February 26 - Keep Moving Forward

Promotional poster for the movie Meet the Robinsons.

By Magdalena I. García

This weekend I did something I had never done before: watch the same movie—a Walt Disney production—two evenings in a row. Unlike the kids of Generation X and Y, baby boomers like me, and especially those born outside the US, did not grow up surrounded by piles of favorite movies on VHS or DVD that could be watched day after day, until one has memorized the sequences, the dialogue and, the songs. So I tend to watch a movie once and be done with it. But my son M. begged me to watch Meet the Robinsons with him a second time, and since it’s an adoption story that seems to have captivated him, I agreed.

Here is a quick summary of the movie which I found online: When 12-year old orphan Lewis can’t seem to get adopted or make his inventions work despite repeated efforts, he begins to seriously doubt himself and his abilities as an inventor. He sets off on a time-traveling journey to find the family he never knew. In an amazing twist, Lewis discovers that the fate of the future rests in his hands, but he can’t save it alone: he’ll need every bit of help he can get from the wonderfully wacky family named the Robinsons, who help him learn to keep moving forward and never stop believing in himself. (Written by Anthony Pereyra and posted at http://www.imdb.com.)

I was impressed. It’s really a great movie. I loved some of the scenes that resonate with our family’s adoption story, like when the orphanage director assures Lewis that his biological mother did not necessarily reject him; she gave him up simply because she could not care for him. But one of my favorite scenes in the movie is a conversation between Lewis and the evil fellow, Bowler Hat Guy. Here it is thanks to quotes provided by the same website:

Lewis: Goob, I had no idea! [Goob was Lewis’ former orphanage buddy.]
Bowler Hat Guy: Shut up! And don’t call me “Goob”! How many evil villians do you know that can pull off a name like “Goob”? Bleh!
Lewis: Look, I’m sorry your life turned out so bad. But don’t blame me you messed it up yourself. You just focused on the bad stuff when all you had to do was… let go of the past and keep moving forward…
Bowler Hat Guy: Hmm, let’s see... take responsibility for my own life or blame you? Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! Blame you wins hands down!

It’s a classic tale of good and evil, and an invitation for all of us to consider how we handle the bad stuff in life. May we all learn to let go of the setbacks and the hurts, and to “keep moving forward.”