Yep ... another kiddie movie. I had actually been toying with "playing hookie" from my job search this afternoon and sneaking out to see "300", but that didn't happen .. and just as well when The Wife suggested we go see Meet the Robinsons once The Girls got in from their playdates.Disney's had teasers out for this for what seems like years, but somehow in all those trailers I somehow had missed the 3D aspect of this (I must have been too entranced with the concept of The Coffee Patch ... each having the impact of 12 cups of java!). In fact, this seems to be the introduction of a whole new theatrical 3D technology (Disney Digital 3D
Hmmm ... which means I should probably try to de-couple the "3D experience" from the movie itself. I'm guessing that the current 3D tech is an outgrowth of the 3D "rides" at DisneyWorld, although this was "better" than the 3D in something like "It's Tough To Be A Bug" at the Animal Kingdom (although not attempting the tactile/scent aspects of that). Like those attractions, the 3D effects were produced via a very substantial pair of glasses (dead ringers for those worn by the late Roy Orbison) with slightly tinted lenses (not blue/red but some sort of fine mesh ? that looks holographic if you look through them into a mirror). Frankly, the 3D effects were "coolest" on the intro credits for the technology itself ... there was also a Donald Duck cartoon from the 1950's that had been done for a previous 3D system, and this was "the first time seen in theaters in over 50 years". Being a 3D movie (I wonder if these bits got cut from the non-3D version?) there were the classic "stuff flying at the screen" shots, and a lot of stuff whooshing around to play up the effect.
As for the film itself, it was "OK" ... "The Robinsons" were an odd collection of strange types that the young protagonist is thrown into via a convoluted series of time travel incidents. Frankly, the "timeline" issues were worthy (?) of one of the more convoluted StarTrek Voyager episodes involving the "timeship Relativity", and there are several "temporal questions" that don't get tied up by the end. As such, it's a bit dicey outlining the plot, but it involves a brilliant orphan boy who must get his amazing invention to the science fair, and a character from the future who is trying to steal it for himself.
I liked this well enough, but felt that they could have expanded a bit more on the "family" characters and tied up some of the looser loose ends. The only "names" that I really recognized were Nicole Sullivan from MADtv, Adam West (TV's Batman), and Tom Selleck, none of whom were particularly voice-recognizable (Selleck was joked about in one scene).
For adults, hey, it's a fun sci-fi sort of thing ... and worth going for the 3D show ... but I'm not sure I'd say rush out and see this, especially in one of the non-3D presentations!