Meet the Robinsons
Disney Home Video

This Disney charmer mixes heart-tugging hopes for a family with some science-fiction time-travel and lots of whimsy.

The story, based loosely on the children’s book, A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce, finds Lewis, a pre-teen inventor who lives in an orphanage, taken to the future by a boy about his same age to help fix some potential troubles in the timestream. It’s a wacky, brave new world with a sinister villain in a robotic bowler hat (voiced by director Stephen J. Anderson). The pace is often madcap, though the sentiment shines through, especially in the film’s final moments.

The voice cast includes Tom Selleck (there’s even a quick, funny visual joke about that), Angela Bassett, and Laurie Metcalf, who all do a great job with the zippy script.

The bonus material includes some deleted scenes that might’ve take the movie in other directions, had they been included, as well as the usual, fun and watchable behind-the-scenes/making-of pieces, including a look at the visionary works of Walt Disney himself.

Meet the Robinsons may not rank among the upper echelon of Disney classics, but it’s solid family fare and one to put down on the holiday video gift list you should be compiling soon.

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