Meet the failures

"Meet the Robinsons" is a trifling Disney effort with too many characters to keep track of. While the title suggests a movie about the Robinson Family, it's really about an orphan inventor, Lewis, who creates a memory extractor device so he can remember who is mother is. He unveils his invention at the school science fair when a dangly guy with a Bowler hat, named Bowler Hat Guy, arrives in a time machine from the future to sabotage the science fair and steel Lewis' invention. Wilbur Robinson shows up soon after in another time machine and takes Lewis with him to the future so Lewis can meet the Robinsons and get his invention back. Confused? Me too, and I thought this was a kids' movie!\nThe animation is good but nothing compared to recent computer-animation films like "Cars" or "Monster House." The movie is set in the future, but it's a future world that presents and offers no new ideas. There are flying cars, and pedestrians get from place to place using a series of complex tubes. You've seen it all before, done better. I wish the story centered more on the eccentric Robinson family rather than Lewis. The family is the best part of the movie and, save a humorous dinner scene, is not featured long enough, but I'll do my best to introduce you to them.\nThere's Grandpa Bud, who is always losing and looking for his dentures; Grandma Lucille wears her pink hair beehive style; Uncle Art is a pizza-delivery man who tackles his job with the same tenacity of a superhero; Uncle Fritz's wife, Aunt Petunia, is a puppet on his hand; the mother, Franny, teaches frogs how to sing lounge tunes; Frankie is the bandleader of Frankie and the Frogs; Cornelius, the patriarch, is a Tom Selleck look-alike; and Wilbur is the time-traveling preteen who is about to get grounded. There's also Cousin Lazlo, Cousin Tallulah, Uncle Gaston, Spike and Dimitri, Buster the spectacle-wearing family dog and Lefty, the octopus butler. \nIf the filmmakers spent more time developing the characters of the family, the movie would have been enjoyable. Instead, the film centers around a thin storyline about an outcast orphan with a knack for inventing. The filmmakers come off as lazy, and I hope this is not a sign of things to come from Disney. Skip the movie and watch the trailer. All the best parts are in it.