Story
Abandoned as a baby at the doorstep of an orphanage, Lewis (voiced by Daniel Hansen) spends the next 12 years searching for a substitute family. Much to the displeasure of his room mate Goob (Matthew Josten), Lewis is an avid inventor who is determined to find a way to remember his birth mother. He invents a machine that can replay memories of any point in time. On the verge of unveiling his invention at a science fair, Lewis is sabotaged by the Bowler Hat Man (Stephan J Anderson). The Bowler Hat Man has come back from the future to steal Lewis’s invention, pass it off as his own and destroy Lewis’ future in the process.
Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), a 13-year-old from the future, has also come back in time. He must thwart the Bowler Hat Man’s evil plan because his own existence depends on Lewis’s survival. The boys travel to the future where Lewis meets the eccentric Robinson family. Despite their unusual ways, the family shows Lewis what it means to truly belong.
In a desperate effort to save Wilbur and the future of society, Lewis must believe in himself to achieve the impossible. He must also make a difficult choice between the past and the future. In doing so, he realises that the family he has always sought has been with him all along.
Themes
Abandonment; adoption
Violence
There is some violence in this movie including:
- When Lewis’ memory machine is sabotaged by the Bowler Hat Man, pieces of it fly off and hit various objects; chaos ensues with an erupting volcano going haywire and a rampage of fire ants attacking people after their ‘ant farm’ is shattered.
- Wilbur pushes Lewis off a building; he lands on an invisible time machine.
- Lewis and Wilbur fight over the time machine’s controls, breaking the wheel and crashing the time machine.
- The Bowler Hat Man drags another man across a large table by the collar.
- The Bowler Hat Man is tied up like a pretzel and thrown onto the street.
- The Bowler hat Man advises Goob to let hate be his ally.
- At dinner, meatballs are fired out of a cannon and smashed against the floor.
- A tyrannosaurus crashes through the Robinson home attempting to attack and eat Lewis.
- A giant squid attacks the dinosaur.
- A pizza delivery ‘space ship’ blasts dough at the dinosaur, trying to confine it.
- The dinosaur tries to eat Wilbur
- Bowler hat machines take on a life of their own possessing people and turning them violently against one another.
- Wilbur’s robot is impaled through the heart.
- Lewis is pursued through a factory furnace by hundreds of spider like bowler hat machines who are trying to attack him.
Sexual references
None
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
In one scene, a group of frogs drink martinis at a bar.
Nudity and sexual activity
None
Product placement
None
Coarse language
This movie contains put-downs and name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
This animated adventure features excellent computer-animated graphics and special effects. It will appeal to a wide variety of ages. Because of its content, however, it is best suited to slightly older children and adults.
The main messages from this movie are to never give up and always have hope for the future. You might like to discuss with your children the values of persistence, determination, honesty and creativity presented in this movie.
You could also discuss attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
- the effect anger has on judgement
- the implications of blaming others versus taking responsibility for your own actions.