50 Fun Facts About Meet the Robinsons

In Meet the Robinsons, what does Wilbur first claim to be when he approaches Lewis at the science fair?

A time cop is his cover story until Lewis snatches the 'badge' and finds it is a coupon for a tanning salon; Wilbur admits the lie but insists he really has come from the future.

In Meet the Robinsons, what does Lewis do when he finally gets to see his birth mother?

Lets her go without a word: he reaches out as she leaves the baby at the orphanage door, then pulls back, content now that he knows the family waiting in his future.

What invention does Lewis bring to his school science fair in Meet the Robinsons?

A Memory Scanner, built to pull the face of the birth mother who left him as a baby out of his own memory; a sabotaging robot hat makes it explode at the fair.

What is the name of the Bowler Hat Guy's sentient hat in Meet the Robinsons?

Doris is short for DOR-15, a Helping Hat that its inventor shelved as a failure; the hat escaped, teamed up with a bitter stranger and set out for revenge.

Which company does the Bowler Hat Guy pitch Lewis's stolen machine to in Meet the Robinsons?

InventCo. Labs throws him out: he stole the device without learning how to work it, which is why he next sets out to kidnap the boy who built it.

What is the Robinson family motto in Meet the Robinsons?

Keep Moving Forward is how Wilbur explains the family's time machine: prototype after prototype ended in failure before one finally worked, so the Robinsons treat mistakes as steps, not defeats.

What do the Robinsons name the dinosaur they adopt in Meet the Robinsons?

Tiny, a Tyrannosaurus, is sent to kidnap Lewis but cannot reach him in a tight corner, grumbling that he has 'a big head and little arms'; the Robinsons fight him off, then keep him as a pet.

Who is the Bowler Hat Guy revealed to be in Meet the Robinsons?

Lewis's roommate Goob, grown up and bitter: kept awake by Lewis's late-night inventing, he dozed off in the outfield, missed the catch that lost a Little League title and nursed the grudge for decades.

By what name is the grown-up Lewis known in Meet the Robinsons?

Cornelius is Wilbur's father, the inventor behind the future's gadgets, and the name is a nickname: Bud Robinson gives it to Lewis at the very end, on the day he adopts him.

How does Lewis finally defeat the villainous robot hat in Meet the Robinsons?

Vows never to invent her: because his future self built the hat, the promise wipes her out of existence, and the dark, hat-ruled future turns back into the bright one, with Wilbur restored.

Who voices the adult version of Lewis in Meet the Robinsons?

Tom Selleck is an in-joke made real: asked what his father looks like, Wilbur blurts out the actor's name, and when the grown-up inventor finally appears, he speaks with the star's voice.

Who voices the Bowler Hat Guy in Meet the Robinsons?

Director Stephen Anderson voiced his own villain, as well as Grandpa Bud and Cousin Tallulah, in a film he felt close to because, like Lewis, he had been adopted.

Which SpongeBob SquarePants voice actor plays Lewis's science teacher in Meet the Robinsons?

Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob himself, plays Mr. Willerstein, the eager teacher who proudly welcomes a visiting scientist as judge just before Lewis's machine throws his science fair into chaos.

Who voices Mildred, the head of Lewis's orphanage, in Meet the Robinsons?

Angela Bassett's Mildred is the one who picks Lewis up after his 124th failed adoption interview, insisting that the fault is not his and that they simply have not found the right couple yet.

Which Batman actor voices Uncle Art, the pizza delivery man, in Meet the Robinsons?

Adam West plays Art as a caped crusader of pizza: he makes his deliveries by spaceship and boasts that one of his pizzas once staved off civil war on a distant moon.

What is the name of the Robinsons' neurotic robot in Meet the Robinsons?

Carl, the golden robot who minds Wilbur, is one more thing Lewis has yet to build: before the boy goes home, Carl hands him some design suggestions and pleads, 'Don't forget to invent me.'

What does Franny Robinson train to sing in a band in Meet the Robinsons?

Frogs: her big band of them performs for the family, and at the science fair Lewis meets Franny as a girl who is already convinced she can teach frogs to sing.

What is Lefty, the Robinson family's butler, in Meet the Robinsons?

A one-eyed octopus, carried over from the picture book's octopus butler: when Grandpa Bud asks him for directions around the house, Lefty's reply, which only Bud can follow, is to go and ask Franny.

Why does the Robinsons' dog Buster wear glasses in Meet the Robinsons?

His insurance won't cover contacts, or so Grandpa Bud deadpans when Lewis asks; the dog never says a word himself, so the old man's joke is the only explanation the film gives.

Where do Uncles Spike and Dimitri sit in Meet the Robinsons?

In potted plants by the front door, the twins each beg visitors to ring his own doorbell, and when Lewis admits he cannot work out whose relatives they are, Wilbur replies that the family cannot either.

What is Aunt Billie's hobby in Meet the Robinsons?

Trains, and not small ones: when Billie announces that her 'toy train' is ready for a race, a full-scale one rolls in, and a stunned Lewis can only ask, 'That's a toy train?'

What does Lewis's classmate Lizzy present at the science fair in Meet the Robinsons?

Fire ants: the gloomy Lizzy brings a whole farm of them despite her teacher's warning that they bite, and when Lewis's machine goes haywire the farm ends up on top of the gym coach.

What is Uncle Gaston's occupation in Meet the Robinsons?

Stunt performer: Gaston is so devoted to his cannon that he brings one to the dinner table, and in the original picture book he is a human cannonball.

In the future of Meet the Robinsons, what is Canada now called?

North Montana is cousin Tallulah's correction when Lewis, asked at dinner where he is from, awkwardly tries Canada: it has not been called that in years, she tells him.

In the picture book behind Meet the Robinsons, what is the household searching for?

Grandfather's false teeth are the book's one mystery, and the film keeps the joke: Grandpa Bud first appears asking Lewis whether he has seen any teeth, having dug holes all day looking for them.

Which author wrote the picture book that inspired Meet the Robinsons?

William Joyce, the creator of Rolie Polie Olie, stayed on as an executive producer: the director wanted the film faithful to his book, and worked with him on designs down to the boys' hairstyles.

In Meet the Robinsons, what mistake by Wilbur lets the Bowler Hat Guy steal a time machine?

Leaving the garage unlocked is the slip the family robot keeps reminding him of; later Lewis punches Wilbur's shoulder for it, the moment that shows he has finally grasped who he will grow up to be.

In Meet the Robinsons, why do the Robinsons take back their offer to adopt Lewis?

He is from the past: the moment his disguise slips and his spiky hair gives him away, Franny tells him, kindly but firmly, that he has to go back to his own time.

In Meet the Robinsons, what is Aunt Petunia, the cranky wife of Uncle Fritz?

A hand puppet on her own husband's arm, yet the family treats her as a person: Fritz hushes the children because their mother is napping, and when Lewis mimes the obvious question, Wilbur just says she is cranky.

In Meet the Robinsons, what does Uncle Gaston fire at Franny across the dinner table?

Meatballs fly in a duel staged like a badly dubbed kung-fu film, lips out of sync and all, and Franny wins it by deflecting her brother's last resort, a spicy Italian sausage.

Which earlier animated film inspired the Meet the Robinsons crew's approach to animating CG humans?

The Incredibles was, the director said, a definite inspiration: after a film full of animals, his crew needed skin, hair and a style loose enough for caricature yet human enough to believe.

Whose notes on an early cut had much of Meet the Robinsons redone?

John Lasseter, newly in charge of Disney animation, wanted a more threatening villain, so the release was pushed back while the crew reworked the Bowler Hat Guy's partnership with his hat, making her the truly evil one.

Who composed the score for Meet the Robinsons?

Danny Elfman scored a future built to move like a cartoon: the director had his animators study Warner Bros. shorts so that its characters could zip around.

Which Rob Thomas song plays over the closing scenes of Meet the Robinsons?

"Little Wonders" plays as Lewis says goodbye to the orphanage and moves in with his new family; released as the soundtrack's second single, it made the top 20 in Australia, Austria and Germany.

The song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow", covered for Meet the Robinsons, was written for which Disney attraction?

Carousel of Progress opened at the 1964 New York World's Fair with the Sherman Brothers' tune as its theme; the song followed the ride to Disneyland in 1967, and They Might Be Giants cover it on the film's soundtrack.

Which band's "Kids of the Future", from Meet the Robinsons, reworked Kim Wilde's hit "Kids in America"?

Jonas Brothers swapped the original lyrics for lines about the film's plot, released the track a month before the film opened and later put it on their self-titled album.

The 3D version of Meet the Robinsons opened with Working for Peanuts, a 1953 short starring which Disney character?

Donald Duck plays a zookeeper whose elephant's peanuts tempt Chip 'n' Dale. The short was one of the first that Disney filmed in 3D, back in 1953, so it only needed remastering to share the bill.

Meet the Robinsons was the first film to open with the Disney Animation Studios logo, built around which Mickey Mouse cartoon?

Steamboat Willie, Disney's first cartoon with synchronized sound, supplies the scene, so a film about racing into the future begins by looking back to 1928.

In Meet the Robinsons, what is unusual about the way Grandpa Bud dresses?

His clothes are on backwards, with a smiley face painted on the back of his head to match, though he greets Lewis by insisting it is his head, not his outfit, that is the wrong way round.

Where did Meet the Robinsons hold its premiere on March 25, 2007?

El Capitan Theatre is Disney's own house: the company owns the restored 1926 movie palace on Hollywood Boulevard and regularly stages its premieres there, five days ahead of the wide release in this case.

Which film beat Meet the Robinsons to No. 1 at the US box office on its opening weekend?

Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell's figure-skating comedy, opened the same weekend with $33 million to the Robinsons' $25.1 million and held them off again a week later, so Disney's film never reached No. 1.

Which film was Disney Animation's previous release before Meet the Robinsons?

Chicken Little starred computer-animated animals and introduced Disney's digital 3D releases, so its follow-up inherited the 3D and took on a harder job: a cast of believable CG humans.

In the Walt Disney quotation that closes Meet the Robinsons, what 'keeps leading us down new paths'?

Curiosity closes a line that also holds the Robinsons' family motto, word for word: the film's catchphrase turns out to be Walt Disney's own, so his quotation gets the last word.

Which company was developing Meet the Robinsons 2: First Date, a direct-to-video sequel, before it was cancelled?

Disneytoon Studios lost the project when Disney's new animation chief pulled the plug on its sequels, which he felt cheapened the original films; an Aristocats follow-up went the same way.

Which Disney short rebuilt Meet the Robinsons' Lewis, Wilbur and Bowler Hat Guy as new CG models?

Once Upon a Studio needed them rebuilt because the old rigs no longer worked in Disney's current software; one of its producers compared it to expecting a car parked for 15 years to drive like new.

Which real Disney ride appears in the future skyline of Meet the Robinsons, beside a sign reading 'Todayland'?

Space Mountain is there because Todayland is the director's homage to Tomorrowland, the ride's home in the parks, restyled to look, he said, more like an iPod than a metallic future.

In Meet the Robinsons, which of her own inventions keeps science fair judge Dr. Krunklehorn awake for days?

A caffeine patch does it: each one, she boasts, equals twelve cups of coffee with no side effects, a claim she undercuts at once by letting out a sudden scream.

In Meet the Robinsons, what does Wilbur put on Lewis's head to hide his hair from the family?

A fruit hat covers the spiky hair that Wilbur calls a dead giveaway, though the disguise defeats its own maker: he soon admits he cannot take Lewis seriously in it and swaps it for a cap.

Which jazz-pop singer provides the singing voice of Frankie, the star of Franny's band, in Meet the Robinsons?

Jamie Cullum sings for Frankie, whom the Bowler Hat Guy later orders to grab Lewis; the little crooner declines, explaining that he has little arms and the plan was not thought through.

Which creature is pictured on the binder the Bowler Hat Guy has carried since his schooldays in Meet the Robinsons?

A unicorn, and the flashback that shows it undoes his sob story: classmates admire the binder and invite him over, while his own voice-over insists that they all hated him.