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Meet The Robinsons 3D
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (11th January 2012). |
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The Film
 Based on the book "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" this Disney animated film takes the foundations laid by the book and in traditional Disney style adapts them for their own purposes and includes a few Disney-esque themes such as family, the orphan theme and the light hearted nature of the film, thankfully there was not a lot of singing. The film was in production for sometime before its release and when Pixar finally merged with Disney and John Lasseter took over animation (including re-opening Disney's traditional 2-d hand drawn division which was closed under Michael Esiner's final years of control) he suggested further changes which director Stephen J. Anderson took and over the course of 10 months nearly 60 percent of the film was changed including the addition of new story elements. It's possible that the continuous changes applied under the hands of many people over the course of production resulted in the film being a mixed bag. It feels like a mish-mash of cool elements rolled into a picture with a very simple plot as the filmmaker's throw a veritable stock-pile of set pieces to keep you distracted including a time travel plot, a sequence with singing and dancing frogs and an admittedly funny sequence featuring a T-Rex (probably the film's only really funny sequence). The film tells the story of Lewis (Daniel Hansen), a brilliant kid with a bright future that was orphaned as a child; he's having trouble finding foster parents because his inventions and try-hard attitude always ruin his interviews. What Lewis really wants to do is find out what his mother was like, so he invents a machine that can look into your memories, but before he has a chance to properly test it it's secretly sabotaged by a mysterious villain in a bowler hat who then steals the invention to peddle it of as his own. Lewis is warned out the villain by Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman) who claims he is from the future and to prove it he takes Lewis back to the future in his time machine, but while there the machine breaks and Lewis is stuck in the future as the man in the Bowler hat threatens to alter time back in the present day. The film's computer generate animation is very cartoonish leaning towards the Nickelodeon style of TV CG animation but with more detail, which at least separates it from appearing too similar to other CG Disney films, which I suppose is not a negative. It is however not as solid as Pixar films of the past but then again with 7 screenwriters and numerous changes made along the way it would have been an uphill battle to produce anything halfway decent even considering Lasseter had his hands on it before release. Despite the mish-mash quality of the film it's still rather enjoyable and entertaining, the Bowler hat villain is among my favorite characters his antics make me laugh hours after having seen the film. The future sequences are also rather impressively realized and has a certain "Jetsons" (1962-1988) feel to it, which current audiences may not appreciate. "Meet the Robinsons" could have been a better film, the days of Disney creating memorable classics seemed to be over with release after release not able to reach the same heights they once were able to soar to, however the recent management shift has placed the right people in charge and let's hope that this film will be the last of the mediocre Disney animations (Pixar films obviously excluded considering their proven track record).
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 this transfer is presented in 1080p 24/fps high-definition and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. This newly minted 3D transfer enhances the film to a new level with some eye-popping moments. This film had some nice set pieces that lend itself well to the 3D format, however much like the up-conversion done to "Chicken Little" (2005) we get similar ghosting issues, a few more here than with "Chicken Little". The result is a little jarring and after having viewed two up-converted 3D transfers after another I started to get a bit of a headache... an unfortunate side-product of watching too much 3D content. In saying that the image is terrific, bursting with colors, detail, textures and plenty of cool looking environments that pop off the screen. The image is sharp and clean and well defined.
Audio
The 3D version of the film includes a new English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit dropping the English uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround (from the previously released 2D Blu-ray release, included in this set as the second disc, which also feature audio in English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround). Much like the PCM track this DTS number is equally impressive, robust and brimming with surround activity and depth. There's a lot of sound effects making good use of the sound space, The overall soundtrack is immersive and impressive with crisp and clear dialogue and wonderfully mixed music. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Buena Vista Home Entertainment has released this film with an audio commentary, an isolated track, 3 deleted scenes, 2 music videos, 2 featurettes, an interactive game and a series of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: 3D BLU-RAY This disc includes the film in 3D, no extras appear on this disc at all. DISC TWO: BLU-RAY This disc features the standard 2D version of the film, plus the extras: The film includes a feature-length audio commentary by the film's director Stephen J. Anderson. In this track the director talks about being on the film for four and a half years and comments on the original script which was based on the book and what elements from that script made it into the final version released. He talks about how the film appealed to him especially the orphaned Lewis who he could relate to as Anderson was adopted. The takes us through the themes that help control the story and how it evolves, inspirations for various scenes and characters and modeling Lewis on Nikola Tesla and adding some quirky behavior without being too weird. He also comments on his favorite scenes in the film and on reworking the film over the years of development among other things. The film also features an isolated sound effects track presented in 5.1 surround, this track eliminates the dialogue and music and presents the film with only the sound effects, other than people interested in sound mixing special effects this feature isn't really necessary and could have benefited with commentary from the sound crew. Next up are 3 deleted scenes, these scenes all have an intro to them by the director telling us about the scene and why it was cut, they can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option and include: - "Arriving in the Future" runs for 3 minutes 9 seconds, this is an alternate version of the scene where the time machine doesn't crash. - "Meeting Carl" runs for 2 minutes 9 seconds, Carl freaks about alerting the time stream after he meets Lewis. - "Bowler Hat Guy's Redemption" runs for 1 minute 36 seconds, Lewis gives Bowler Hat Guy an opportunity to take control of his destiny and change the course of his future. Also featured are 2 music videos which include: - "Little Wonders" performed by Rob Thomas and runs for 3 minutes 58 seconds, this is a standard Disney song that features some clips from the film in the video. - "Kids of the Future" performed by The Jonas Brothers which runs for 3 minutes 25 seconds and is a live performance of the song. Following that is "Inventing the Robinsons" a featurette that runs for 17 minutes 56 seconds and takes a general look at the making of the film from the inspiration for the film, a look at the various characters and story elements and drawing from the spirit of the book. The director talks about his involvement in the project and the development of the script, storyboarding the entire film and the uniqueness of the project. The clip also covers the development of the themes and establishing the tone of the film including how the character design, casting the voice talent and the film's music among other things. This is an EPK clip but focuses on the film rather than how great the people working on it are. Another featurette is next and is entitled "Keep Moving Forward: Inventions that Shaped the World" which runs for 6 minutes 25 seconds and takes a look at the inventions that had an impact on the world such as the wheel, printing press, telescope, television etc. It's an amusing little clip but not really worth repeated viewing. Also featured on this disc is the "Family Function 5000" interactive game, Use your remote to put Lewis' future family tree in order, this looks like a bit of fun for kids, older viewers will likely get bored after a couple of minutes. A second interactive game is included and entitled "Bowler Hat Barrage", in this game you must use you remote to fly Lewis through the city and target the evil hats as they come at you. Rounding out the extras are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Enchanted" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "Ratatouille" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "Wall-E" which runs for 1 minute 35 seconds. - "Disney Blu-ray" spot which runs for 1 minute 10 seconds. Finally this first disc also includes a "Movie Showcase" which jumps to three key reference scenes that show off the high-definition quality. DISC THREE: DVD This is a DVD edition of the film.
Packaging
Packaged in a 3-disc Blu-ray keep case housed in a cardboard slip-case that features a lenticular cover.
Overall
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