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Williams plays Andrew, a robot programmed for domestic chores and sold to an upper-middle-class family, the Martins, in the year 2005. The family patriarch (Sam Neill) recognizes and encourages Andrew's uncommon characteristics, particularly his artistic streak, sensitivity to beauty, humor, and independence of spirit. In so doing, he sets Williams's tin man on a two-century journey to become more human than most human beings.
As adapted by screenwriter Nicholas Kazan, the movie's scale is novelistic, though Columbus isn't the man to embrace with Spielbergian confidence its sweeping possibilities. Instead, the Home Alone director shakes off his familiar tendencies to pander and matures, finally, as a captivating storyteller. But what really makes this film matter is its undercurrent of deep yearning, the passion of Andrew as a convert to the human race and his willingness to sacrifice all to give and take love. Williams rises to an atypical challenge here as a futuristic Everyman, relying, perhaps for the first time, on his considerable iconic value to make the point that becoming human means becoming more like Robin Williams. Nothing wrong with that. --Tom Keogh
I am glad it wasn't a simple comedy, as within I found a touching, human story about a robot's search for meaning and humanity. It is a remarkable film, with great acting by both Robin Williams and Sam Neil. This was combined with a great score and wonderful visuals. It truly is a great film.
In conclusion, if you're looking for the comedy from the trailer look elsewhere. If you're looking for a family movie which your younger kids can get into, look elsewhere. This is a thought provoking and touching drama which contemplates very complex issues in a highly entertaining manner. I loved this film and highly recommend it.
The story was written to celebrate the 1976 Bicentennial of the USA and Asimov's story told about a robot that strives to be human. While this is a very prevalent idea nowadays, i.e. Data on Star Trek, it was pretty original at that time.
Columbus shows wonderful respect for the source material, which he betters in every way. How often can you say that of a movie? Columbus understands that in the future everything will not be immediately different. The film portray this by slowly adding futuristic elements on top of real settings. In an era of CGI sets that don't look real, this sci-fi movie is all the better for it's matter of fact approach to the future.
The performances are uniformly great with Williams giving such a strong performance beneath the costume that when his face is revealed it is a little startling. He also injects a sense of humor that makes more powerful the romance and pathos of the plot.
This is a film that deserved better than it got. It is an epic, in the sense of Tolstoy and "Gone With the Wind", with a science fiction worldview.
In this film of a robot's search to become more human, we feel more strongly the precious gift of our own humanity. That is all we can ask of any work of art.
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