A FANTASTIC, FUTURISTIC FAMILY ROBINSON:
ABOUT THE ORIGINS

            “The theme of our film encapsulated into one phrase is this: keep moving forward,” says Steve Anderson, the director of MEET THE ROBINSONS, who has spent the last several years building the spectacular future world in which the Robinson family carries out their wildest, weirdest and most whimsical dreams to the hilt.  “Through meeting the incredible Robinson family, our orphaned hero Lewis learns to live for the future, to live for where you are going next and for all the things you can do, instead of getting stuck on the things that didn’t work in the past.” 

            Anderson -- who cut his teeth in the Disney story department on such hand-drawn hits as “Brother Bear” and “The Emperor’s New Groove” -- and his team have invested blood, sweat and vast terabytes into bringing this ambitious digital project to fruition.  But for Anderson there was a singular motivation:  he long ago fell madly in love with the characters of MEET THE ROBINSONS, characters so fresh and original he felt they would add a whole new dimension to Disney’s legacy of memorable storytelling.  From orphanage caretakers to singing frogs, from eccentric grandparents to morphing robots, from boyish heroes to an evil bowler hat, Anderson loved that this story dared to cover the full territory between the ridiculous and the sublimely emotional.  The fact that the story also explores a not-so-distant future jam-packed with the joy of sleek bubble vehicles, ingenious travel tubes and havoc-wreaking time machines only added to the irresistible creative appeal. 
 “What I love about the Robinsons is that they’re adults but they live life with all the zest, fervor and uninhibited playfulness of kids,” Anderson continues.  “The Robinsons believe that if you have a dream, you should just go for it.  So if you want to wear your clothes backwards – why not?  If you want to shoot yourself out of a cannon – fantastic! They’re very funny because their reactions are so unpredictable, but they are also an inspiration because they live their lives in ways you would never expect and do things no one else does.”

Lewis’ remarkable journey to meet the Robinsons is nearly derailed, however, by a range of threats, from time-traveling dinosaurs to an alternate Evil Future filled with greed and grime, and the biggest threat of all – that Lewis might give up on his dream of finding a family and making a better world.  This driving theme truly hit home hard for Anderson, who was himself adopted as an infant. 

“It was the weirdest experience for me when I received the script, because I was instantly fused to it.  I immediately understood this boy and all his questions about where he came from and why he was abandoned,” Anderson recalls. “I felt so fortunate to be given material that I could connect to so deeply.  I knew from the beginning that this would be so much more than just a crazy time-travel story for me. It was always my focus to make Lewis’ quest for love and hope the emotional core of the story and to really deepen that throughout.” 

            The evolution of MEET THE ROBINSONS began with the astonishing world of William Joyce’s illustrated book, A Day with Wilbur Robinson, which presented a portrait of a family unlike any other – a family of madcap inventors and dreamers who considered having family robots, a singing frog band and an octopus for a butler completely normal. Though the book offered a very simple story, the real draw was the world it created, filled with all kinds of hilarious and surprising details that riveted readers of all ages. 

            Disney had originally acquired A Day with Wilbur Robinson in order to make a live-action feature – that is, until the Feature Animation department discovered the story and its prime potential to mesh with the unbridled, unlimited imaginative powers of today’s animated filmmaking.  The script turned the story of this free-wheeling family into something entirely fresh: a time-travel adventure which takes place all in one incredible day, a day that gives the orphan Lewis plenty of unexpected reasons to believe in a fantastic future on which he almost gave up. 

“Anderson was intrigued by the initial script – and by how it forged a rare picture of a future that truly lives up to the concept.  “I was drawn to the idea that Lewis travels to a future you almost never see, one that’s prosperous, creative and optimistic,” says Anderson.  “He gets to see that the possibility is there for the future to be beautiful and brilliant and a vision of real hope.”