find his missing family. After his latest invention, a memory scanner, failed at the science fair, he's swept into a retro-cool future in a flying time machine by the mysterious Wilbur Robinson, where smiling people travel through the air in soap bubbles and new buildings spring from the ground from boxed kits - all courtesy of the fabulous inventions of Will's dad, the mysterious Mr. Robinson, and his fantastically wacky family. Once the film got going, the gags flew thick and fast - the only thing that didn't happen, as far as I can tell, is that Will Robinson's robot never said "Danger!" How the writers avoided that particular temptation remains a mystery. Without betraying any of the genealogical twists and turns, Southern Man will reveal that Lewis does in fact find his family after all in a most happy ending. And, much to everyone's surprise, tucked among the previews was a 1938 animated short (with perfect color and no visible artifacts of age - surely a product of digital restoration) featuring none other than Mickey, Donald, and Pluto that was most charming. And the new Disney logo features Steamboat Willy at the helm of his - well, steamboat. Southern Man wonders if they're worried about expiring copyrights.

If you've got young-uns you (and they) won't be disappointed in this one, so take 'em to the movies, relax and enjoy the ride.