Meet The Robinsons Soundtrack CD

Lyricists: Richard M. Sherman; Robert B. Sherman; Rufus Wainwright.
Personnel: Beth Andersen, Jennifer Barnes, Clydene Jackson, Bob Joyce, Karen Harper, Monique Donnelly, Rob Thomas , Cindy Bourquin, Dicky Wells, Donna Davidson Medine, Joanna Bushnell, Jenny Graham, Ilana Marks, Walt Harrah, Erica Sims, Nancy Gassner Clayton, Guy Maeda, John West, Debbie Hall Gleason, Christy Crowl Dicken, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Christine Anderson, Craig Copeland, Jamie Cullum, Joseph Powell, Linda Harmon, Oren Waters, Rick Logan, Rufus Wainwright, Sally Stevens, Steve Amerson, Elin Carlson, Bill Cantos, Elissa Johnston, Bobbi Page, Gerald White (vocals).
Audio Mixers: Dennis Sands; Mike Shipley; Andy Bradfield; Patrick Dillett; Rik Pekkonen; Bob Clearmountain; Brian Reeves; Graham Dominy.
Photographers: Mark Seliger; Loe Beerens; Jimmy Jenner Jr.; Ellis Parrinder; Sheryl Nields.
Arrangers: Marius de Vries; Matt Serletic; Geoff Gascoyne; Maxim Moston; Tyson Ritter; Nick Wheeler.
Issued in 2007, the soundtrack to Disney's futuristic animated film, MEET THE ROBINSONS, features a score by lauded composer Danny Elfman. In addition to his lively orchestral pieces (see the buoyant "Meeting the Robinsons"), the collection presents a number of pop/rock tracks, most notably the All-American Rejects' "The Future Has Arrived," an uplifting tune that riffs off of Elfman's "To the Future!" Other acts include smart, playful artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Jamie Cullum, and They Might Be Giants, resulting in a highly enjoyable mix that captures the fun vibe of the movie.
The Walt Disney animated feature Meet the Robinsons, based on William Joyce's book A Day with Wilbur Robinson, about a 12-year-old boy who travels into the future, is not a musical per se, but as this soundtrack album shows, there is plenty of music in it. Danny Elfman composed the score, cues from which take up 29 of the disc's 53 minutes. That score is a typically eclectic Elfman effort, with some of his characteristically sly melodies, a lovely lullaby serving as "The Prologue," some generic adventure music, and some playful, jazzy interludes, notably "Pop Quiz and the Time Machine Montage." The eight songs that bookend the background music are also eclectic, including three tunes written and two performed by Rufus Wainwright, beginning with the Beatlesque "Another Believer," and including a good Rob Thomas number, "Little Wonders"; some neo-traditional jazz by Jamie Cullum, who covers the 1945 hit "Give Me the Simple Life"; and "Kids of the Future," a rewrite of Kim Wilde's 1982 pop/rock hit "Kids in America," performed by Jonas Brothers. The All-American Rejects (not the kind of band name you might expect to see on a Disney project) and They Might Be Giants also turn up. They help make this a more varied effort than that usually heard on a soundtrack for a children's movie. ~ William Ruhlmann