Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Based on William Joyce's beautifully illustrated children's book A DAY WITH WILBUR ROBINSON, this lively computer-animated Disney film follows the adventures of Lewis (voiced by Jordan Fry and Daniel Hansen), a young orphaned inventor who is determined to find his birth mother by using a "memory scanner," a device of his own creation. When Lewis meets a boy from the year 2037 named Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), they begin a charmingly strange time-traveling journey that involves Wilbur's eccentric family, bowler hats bent on world domination, song-and-dance frogs, and a frustrated Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Boasting the debut of cutting-edge 3D technology, MEET THE ROBINSONS is helmed by first-time feature-film director Stephen J. Anderson, who also voices numerous characters, including the mustachioed villain, Bowler Hat Guy. (Other notable vocal actors include Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck, Adam West, Harland Williams, and Laurie Metcalf.) ROBINSONS also marks Pixar head John Lasseter's first outing as an executive producer on a non-Pixar movie, resulting in a film that features some of that company's signature energy and wit, but stands on its own outside of that universe. While ROBINSONS' literally all-over-the-place plot can be a little difficult to follow at times, its stunning retro-futuristic visuals and amiably wacky characters easily keep viewers entertained.