Bet you weren't expecting this one. Disney has released a plethora of great material, both in the animation and live-action genres. Obviously, I haven't seen them all, but I have seen enough of them to be able to judge my favorites and least favorite. My favorite Disney film, as well as my seventh favorite movie in general, is 2007's Meet the Robinsons. Directed by Stephen J. Anderson, supervised by John Lasseter, with a score by Danny Elfman, and a screenplay written by seven people, Meet the Robinsons is a beautiful movie that I absolutely adore. It's loosely based on a picture book by William Joyce called A Day With Wilbur Robinson, the author of which served as the movie's executive producer. This movie brings me pure joy every time I watch it, so I feel like I have to put it somewhere on the list. Number 7 just felt like the right spot for it, especially when compared to the movies I've put above it.
The first thing I wanna talk about is the soundtrack. The original score is breathtaking, as per the usual when you consider how talented Danny Elfman is. His music is filled with vibrant energy that perfectly captures the mood of whatever scene it appears in, whether it be upbeat and jovial or dark and gritty. And the actual songs are very good, as well. This movie isn't a musical, it instead chose to hire a couple musicians and have them write and perform songs that were slated to appear in various scenes. These musicians include Rob Thomas, The All-American Rejects, Rufus Wainwright, and Jamie Collum. Rufus and Collum have multiple songs All of the songs are really good, some of the most memorable moments of the film. My favorites are "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas and "Another Believer" by Rufus Wainwright. Both of these songs are gorgeous. They're used perfectly in their respective scenes. The last scene, where "Little Wonders" shows up, always brings me to tears (or close to it) from how beautiful it was. The rest of the songs are very good, too, I just connected more with those specific two above the rest. I can't explain why, but I did.
Another thing you'll quickly notice is that the animation is simply sublime. The character movements are fluid and natural, the designs of the characters are great. All-around, this is a very pretty movie. It's bright, it's colorful in places, but it can also be really dark in other places (both metaphorically and literally). When the movie wants to be fast-paced, it will be. The animation represents the quickness perfectly. One of my favorite scenes is the one where Lewis is explaining the Robinson family tree to Wilbur (who is a Robinson). The camera movements are so quick and so fluid, it makes for a really fun and energetic scene. It's also a funny scene. The Tom Selleck joke made me laugh for a solid five minutes after I first heard it. Which brings me to my next point: This is a really funny movie. Every member of the Robinson family gets a few laughs on their own, mostly due to their quirks. Uncle Art is voiced by the late Adam West, so he's bound to get a couple laughs. The dinner scene is a blast from beginning to end, especially when the meatball fight happens. The animation takes a dive into anime-esque visuals (complete with the voices not syncing with the mouth movements). After it's over, it's never mentioned again. Good stuff.
But don't be fooled by how bright and colorful this movie is. Meet the Robinsons can get dark if it wants to. The third act is some of the darkest stuff Disney's ever given us, which is saying a lot. An evil hat named Doris takes over the future and forcibly controls the minds of all the Robinsons. Oh, and she also erases Wilbur from existence. That happens. He comes back, don't worry. All of the remaining Robinsons start actively trying to kill Lewis, the bright and colorful future turns into what looks like the result of a nuclear fallout, most of the civilians are dead (including the Bowler Hat Guy). Basically, don't let evil robotic hats take over the world. That's the moral here. Bowler Hat Guy's backstory is also kinda sad, too. And relatable, in a way. It really makes you feel for BHG, he's doing his best. It doesn't help that Bowler Hat Guy is my favorite character in the whole film. He's the funniest, the most complex, his weird movements are great, his voice is funny. Bowler Hat Guy is a very good character. All the characters are great, even the ones that don't have a whole lot of lines. They're well-written, well-acted, well-designed, well-animated. My favorites are Bowler Hat Guy, Wilbur Robinson, and Carl the Robot. Carl is awesome, he's the source of most of the movie's comedy, he's polite, he's by far the least-strange member of the Robinsons. Him suddenly getting harpooned through the chest in the third act was just awful. Worst part of the film by far. Thankfully, he gets better.
The ending of this movie is some of the most heartwarming stuff I've ever seen from Disney. All of the similarities between the present day characters and the Robinson family members that you may or may not have noticed slowly starts to come together. You start to realize that a lot of those people end up making up the Robinsons (i.e. the singing frog girl from the science fair is Franny Robinson, the "I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN EIGHT DAYS" person ends up being Grandma Lucille, Lewis himself is revealed to be Cornelius Robinson, Wilbur's father). Lewis's memory scanner finally works like it was supposed to in the beginning, and it shows us Bud and Lucille's wedding. The two of them end up adopting Lewis, who later grows up into this brilliant inventor and just describing it is making me emotional. All of this is set to "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas. If you haven't heard the song, do yourself a favor and search it up on YouTube. It's a great song. What makes the reveal work so much is the fact that the future you saw during most of the movie is Lewis's future that he built for himself. The thing that always gets me, though, is when Wilbur takes Lewis back in time so he can see his real Mom. Normally in this situation, the son would confront the mother and ask her why she left him at the orphanage, but that doesn't happen hear. Lewis lets her go. His reasoning? He already has a family. If that doesn't get your emotions flowing, I don't know what will. Beautiful ending to a great movie.
Special mention must be given to Bowler Hat Guy's antics with the mini-Doris mind controlling device. Taking control over a T-Rex is the highlight of the movie. "I've got a big head and little arms" will always be a great line. And the talking frog that always repeats what Bowler Hat Guy says in a perfect monotone, it's great. I wonder what happened to the T-Rex after his scene ended, though. Is he still in the front yard of the Robinson house? Did he get erased from existence in the bad future? I need answers, Disney! The way Lewis defeats Doris was nice, too. He basically just says "I regret making you", and then the hat disintigrates. A little anti-climactic, but I also can't think of a better way of beating the villain. Also, in case you were wondering, the A Day With Wilbur Robinson book didn't have all the stuff we see in the movie. The book only contains searching for Grandpa Bud's teeth and the dinner scene. Everything else we see in the movie was created just to fill up a 90 minute runtime. For what is essentially a movie filled with filler and fluff, it's still a very good film.
Meet the Robinsons is highly underrated. It's got something special in it for all ages. I love it, and I wish more people did, too. It isn't the funniest thing Disney has to offer, or the most morally-grounded, or even the best animated. But it stood out to me for reasons I can't really explain. I just felt like this was an extremely memorable film. Great, if heavy-handed, moral, very good animation, the voice acting is spot-on, the jokes work, the emotional moments floor me (as they should). This movie has a solid mixture of light and dark. If you haven't seen it, it's on Netflix. Better get to it quickly before Disneyflix swoops in and robs Netflix of all it's Disney material. Tomorrow, I reveal my sixth favorite movie. Until then, merry Christmas, and always remember to keep moving forward.
