My daughter couldn't wait to see this movie, and therefore neither could I. However, I soon realized, rather reluctantly, that I'm not a kid anymore in that I found it hard to keep up with everything happening on the big screen. The plot is surprisingly advanced for a children's movie, but it isn't the plot that I had trouble with. It was the myriad of objects flying to and fro around the screen at speeds that my adult eyes were unable to track. It felt like one of those video games that simply speeds up as you advance to each level making it impossible to proceed without ingesting extreme amounts of caffeine and sugar.
The plot of this film is as sporadic as the animation, and that's because it involves time travel! When a young orphan named Lewis presents his latest experiment at the science fair, he is sabotaged by a mysterious bowler hat guy (whose over-the-top villainy was the source of most of the film's humor). Coming to Lewis' rescue is a kid named Wilbur who is from the future. Wilbur's mission is to keep up Lewis' spirits as he shares with him the family motto, "Just keep trying" which serves as the message of the film. Wilbur takes Lewis with him into the future and introduces him to his wonderful family. Eventually, Lewis learns to believe in himself, and his indomitable inventive spirit is born.
The message of this movie is good enough, and there is enough humor to keep it interesting, but in the final analysis, there is nothing about it that makes it all that memorable. Perhaps this is because it so full of visual fluff that it distracts from and cheapens the main story. Parents may have trouble keeping up with the effects but should be able to decipher the storyline, whereas their children may be the other way around.
Recommended for kids with ADHD, but that's about it.
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