DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Stephen J. Anderson
Starring the voices of Angela Bassett, Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Matthew Josten
Release date Out now

A young orphan is desperate to find his mother but instead finds a family in the future…

Meet the Robinsons might have been a smash hit on its theatrical release, but it still shows that Disney’s own computer graphics departments are way behind their colleagues at Pixar. The very stylised graphics in this movie simply don’t have the verisimilitude that Pixar have brought to their films, even going back as far as the original Toy Story.

The plot is quite mind-bending for the young audience at which it is aimed, with elements of the confusing Back to the Future II about it. Occasional bouts of slapstick comedy, which often don’t quite work, simply aren’t enough to pull viewers into the film. The villain starts off as a rip off/homage to Count Olaf from the Lemony Snicket books, but then loses that little charm as his true origin is revealed.

A clue to why the film doesn’t work so well comes right at the start of the director’s commentary when Stephen J. Anderson admits that the story’s theme of adoption and searching for your birth mother struck a chord with him from his own experience. He therefore went through the script beefing up the emotion. Unfortunately by creating that throughline (and let’s be honest, who couldn’t see the ending coming a mile off?) Meet the Robinsons misses out on chances for more rounded characters. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 5/10
Set against The Jungle Book, its Disney competition in stores at the moment, Meet the Robinsons pales. It’s okay – but for a Disney film, that’s just not enough.