Pun Salad

This got reviews on the high side of mediocre from professional reviewers (65% on the Tomatometer). But I liked it a lot better than that would indicate. Perhaps because it's based on one of the funny and inventive kids books by William Joyce that we used to read our kids back in the day. (Specifically: this one.)

The movie is made by Disney's non-Pixar animation studios, and they've learned how to do it with computer graphics, though with a noticeably different look than Pixar's. It turns out to be a great way to adapt Joyce's style. (Pixar's John Lasseter was one of the executive producers, and IMDB says he had a lot of input into the finished product.)

Joyce's original book didn't have much of a plot, so that's grafted on here: little Lewis, left at the orphanage as an infant, is having a hard time getting adopted. His first love is invention, and he's intense and brilliant enough to scare off potential parents. But one of his inventions turns out to work well enough to attract visitors from the future, one who wants to steal it, and one who wants to prevent that from happening. Then things really take off.

There's a lot of fun stuff here; the folks at Disney put together a lot of stylish inventiveness and clever wit and wrapped it around Walt's old philosophy of cheerful optimism about the future. The plot hinges on some well-worn time-travel clichés, but you know what? It worked for me.

So, dear Disney guys: while you're at it, I would really like to see movies of George Shrinks and Dinosaur Bob and his Adventures With the Family Lazardo.