Based on the children’s book A Day With Wilbur Robinson, Meet the Robinsons has a crazy cast of characters featured in this heartwarming story.
Premiered on: March 23, 2007 in the United Kingdom
Directed by: Stephen J. Anderson
Produced by: Dorothy McKim
Based on: A Day with Wilbur Robinson written by William Joyce
Sequels: none
Cast:
Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry – Lewis
Tom Selleck – Cornelius
Wesley Singerman – Wilbur
Harland Williams – Carl
Tom Kenny – Mr. Willerstein
Stephen J. Anderson – Bowler Hat Guy / Grandpa Bud / Tallulah
Matthew Josten – Michael “Goob” Yagoobian
Angela Bassett – Mildred
Laurie Metcalf – Lucille Krunklehorn-Robinson
Adam West – Uncle Art
Nicole Sullivan – Franny
Jessica Flower – young Franny
Ethan Sandler – Doris / Uncle Fritz / Spike / Dmitri / Cousin Laszlo / Invent Co. CEO
Don Hall – Uncle Gaston / Gym Coach
Supervising Animators:
Ruben A. Aquino
Dale Baer
Bob Davies
Jay N. Davis
Brian Ferguson
Randy Haycock
Nik Ranieri
Aurian Redson
Scott Robideau
Dick Zondag
Music by: Danny Elfman
Songs:
“Another Believer”
“Little Wonders”
“The Future has Arrived”
“Where is your Heart At?”
“The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)”
“Give Me the Simple Life”
Academy Awards: none
The Story:
Meet the Robinsons begins with the title card.
On a dark and rainy night, a lady is slowly approaching the 6th Street orphanage. She is carrying a baby in a cardboard box. She hugs the baby before leaving it on the front step. Mildred hears a knock and goes to open the front door. She only sees the baby and no one else is around.
The baby, Lewis, is now a twelve year old boy. He is working on a new invention out of a toaster while his roommate, Goob, is telling him stories about Halloween costumes and about his love of baseball. Goob then runs to the window and is excited about a couple getting out of their car. He tells Lewis that they are there and tries to get his attention. Lewis is just staring at his invention and is very excited about it. Mildred comes to get Lewis for his interview with the Harringtons. She reminds him to sit up straight, look them in the eye, and smile. She says to show them how special he is. Mildred tells Goob that she sure hopes that this is it and that Lewis gets adopted.
Lewis meets with the couple and talks on and on about his ideas for inventions that will improve the world. He has a whole book of ideas which he shows the couple. Mr. Harrington asks what his favourite sport is and Lewis responds that inventing is. He shows off the invention he made for portion control of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The couple is very nervous about the invention. Suddenly it jams up and then the peanut butter and jelly explodes all over the couple. Mr. Harrington is allergic and his wife quickly stabs him with an epipen. They then leave the room and Lewis overhears them complain to Mildred that Lewis is definitely not the right boy for them.
Mildred finds Lewis on the roof and offers him some lunch. Lewis says that he is not hungry and Mildred comments about poor Mr. Harrington. Lewis panics that he killed the man but Mildred assures him that Mr. Harrington is fine. She was just going to say that it is too bad that Mr. Harrington did not get to try a sandwich from that wonderful invention. She then assures him that it isn’t him, he just hasn’t found the right couple yet. Lewis says 124. Mildred thinks he is exaggerating but then Lewis shows her a crate where he was keeping a tally of how many couples interviewed him. Lewis will be 13 the next year and he knows it is very hard for a teenager to get adopted. He cries that even his own mother didn’t want him. Mildred tells Lewis that maybe she did, but just couldn’t keep him and had no choice. Lewis now thinks that his real mom is the only person who ever wanted him and so he needs to find her so she will take him back. Mildred says that no one even saw her but Lewis points out that he did, he just needs to remember.
Lewis gets to work on his new invention in his room. He draws a picture of him and his mom for inspiration. The song “Another Believer” plays. Lewis teaches his own class and also goes to college. He watches brain surgeries to learn and gets ready to enter in a science fair. During all of this prep, Goob is going crazy because he can’t sleep.
Goob gets ready for his baseball game, but is worried that he might fall asleep during the game. He takes Mildred’s coffee.
Lewis is very excited that he is finished his invention and shows Mildred. He is about to test it but his alarm goes off and needs to get to the science fair. Mildred tells him that he has an interview that afternoon but Lewis says no thanks, he doesn’t want to be rejected anymore. Mildred tells him that he needs to look to the future and Lewis insists that he is, the invention is the future.
At the science fair, the teacher, Mr. Willerstein, thanks Dr. Krunklehorn for judging and she is very excited to be there. She says that she hasn’t slept in 8 days thanks to the caffeine patch. Each patch is worth 12 cups of coffee and her arms are covered with them. She slaps one on Mr. Willerstein’s forehead. The gym coach comes over ready to judge as well. The teacher asks what makes him qualified to judge and the coach answers that it is his gym. They pass by a volcano project which doesn’t work so the coach makes the kid run 20 laps around the gym.
Lewis comes in with his invention. The next project the judges walk by is a fire any farm. Wilbur starts following Lewis around. Lewis sets up his invention on a table with a cloth still covering it. Wilbur tells Lewis that the area is not secure and hides him under the cloth. He asks Lewis if he has been approached by a tall man in a bowler hat. Lewis tells him no and goodbye. Wilbur then informs Lewis that he is Special Agent Wilbur Robinson of the TCTF, the Time Continuum Task Force. He says that the Bowler Hat Guy stole a time machine and that informants have told Wilbur that he is after Lewis. Wilbur leaves from under the cloth and sees Bowler Hat Guy! He attacks him and knocks over a box of frogs. But Bowler Hat Guy turns out to be a kid carrying his solar system project.
Bowler Hat Guy is lurking in the shadows on the gym. He sees Lewis and Doris, his hat, floats over to him and then grows legs like a spider and walks over to the invention. The judges get to Lewis and Mr. Willerstein asks Lewis to reassure him that his project won’t blow up. Doris is inside the project and takes out some of the screws. Lewis is giving a speech about recovering forgotten memories. He reveals his Memory Scanner and goes back to an important day in his life, presumably when his mother left him at the orphanage. The machine starts up and Wilbur sees Doris and tries to warn Lewis but it is too late. A blade flies off and into a light which falls into the volcano which finally explodes. This all results in complete chaos of the science fair. The sprinklers go off and Lewis tries to apologise but the teacher doesn’t have time. Lewis runs out side upset and Wilbur follows. Doris puts the screws back in and Bowler Hat Guy steals the machine.
On the roof, Lewis is frantically going over his notes. He comes across the picture he drew of him and his mother but the wind blows it away. He angrily starts to rip out pages of his notebook. He crumples and throws them away. One page is thrown back at him by Wilbur. Lewis asks the other boy what he is doing there and Wilbur responds by making a birdcall. Lewis says to quit that and Wilbur protests that he is blowing his cover. Wilbur tells Lewis to quit moping, to go back, and fix the Memory Scanner. Lewis refuses and Wilbur reminds him that he is a time cop and should be taken seriously. He flashes his badge at Lewis but Lewis grabs it and realizes that it is a coupon for a tanning salon. Wilbur then admits he is not a cop but he really is from the future and Bowler Hat Guy really did steal a time machine. He then came to the science fair and ruined Lewis’ project. Lewis thinks that Wilbur is crazy and wants Wilbur to prove it. Wilbur makes a deal that if he does, Lewis will then fix the invention. Wilbur then grabs Lewis and pushes him off the building. He lands on an invisible platform which turns out to be a time machine. They then head to the future!
They ride through the future and Lewis sees things like people riding in bubbles. Wilbur asks if this is proof enough and Lewis is very excited about time travel. Then he gets an idea to go back in time and see his mom instead of trying to fix the Memory Scanner. Wilbur disagrees and thinks that it needs to be fixed. Lewis hops in the driver’s seat and they take off again. Wilbur tries to stop him and they argue about who is older. They end up crashing the time machine.
Wilbur is freaking out. He says that there are only two time machines in existence and Bowler Hat Guy has the other one. He needs Lewis to fix this one. Lewis says he will only in Wilbur takes him back to see his mom. They agree after some more arguing.
Back in the past at InventCo, Bowler Hat Guy brings in his invention and wants to speak to the man in charge. He insists that he has an appointment. The receptionist asks if he is Mary Johnson and Bowler Hat Guy says that he is. He grabs a seat to wait and pulls out his to do list to check off “Pass off invention as my own.”
Bowler Hat Guy goes up to the meeting and Doris goes outside to show him what to say on a screen through the window. He starts with “prepare to be amazed.” Soon the CEO closes the blinds so Bowler Hat Guy is on his own. He then puts the headphones of the Memory Scanner on the CEO who asks what Bowler Hat Guy hopes to accomplish with it. Bowler Hat Guy responds with that he hopes to crush the dreams of a poor little orphan boy. Bowler Hat Guy then tries to turn on the machine but presses the wrong button. The headphones go flying back towards the machine, taking the CEO with. The machine breaks. Bowler Hat Guy is thrown out with the invention and so adds to his to do list to “find that boy,” meaning to find Lewis and make him fix the invention.
Back in the future, Wilbur is going to sneak the time machine into his garage and Lewis has until the next morning to fix it before his father gets back from a business trip. Carl the robot asks for the password to come into the garage and Wilbur insists that they don’t have a password. Carl says that he made one up while he was gone and Wilbur points out that he won’t know it then. Carl thinks that is a good point and lets them in. Wilbur tells him that he didn’t find the stolen time machine and now this one is busted as well. Carl runs away screaming from Lewis who says that was unexpected. Wilbur then puts a fruit hat on his head and Lewis comments that was not expected either. Wilbur insists that his hair is a dead giveaway that he is from the past. Lewis wants to know why but Wilbur doesn’t answer and Wilbur leaves the garage and tells Lewis to stay there. Lewis then gets sucked up a tube after Wilbur leaves and he ends up outside. He goes to the front door where Dmitri and Spike are in two planters by the door and is each trying to get Lewis to ring their doorbells. Lewis accidentally rings one and the door is opened by a giant octopus.
Wilbur is trying to convince Carl not to go to the family with this crisis. He says that he has a plan and that he will keep Lewis in the garage and Lewis will fix it and they will go back to the science fair to fix the Memory Scanner. Wilbur admits to Carl that he is not actually going to take Lewis back to see his mom and that he only said that to buy some time. Carl runs the numbers and says that if this fails, there is a 99.9999999% chance that he won’t exist. But Wilbur isn’t worried about that and grabs the blueprints of the time machine from Carl.
Lewis is running away and runs into Grandpa Bub whose clothes are on backwards. He is looking for his teeth and said he had been digging holes in the lawn all day. Lewis says that he needs to get back to the garage and Grandpa Bud insists that he knows a shortcut. But they end up inside the house and Lewis meets all of the other family members. Billie is racing her life-size toy train against Gaston the human cannonball. Wilbur realizes that Lewis is not in the garage. Lewis is still meeting more family members but still cannot find the garage. Wilbur is searching for Lewis. He meets the octopus and learns that he is the butler and is name Lefty. He also meets Franny, Wilbur’s mom, who is directing a frog band. They are playing “Give Me the Simple Life.” Lewis plays the maracas and he finds Grandpa Bud’s missing teeth in one of the frogs. The rest of the family joins in the music. Lewis then runs away and runs into Wilbur.
Wilbur is shocked that Lewis met his family. He drags Lewis back to the garage and quizzes him on who he met and Lewis can list everyone and how they are related. He learns that Wilbur’s dad is named Cornelius and he looks like Tom Selleck.
Back at the orphanage, Bowler Hat Guy and Doris sneak in through a window. He goes to grab Lewis but finds Goob instead. Goob says that he was called Pukeface and Butterfingers that day. He is all beaten up and says to Bowler Hat Guy to try the roof for Lewis. Bowler Hat Guy asks if the game went well. Goob responds that it did not because he fell asleep, missed the winning catch, and then got beaten up because of it. His coach told him to let it all go but Bowler Hat Guy is very persistent that he should not; Goob should let it fester and boil inside of him.
Bowler Hat Guy goes to the reach but Lewis is not there. Bowler Hat Guy and Doris look around for clues. Doris finds time travel residue right by the DNA of Wilbur Robinson. Bowler Hat Guy is proud that he found a stick. They had back to the future in their stolen time machine.
Lewis is trying to fix the time machine, but wants to give up. Wilbur tells Lewis his dad’s motto which is “keep moving forward.” He tells Lewis about how he runs Robinson Industries, the leading invention company. He invented things like the time machines and shows Lewis different prototypes of the time machines.
Bowler Hat Guy arrives in the future and the time machine turns invisible.
Lewis keeps trying to fix the time machine and thinks that he did. They try to turn it on but the time machine crashes again. Franny then tells Wilbur that it is dinner time.
Doris tells Bowler Hat Guy to just sit there and let her and a mini Doris search the Robinson’s house. Bowler Hat Guy needs to lure Lewis out of the house and thinks they should blow it up but then he would be dead. Instead he thinks they should turn him into a duck but he doesn’t know how. Doris rings the doorbell and sneaks in when Lefty opens it.
Dinner is served by many mini Carls. Lewis and Wilbur awkwardly explain how they know each other and Lewis hides that he is from the past. The family wants Lewis to take his fruit hat off but Wilbur says that he can’t because he has bad hair. The family still protests so Wilbur starts a food fight to distract them. Carl then serves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Lewis’ invention. There are technical difficulties with the invention and Wilbur says that Lewis can fix it but Lewis isn’t sure. Everyone begs him to.
The singing frogs have their own bar. Doris and mini Doris are flying around and the mini hat attaches to a frog. The frog is now under Bowler Hat Guy’s control and repeats everything he says.
Lewis is working on fixing the portion control invention when the frog appears. He is commanded to bring Lewis back to Bowler Hat Guy but the frog isn’t sure how that is going to work because he has little arms. He points out that this plan was not thought through. Lewis fixes the invention but it soon explodes again and covers everyone with peanut butter and jelly. He apologizes but the family is excited that he failed but now he can learn from it. They tell him to keep moving forward.
Bowler Hat Guy now needs a new minion. He wants something larger that won’t talk back. He gets an idea after seeing a t-rex topiary.
Franny is giving a toast to Lewis and to his brilliant failure which will lead to success in the future. Lewis thinks that they are all so nice and he wishes that if he had a family, they would be like Wilbur’s. Everyone splashes their drinks onto their faces instead of drinking for them for the toast. Doris is spying on them. Franny asks Wilbur what Lewis meant by “if he had a family” and Wilbur says that Lewis is an orphan.
Suddenly there is a t-rex outside and everyone screams. Bowler Hat Guy went back in time and stole a dinosaur. The t-rex grabs Lewis and the family sets out to rescue him. They attack the dinosaur and tell him that he messed with the wrong family. The t-rex lets go of Lewis and chases him into a corner but can’t get the boy with his little arms. The t-rex then tells Bowler Hat Guy that he isn’t sure how well thought out this plan is. Wilbur realizes that the t-rex is controlled by Bowler Hat Guy through the mini hat and knocks it off. The frogs drag the mini hat away.
Everyone in the family comes over to make sure Wilbur and Lewis are alright and Lewis accidently calls Franny ‘mom.’ She says that is okay and hugs him. Lewis sees how beat up the family got from fighting the t-res and he can’t believe that they all sacrificed for him. Franny invites Lewis to spend the night and says he can come over whenever he wishes. Wilbur insists that they really need to get going but Franny now wants to adopt Lewis! So Wilbur knocks off his hat and everyone gasps. Lewis says that it is true he is from the past and is now glad they know his big secret. Franny demands to know if Wilbur knows what he has done. She tells Lewis that she is sorry but he has to go. Lewis is very upset. He doesn’t want to go back to his own time and Wilbur has to admit that he actually cant because one time machine is broken and the other was stolen. He says that explains the dinosaur. Franny says that she is going to call his father and Lewis asks if he has to go back, can he at least go find his mom because Wilbur promises. Wilbur admits that he was never going to do that and Lewis is very upset that he lied. Lewis stomps off and Franny grounds Wilbur until he dies.
Lewis is in the garden crying when he overhears Bowler Hat Guy talking about what a shame it is that Lewis can’t go back in time to see his mom. He appears in the invisible time machine and says that all Lewis has to do is put back together the Memory Scanner and then he will take him to see his mom. Bowler Hat Guy has his fingers crossed behind his back to show that he is lying. Wilbur sees Lewis leave with Bowler Hat Guy.
Bowler Hat Guy takes Lewis to another dim building still in the future. Lewis is trying to fix the Memory Scanner and Bowler Hat Guy wants him to show him how to turn it on. Lewis says that he still doesn’t think it will work because it never did and Bowler Hat Guy insists that he still shows him. Lewis does and then demands to see his mom. Doris ties him up and Lewis wants to know what they are doing; he insists that he has never done anything to Bowler Hat Guy. The villain then asks Lewis if he still hasn’t figured it out. He says to Lewis “father of the future, keep moving forward,” and Lewis says that is Wilbur’s dad, not him. He suddenly then realizes that he is Wilbur’s dad. Bowler Hat Guy turns on the rest of the lights and shows that they are in Lewi’s old room in the orphanage. Lewis then realizes that Bowler Hat Guy is Goob!
Goob says that he always dreamt of winning the Little League championship and the baseball game is shown as a flashback where Goob fell asleep and missed the winning catch. Goob is then shown yelling at any potential adoption couples that if he hadn’t fallen asleep, he would have caught the ball so no one wants to adopt him. Goob always hears on the radio how successful Lewis turns out to be. The orphanage closes but Goob stays there and grows up. He convinces himself that this is all Lewis’ fault for keeping him awake while he was building his Memory Scanner. Goob then thinks up a brilliant plan to get revenge by throwing eggs at Robinson Industries. But then he met Doris. Adult Lewis had invented her as a helping hat but she felt like she was a slave to human kind. Doris knew she was capable of so much more so she was shut down. Together, they snuck into the Robinson home and stole the time machine. Now all that is left to do is go back to InventCo and pass of the invention as their own, just to ruin Lewis’ life. Lewis insists that they can’t because it will mess up the future! Lewis tries to apologize and tells Goob not to focus on the bad stuff that has happened to him but to keep moving forward.
They go to the roof and Lewis hears Carl and Wilbur making birdcalls. Goob is going to load up the time machine but Lewis runs away with the Memory Scanner. He is caught by Wilbur and Carl in their car and they take off. They almost make it back him but Doris attacks Carl and Goob steals the Memory Scanner again. He heads to InventCo.
Wilbur demands Lewis fix the time machine but Lewis tells him to call his dad to fix it instead. Wilbur says that he can’t because Lewis is his dad.
Goob gives his demo of the Memory Scanner and is about to sign the contract with InventCo.
Wilbur starts to evaporate from existence. Lewis can’t find any of the Robinson family and he sees what the future is like with Goob succeeded. It is very dark and everyone is wearing mind controlled hats, including the Robinson family. Lewis goes back to the time machine and tries again to fix it. This time he does and he takes off. He flies through the dark city with hats attacking him.
Lewis makes it back to the past and tries to warn Goob that Doris is just using him so that she can take over the future. He tells Doris that he is never going to invent her and she disintegrates. Lewis brings Goob to the dark future to show him how bad things got but then it turns back to being bright and how it was. Wilbur reappears and attacks Bowler Hat Guy. He tells Lewis to go run for help but Lewis introduces Goob as his roommate. The two boys argue but when they turn back around, Goob is gone. All that is left is his to do list and the last check is a question mark.
The family arrives and makes sure Lewis is alright. He says that he feels better than he has in a long time. Cornelius arrives and is freaking out that the time machines are gone. He then waves awkwardly at his younger self. Franny just points to Wilbur.
Cornelius brings Lewis to see their lab. Lewis asks which invention he is most proud of and Cornelius says the Memory Scanner because it was the one that started it all. He tells Lewis that he still needs to go back and make the right choices to keep moving forward. Lewis asks if they ever meet their mom but Cornelius just says to go back to the science fair and find out for yourself.
The family says goodbye to Lewis. Carl makes him promise not to forget to invent him. Franny says that just a tip for the future, she is always right. Cornelius says to just go with it. Wilbur brings Lewis back to the past.
They arrive on a dark and rainy night. Lewis points out that they were supposed to go back to the science fair but they are at the night when his mom dropped him off. He can see her but not make out her face. Lewis gets out of the time machine and walks closer. He is about to reach out to tap her shoulder but changes his mind. His mom runs away and it is actually Lewis who knocks on the door.
On the day of the science fair, Wilbur asks why Lewis let her go and Lewis responds that he already has a family and hugs Wilbur. Wilbur makes a comment that he didn’t know that his dad would also be his best friend. Wilbur leaves and Lewis carries the invention into the science fair, but first he stops and runs to the baseball game to wake up Goob.
The science fair is in the middle of its disaster. He tells the judges that he knows what went wrong and asks for one more chance. He needs a volunteer and everyone hides except for Dr. Krunklehorn. She remembers her wedding day and it appears on the screen. Lewis sees that her groom is Bud. Both Mr. Willerstein and the coach are very happy that it worked. Bud appears and says that Lewis is a very special kid, but he doesn’t look like a Lewis, more of a Cornelius. Lewis then meets a girl names Franny and see says that she teaches music to frogs. She insists that frogs have more musical abilities then people but everyone thinks that she is crazy. Lewis says that he thinks she is right.
The song “Little Wonders” plays as Lewis goes on to his bright future. He is adopted by Dr. Krunklehorn and Bud. He says goodbye to Goob who is showing off his baseball trophy to a couple in an interview. He gets in a car with his new parents and waves goodbye to Mildred. The new family buys a house which is an old conservatory and Lewis continues to invent.
The film ends with the quote: “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we are curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney.
The end credits play to “The Future has Arrived” and “The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion).”
Trivia:
- The other ‘to do’s’ on Bowler Hat Guy’s list are “Steal Time Machine” and “Ruin Science Fair.”
- William Joyce based some of the characters in his book on his own family.
- This was the first Disney animated film to feature the Steamboat Willie opening.
- The science fair takes place at Joyce Williams Elementary School.
- The Donald Duck short Working for Peanuts was played in theatres before Meet the Robinsons.
- Astro Orbiter and Space Mountain is shown in the future city with a sign reading Todayland.
- The end credit song “The Future has Arrived” was sung by The All-American Rejects and “The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)” was sung by Rufus Wainwright.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
There is currently no representation of Meet the Robinsons in the Disney Parks.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Post-Renaissance Era:
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