Product Details

• Actors: Mary Beth Hurt, Michael McKean, Kathryn Walker, Colleen Camp, Josef Sommer
• Directors: Simon Wincer
• Writers: Allan Scott, David Ambrose, Jeffrey Ellis
• Producers: Burtt Harris, Gabrielle Kelly, John Heyman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: July 8, 1997
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300214648
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,123 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely story about the conflict between humanity and technology, November 21, 2005

By 

Gregory Dowling (Augusta, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: D.A.R.Y.L. (DVD)

I am thrilled this film is out on DVD. I was about Daryl's age when this film came out, and I just loved it. It was ahead of its time in its exploration of humanity versus technology. Daryl is a part human, part robotic child, who, as you may guess has many special talents that other children do not have. He is abandoned by a scientist and left on his own, until he is adopted by a foster family. Of course, the military wants him back, and the argument ensues as to whether Daryl is a mere lab rat, or if he has developed to such a degree that there is nothing that distinguishes him from other humans. The story is very magical, and while there are many twists you will anticipate well-before, the real magic is in the performances, especially that of Barret Oliver, who was one of the best child actors of the 80s, and beyond. He breathes life into Daryl, and his melt-your-heart smile brings such genuine pathos into the story. I am a little annoyed that the DVD art has Michael McKean and Mary Beth Hurt above the title because the movie belongs to Barret Oliver. Having seen it again in adulthood, I felt that rush of nostalgia for family films that are warm and magical, yet do not insult the intelligence. With the holidays coming up, this is a movie kids will love and adults may as well. It's fast paced, charming, and has some genuine tear-jerking moments. I have noticed amid the reviews it has been compared several times to Spielberg's A.I. While I think A.I. is a brilliant film, and the comparison's are inevitable, they are VERY different films. A.I. is far too dark, disturbing, and philosophically complex for younger viewers. D.A.R.Y.L. is the kind of movie I miss, a technically well made, beautifully acted, and magical film. It stirs the imagination, and avoids degenerating into cynicism, a trait all too common in today's films. Do yourself and your children a favor and treat them to this film. You will not regret it and I assure you, neither will they.

37 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A soul,a conscience,a persuasion,and plenty of 80s schmaltz., March 10, 2000

By 

Micah Newman (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: D. A. R. Y. L. - Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of those movies from way back in the day that I saw in the theater when it first came out when I was in fourth grade that remind of me of when life was much simpler. I recently rented it for nostalgia value, and it's interesting now to watch it with an adult perspective on its undertones and propagandistic elements which it has in common with certain other movies of around the same time. I find it interesting to observe the attitudes of the filmmakers and to be aware of the fact that their aim is not just to tug the heartstrings but to tug them in a certain direction.

Innocent-looking little boy is dropped off in the middle of nowhere by a man in a car who then proceeds to drive it over a cliff. Fortunately, there is a professional, loving institution not far away for just such cases, and the boy, after being picked up by a kindly old couple and given some lumberjack clothes, is whisked away into its hallowed halls (As a sidenote unrelated to my central thrust, throughout the post-modernist 90's, pop culture has so steeped us in irony and misanthropy that to go back in time and find none of the above has a jarring effect on the contemporary psyche; this accounts for my tone!). Before you can cough twice, he is spirited away to Everytown, U.S.A., to foster at the home of the filmmakers' Ideal Parents: warm, unassuming backyard barbecuers; not religious, magnanimously tolerant of bad language in kids and promiscuity in teenagers. Long story short, this kid is Special and we watch him blossom amidst an Everytown background of Baseball, Elementary School... even an ATM machine makes an appearance. We eventually find out that the reason he is Special is because he was incubated in a test-tube and given a microchip-enhanced brain as part of a Pentagon-sponsored experiment in artificial intelligence. Daryl gets picked up later by some of their scientists under the pretense of being his parents, and is taken back to a Secret Government Installation, where the scientists Run Some Tests on him. Alas, their benefactors at the Department of Defense have decided to nix the project, and along with it the life of this innocent little boy. But he is smuggled away once again by a Scientist With A Conscience, who risks his life to save Daryl from the evil clutches of the heartless military, etc. etc.

This film is really very well made, and does have a genuine heart when it comes to the value of human life. But it is also one of a whole oeuvre of mid-eighties films ("Short Circuit," for example) which heavy-handedly demonize the military, a theme which gets pretty hackneyed and tiresome after the nth iteration. But I guess it was all harmless after all, since we won the Cold War anyway, despite the best efforts of Hollywood. ;-) No, really, it's an entertaining movie and kids'll like it, especially boys.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars EXCITING MOVIE FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS, September 14, 2002

By 

"abigbadbear" (LINDEN, TEXAS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D. A. R. Y. L. - Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an exciting and intelligent film for everyone. Do not let
the box cover art make you think this is a kiddie film only. It
is a neat little film that teaches many lessons. D.A.R.Y.L. is
actually a child robot that is too perfect a child and a scient
ist working with him wants him to have a life outside the gov
ernment lab. D.A.R.Y.L. winds up with a foster family, makes a
life long friend has an exciting finale. This is a uniformly
well-made and acted film with excellent special effects on what
was a shoe-string budget. This film is as enjoyable as most of
Disney's big budget offerings. Also it shows that a wonderful
film without gratuitous trash and language can be made.
The film works so well because of the performance of Barrett
Oliver as D.A.R.Y.L. He gives the presence of the perfect, loving child. He also was in The Neverending Story and Cocoon
parts one and two. Strangely he seems to have disappeared from
film in his teens. I would like to see him in more films