Meet the Robinsons, a densely plotted hunk of computer animation from Disney, is being shown in 3-D at appropriately equipped theaters. But the 3-D you'll see has less to do with zooming, oddball effects than with an increased and often encompassing depth of field.

I'd say that if you're not absolutely committed to showing your kids the novelty of 3-D - complete with glasses - a regular theater probably will do.

What you'll find in either case is a movie that begins with promise, but eventually loses its way, proving that an abundance of visual goodies - from a dinosaur to a group of singing frogs - doesn't necessarily add up to an infectiously good time.

The story draws on familiar elements, beginning with the loneliness of childhood. Lewis, a 12-year-old with the kind of hair that looks as if he's just stuck his finger in an electric socket, can't seem to find his place in the world.

That could be because Lewis' intelligence follows his hair in spiky, upward directions: He has a knack for inventing things. He's also an orphan who has had more than 100 adoption interviews without being accepted by prospective parents.

Small wonder. Lewis tends to rattle on about his inventions in ways that make people worry that they might be adopting the ultimate nerd. And sometimes his creations backfire, like when his peanut-butter-and-jelly spreader leaves a couple spattered with goo.

At a science fair, Lewis - who's anxious to locate his biological parents - meets a kid who claims to be from the future. The movie then jets ahead 50 years, thanks to a time machine that looks a bit like a flying saucer.

In the movie's gleaming rendition of the future, Lewis encounters the large and wacky Robinson clan. He also begins to battle the movie's villain, the dastardly Bowler Hat Guy.

Meet the Robinsons, which really deals with how Lewis discovers his comfort zone, has the crisp look we've come to expect from computer-generated animation. It also boasts a couple of decent set pieces and a script that tries to pack every corner of the screen with jokes.

But the movie's increasingly complicated plot may be difficult for younger children to follow, and the segments set in the present tend to trump those in the future.

So where do we wind up? The movie's mixture of 3-D images and cartoonish antics probably will keep kids from being bothered by any intricacies of plot.

Adults, on the other hand, may conclude that they've taken one time-travel journey too many.

I'd call Meet the Robinsons a middling entry into the crowded field of computer-generated animation.

It probably won't leave you feeling cheated, but its futuristic bric-a-brac and brainy young hero may not make your spirits soar, either.

Getting animatedYou kids today think animated films are like pages of a calendar: each month there's a new one. A quick history lesson will show you that it's a relatively new phenomenon.

• 1937 - Disney produces Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film to be released worldwide.

• 1940 - Three years later, Disney strikes twice with Pinocchio and Fantasia. They both flop, leaving the studio in financial straits. They follow it up a year later with the cheaper Dumbo.

• 1950 - Disney releases Cinderella, below, its first new, full-length animated feature in eight years.

• 1952-1994 - Disney averages about one new animated feature every two years, from Alice in Wonderland to One Hundred and One Dalmatians to The Rescuers to The Lion King.

• 1995 - Pixar releases Toy Story, launching the faster, more lucrative age of computer animation.

• 1998 - DreamWorks offers Disney and Pixar some CGI competition with Antz, released a few weeks before Pixar's more popular A Bug's Life.

• 2002 - The Blue Sky studio becomes a CGI player with Ice Age.

• 2003 - Pixar's Finding Nemo becomes the highest-grossing animated feature (surpassed in 2004 by Dreamworks' Shrek 2).

• 2006 - A dozen animated films - from box-office hits (Cars, above; Happy Feet) to financial failures (Ant Bully, Everyone's Hero) - are released.

• 2007 - As many as 12 more animated films are on the launching pad, including potential summer blockbusters like Shrek 3 and The Simpsons Movie.

Meet the Robinsons

An inventive kid finds his place in the world

• Grade:C

• Rated:G

• Running time:80 minutes

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