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Meet the Robinsons (Film)

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The plot of this bright and cheerful film is essentially that of Back to the Future, seen from a different character’s point of view, but the film has much amusing incidental detail to recommend it. Very young children, though unlikely to follow the twists of the plot, will be enthralled by the spectacular future world and the copious thrills and spills. One thing really struck me, though – what is it about computer-animated films and caffeine? So far this year both Over the Hedge and Hoodwinked featured caffeine-powered hyperactivity as part of their denouements, and in Meet the Robinsons children are again treated to a lesson in the laughs that result from being a low-level junkie, in the form of a scientist hopped up on caffeine patches. Now I imagine computer animators work long, tiring and often quite dull hours, and coffee comes in very handy for them at times, but it seems a strange thing to riff on in so many children’s films. What next: The Elf With The Golden Arm? Dogs In Space, with actual dogs? Thomas The Tanked-Up Engine? – SWT

Originally published in Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #16.