This is the future, 1960s style. The nuclear family, headed by hapless George Jetson, lives in a flying saucer home that is raised by a column into the sky, to get clear of the smog clouds clinging to our planet.
Getting out of bed washed and clothed is automated, and Rosie the robot, who uses a remote control to create/use the domestic gadgets, carries out household tasks. They have big screen televisions, and George goes to work in a bubble car-sized aircraft that, on landing, packs convert into a small carry-case. His work consists of pressing a big red button – tough but somebody’s got to do it.
Even in this technological paradise, that conforms to gender stereotypes of that period – Jane Jetson and her teenage daughter Judy love shopping, young Elroy is always playing basketball – there is the smog, the automatic bathing and clothing machine batters poor George when he’s dragged out of bed, and his commute to work consists of one long traffic jam.
Things change when George is promoted and sent, by his company Spacely Sprockets, to their asteroid mining operation that has been beset by production problems. Here they meet aliens, a robot family next door (we’ve all had them) and discover who is sabotaging the factory.
This 1990 film is like a tribute to The Jetsons cartoon series that was first screened in the early 1960s, with a few cheesy pop songs thrown in for good measure. It was another entertaining primetime cartoon by Hanna and Barbera, but it never was as good as The Flintstones, which was more imaginative, had more characters and had funnier situations. Nonetheless, Jetsons: The Movie is a fun example of a Hanna/Barbera production and is dedicated to the marvelous voice work of George O’Hanlon and Mel Blanc, who both died during its production.
JETSONS: THE MOVIE (1990) / CERT: U / DIRECTORS: WILLIAM HANNA, JOSEPH BARBERA / SCREENPLAY: DENNIS MARKS / STARRING: GEORGE O’HANLON, MEL BLANC, TIFFANY, PENNY SINGLETON, PATRIC ZIMMERMAN / RELEASE DATE: 15TH FEBRUARY
