Meet The Robinsons, based on the current hit theater release, is brought to us by Disney Interactive, and developed by Avalanche Software, the makers of titles such as the Tak series. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the plethora of CG-crafted films coming out in years past; it's been quite a few movies after Toy Story came out, and the novelty has worn off already. As far as this title goes, it hopes to capture the family market with some fun-filled platform/puzzle-solving action, sprinkled in with some cool gadgets and exotic locales.

Visually, the game captures the essence of the movie quite well. The intricately detailed characters and enemies really sparkle and show some nice glossy finish, with a definite cartoony style reflecting the look of the film quite well. In regards to the interface, it is very clear and not cluttered, with a few simple bars to display the essential items, like health, ammo, etc. This allows for the strong graphics to make more of a statement, and indeed they do. The different locales are also rather varied, from the gigantic family mansion, the sands of ancient Egypt, and even to the massive cities of the future, full of neon lights and towering buildings. Along with this, there are quite a few gorgeous cut scenes that not only look great, but also help bridge the story gaps from when you are in control.

Some of the cool weapons young Wilbur uses are also pretty nifty effects wise, similar to a few items found in the popular Ratchet and Clank series. Lastly, the animation is fairly fluid, and contains some interactive environments such as crumbling rock walls or glowing, beeping consoles in the 2037 periods.

On the audio front, the musical riffs that follow the action do a nice job of adding some energy and immersion to the gameplay. It is, however, worth noting the apparent absence of award-winning composer Danny Elfman on this project, instead replaced by a wholly capable sound engineer, but no Mr. Elfman. Moving onto the voice acting, comedian Harlan Williams provides some of the more memorable lines in the title, voicing the anxiety-ridden Carl the robot. Throw in Adam West and Tom Selleck, and the talented voicework really comes through here. Lastly, all the various bloops, bleeps and other sci-fi style effects are presented well also.

The action in Meet The Robinsons, centers on the adventures of the young Wilbur Robinson, a quick-witted child from the far future. You start out in ancient Egypt in a simple tutorial mission that lays out the basics of control and gameplay. After your precious time machine gets snatched, you have to track it down or face the consequences of time travel run amok! Along the way, you will encounter many others from the clan Robinson, and a host of evil villains, enemies and puzzles. Some of these relatives include Franny, Grandpa Bud, Uncle Art, Aunt Billie and Laszlo.

Let it be known, the main character in the movie is Lewis (a relative of Wilbur, the main character from the movie), so while many plotlines intertwine, this is a wholly different approach to the action, rather than just plunking through scene after scene regurgitated straight from the film. You have probably seen this done with games like The Matrix and other movie-game translations, using this interactive medium to fill in the backstory a little bit more. Very cool.

The basic gist of each level is a lot of navigating expansive areas, solving some basic puzzles, and jumping across a lot of platform types, which is rather simple considering your character automatically scales these objects. Puzzles themselves just involve a lot of jumping, rotating and movement of blocks, which kind of reminded me of the recent LEGO: Star Wars series. Things are made even easier with a handy lock-on system for taking out enemies. The weapon selection is pretty varied, ranging from the chargeball glove that allows you to fling electric balls of pure energy, the levitation ray, which is pretty self explanatory, and the havoc gloves, which allow for some intense concussive force and even the ability to dive underneath the ground. There is even a handy scanner that shows enemy locations and areas of weakness. Last but not least is the dissembler, which tears apart object that can later be used for such things as cheats, power-ups and more.

As you progress into the game, you notice some of the enemies require certain unique strategies, like the seemingly endless waves of programmed robots for example, bent on exterminating Wilbur. You have to use a specific weapon in just the right place, or face certain defeat. The same can be said about the boss battles - hot swapping gadgets while trying to not get clobbered is kind of fun.... but nothing extremely elaborate. You think by 2007 they would change up the boss gameplan from simple patterns from back in the days of the NES... But wait, there is more - mini-games! Yes folks, there is a plethora of interesting diversions here, some include plunging into a vast network of caves with your havoc gloves, careening around an obstacle course in your Protectosphere, as well as playing a new twist on old school Pong. You can also go back through a lot of the already opened areas and hunt around for hidden items and Easter eggs, unlocking things like concept art of action figures, so fans of the movie will just eat these extras up.

Of course the big question is... is this really fun? Often times you will enjoy using the various weapons and items, and the first few puzzles are kinda fun, but after a while it just grows a wee bit monotonous, to be perfectly honest. It may be due to the fact that this is targeted towards a slightly younger audience, so some of this is dumbed down. Personally, I found myself losing interest after a few short hours of levitating slabs and burrowing underground; it grows old fast.

As I just mentioned above, the general gameplay is geared towards a pre-teen crowd, but you can still enjoy it quite nicely if you just want a weekend rental or a fun time with the family after you just went to the cinemas. The levels are easy to navigate, the puzzles are straightforward and have been seen before in many previous games, and thanks to the nifty lock-on feature and forgiving A.I., this title won't give you headaches.

Along with a handy tutorial that introduces the various nuances, you really can't struggle with this game unless you are a pre-schooler, and even then, a little bit of guidance from parents may actually get the little tike to spam the right buttons on occasion. Or break your controller. Either way, it's fun times, right?

In terms of controls, Meet The Robinsons is fairly responsive, key in such an action-oriented title such as this. Of course, with the auto jumping/scaling feature, you don't have to worry so much about pitfalls common in other platform games, which is always nice for my poor hand-eye coordination. I tell ya... once you hit 20, your twitch skills just go in the proverbial toilet... Finally, the camera system thankfully doesn't get in the way and is usually placed 3rd-person behind, but can be shifted using the right analog stick to aim and scan areas.

Overall, Meet The Robinsons does a very solid job of recreating the atmosphere and sprit of the film, but doesn't quite flesh out enough of its elements to truly be considered anything groundbreaking to the genre. If you really enjoyed the movie, you should definitely consider this a perfect game to snatch up, even more so if it's for one of your kids, or in my case, nieces and nephews. Otherwise, a simple rental paired up with the DVD of the film, might be a more economical way to spend the weekend with Wilbur, as he explores the time stream.