Customer Reviews

Short Circuit 2

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just watched the DVD today, and I have to say it's EXCELLENT! The picture quality is EXCELLENT, and so is the sound. I'm really impressed with this DVD. Sure, it doesn't have many extras (just a few "bonus trailers" and very short featurette), but the quality of the DVD itself is astounding.

I'm glad I've finally been able to watch the movie again in widescreen. I've seen Short Circuit 2 recently on HBO (a few times), and I didn't notice that in the full screen version that I was missing so much going on in the movie.

If widescreen isn't your thing, you still have no worries. The DVD comes with the "full screen" version as well. The disc is a flipper, meaning one side is widescreen while the other is fullscreen, thus satisfying both crowds.

As for the movie itself, I love it. I've always loved this movie. I like it more than the first Short Circuit, and mainly because this one focuses more on "Number Five" (Johnny Five) than the first movie. It's funny at times, and there's even one part of the movie I get teary-eyed, no joke. I think this movie teaches many important things, such as building and strengthening friendships (through the interaction between Johnny Five and the other characters), and it shows how to break the boundaries and treat everyone as equals. It also shows you the delicacy of life.... (later in the movie--I won't SPOIL IT for you!).

I recommend this DVD for anyone that might need a good laugh here and there. There are a few "cuss words" in the movie, so I don't know if I would recommend this for children that are too young.... but I would hate for children to miss such a movie. I saw it when I was 8, and now I'm 21 and I still love it. That says a lot for a movie that's now "old."

If you decide to not buy it, then please at least rent it. I think you'll find it to be a charming movie that most people will get something out of.

I've been a long-time fan of Short Circuit and it's sequel, Short Circuit 2. When it comes to DVD's, I'm there! They're great in so many ways. The Short Circuit DVD is great in some ways, but definately could've been better.
First off, the film transfer is pretty good. For the first time ever, I was able to watch the film in widescreen, while before I was only able to view the "fitted to TV" 3:4 aspect ratio (for any fans of the 3:4 picture, this DVD IS double-sided and HAS the 3:4 picture size version as well). The colours are vibrant (but not too vibrant), the picture is sharp, and there are only a few blemishes and dirt marks on the film. The sound was great! Sure, it hadn't been remastered in Dolby 5.1, but it still was Dolby Surround. The music was MUCH clearer than what was heard on the VHS version. Many areas of the film's musical score which were barely audible before were very clear on the DVD.
Here's the bit of down-side to this DVD: there are hardly any extras. The making-of featurette is at most five minutes long, and though we do get to see that Fisher Stevens is very unlike his character Ben Jarhvi, it ends very abruptly. The movie trailer section doesn't even include the Short Circuit 2 trailer. It would have been nice if more extras had been inserted, like the Short Circuit Special Edition DVD.
If you're a fan of Short Circuit though, you should get this DVD. It's more worth it than getting the VHS version :)

It would probably be much like this; two everyman protagonists, themes of loneliness and isolation and yearning, a robot who is far more humane than his human counterparts...

Unlike the first Short Circuit Movie where there wasn't much time to explore the character of Jonhhy Five, or invest the machine with character, the second film does just that and it does it very well. The viewer's suspension of disbelief is fully engaged- even as an adult I find myself lulled into feeling a deep sesne of pathos and compassion for Number Johnny Five. This is in part due to an amazing pre-CGI special effects/machine team and also due to the exceptionally unselfconscious acting of the human cast: Fisher Stevens ((the bad guye from hackers)) is truly phenomenal as Ben Jharvi, an Indian ((I think)) computer programmer who is as inept at expressing his feelings as Johnny Five is as understanding his own); Michael McKean and Cynthia Gibb are also great (McKean is perfect as a petty conman who betrays and then saves Johnny Five). The actors did an amazing job interacting with the machine and their performances add subtly dazzling layers of humor and sentiment to whta could have been a really awful movie but instead becomes a marvelous thing to watch.

OK. The script is somewhat shoddy at times and the pacing is not so well-handled. There are some dead-end scenes, but for the most part everything really hangs together well- Johnny Five stumbles through several mishaps trying to understand why humans behave as they do and why he feels what he feels. Oh, there's a chase scene set to the godawful "I need a hero," song. The kitschy 80's pop score wears a tad thin afterawhile. But then, this is a kid film at heart, and a rather unique one at that.

One scene always breaks my heart, one of my all-time favorite poignant scenes: Johnny five, after being caught by the cops, is taken and chained in the police basement- the stolen property room. He is slowly reading two books, page by page. His friends come to have him released- when allowed to leave he breaks his chains easily and sadly leaves (you see, he could have left at anytime had he wanted to; there's some Sadean undertones in how #J5 repeatedly allows himself to be demeaned and debased and almost destroyed by humans without fighting back lethally- which he easily could... a postmodern and mechanical kin to Justine, perhaps).

The books he was so slowly reading were Pinochio and Frankenstein. It always slays me, just like the Rockbiter's monologue in The Never Ending Story ("They look like big, strong hands...").

This one is so much better, in my opinion, than Spielberg's execrable A.I., if only in that Stevie over-reached himself (again) on that crite film; trying to make a 'serious' film about 'serious' issues... and then he tacked on a completely odious ending.

This film has no such pretensions- it mostly aims at fun. Because of that it achieves more than most serious cinema struggling with the same themes of technology and identity.

Unlike many sequels, "Short Circuit 2" is a good one. Johnny 5's creator, Ben (Fisher Stevens), is making little robot toys when a man named Fred (Michael McKean) convinces him to start a business selling them. Johnny 5 arrives to help the duo out, but some trouble arises. Some thieves who are hunting for some jewels try their best to disassemble Johnny 5 so they won't have any obstacles in their way. Johnny 5 must find a way to stop the thieves while also surviving.

The "Short Circuit" movies are some of my favorite movies of all time, I grew up watching them. Even now that I'm grown, I never get tired of seeing them over and over. In my opinion, both of the "Short Circuit" movies are great, but I like this one the best. It has some classic scenes such as when Johnny 5 tours the city for the first time and when he helps Ben talk to Sandy (Cynthia Gibb) by putting the words on a huge billboard.

"Short Circuit 2" is a great comedy and family movie. It will make you laugh in parts, some parts are sad, and others are heartwarming. Some parts even have a hint of an action movie in them. If you want to see a movie that you'll never forget, watch "Short Circuit 2." I recommend everybody to get it.

What to do now there's no more Short Circuit movies to watch? Why was there never a third? And why, apart from Johnny 5, was Fisher Stevens the only original character brought back?

Those were only minor quibbles for a great movie. And the god awful cover art, which the more I look at, the more I hate. But then they could have done worse. It could have been a white background with the two main characters photoshopped in.

I really enjoyed the first Short Circuit movie. The second? Even better. With more fun from Johnny, including even more interaction with Ben (Fisher Stevens), and more fun-ness, including making the toy Johnny 5's dance, and more, Short Circuit betters the first.

I was kinda disappointed that Stephany didn't reappear for the second movie, she was a bit of a miss, and was only mentioned a couple of times, apart from a voice recording - but at least she wasn't completely forgotten about.

What's good about reading other reviewer's ... reviews is that the amount of people is saw this when they were young. I always seem to get introduced to these movies a lot later in life - for example I'm a nearly mid-twenty something and seeing this for the first time. What would it have been like to see it as a child? That, I can only dream about.

Short Circuit 2 pretty much follows on from the first, with Ben now in the big city, trying to sell his toy Johnny's on the street, next to a fake Rolex selling vendor. A toy buyer, Sandy, stumbles across a toy Johnny after it 'escapes' and brings it back. Talk of money is banded about, and next thing Ben knows, he needs to make 1000, in 31 days. With the fake Rolex selling vendor, Fred (Michael McKean) as his partner. But bad guys want to break into a bank to steal some priceless jewels, but how are they going to do it? The rest is predictable, but fun.

Jack Weston appears as one of the bad guys, who befriends Johnny, in order to get him on his side, finding out he is incredibly naive. For any eighties rom-com fan will recognise him from Dirty Dancing, as Max Kellerman. (For anyone who hasn't seen this or Dirty Dancing, boy do you need some education!) Short Circuit 2 actually appears to have been Jack Weston's last movie before he died from lymphoma in 1996.

I'm disappointed there was never another Short Circuit movie. And another one. And another one. And another one. It could have been a great franchise. But what's good is normally best left to a minimum, before it loses its glow. Short Circuit didn't pander to the major franchising deals, the endless mindless sequels, and instead left the world a different place with just the two films.

Now where do I buy a little Johnny 5?

This film has everything - laughs, action, romance, beating up bad guys, chase sequences, robots, animals & more one-liners than you could ever want in a lifetime. It follows the adventures of the newly named Johnny 5, an experimental goverment robot who was struck by lightning and became alive (see Short Circuit). In this film he travels to New York to help his creator, Ben, to make it rich. Just when they think they're going to be overnight millionaires the bad guys come into play and try and ruin the fun. This film is the ultimate feel-good movie. It's quite long but you never really want it to end. You'll never again find yourself caring so much about a big pile of metal and wires. Much better than the first film, Short Circuit is a must see for everyone...I'm not joking!!!

This is a great movie. It's got everything, action, romance, comedy, suspense. One of those rare movies where the sequel is better then the original.

Even wihtout the Jheri curled stylings of the hit El Debarge song "Who's Johnny?", this movie is still worth a look on cable if you have nothing else to do but sip on schnapps.

Apparently Steven Gutenberg and Ally Sheedy agreed that it was not in the best interest of their careers to appear in this sequel, though its notable that Gutenberg rode the Police Academy Gravy train for 4 out of 6 stops. We are left with an Ally Sheedy voice over in the beginning explaining why we won't be seeing them in this picture, and then we are given the new stars of the sequel: Ben Javiri (an amazingly blatant Hindi/Indian cab driver stereotype played with surprising depth by Fisher Stevens) and the dude from Spinal Tap.

Ben has lost his choice gig creating weapons of mass destruction for Uncle Sam due to the 'liberation' of Johnny 5 in the first flick. Defeated, he has come to NYC to take a step down in salary, working as a toy designer who temps selling little Johnny 5 toys from a table on the street. With the help of Johnny 5 and Spinal Taps charismatic frontman, he not only gets his business going, but he finds true love and what it means to be a man...

This one has some more production value going for it and a Radio Shack plug too! It seems as if the films creators went for a slightly darker tone in this one than there was in the first. Lots of characters in this movie trying to find themselves and love. Possibly the most emotionally powerful film in the 'Short Circuit' franchise.

Disturbing spoiler: Johnny takes a terrific thrashing in this one that is WAY over top and really shocks you out of the whole campy tone of the series. I know it's a robot and all but...what a killer beating.

Sadly, the soundrack lacks the ultra sheen soundtrack of the last film, and instead has a weak version of the song "I need a hero"...still, nothing makes a boat chase better than pulsing, relentless 80's-90's synth soul/rock.

Everyone's favorite plucky robotic unit is back in the 1988 sequel to the surprise hit "Short Circuit." I have not seen the original "Short Circuit 2" on DVD, so I don't know how much of a step up this Blu-ray presentation is (although based on similar movies of that period, I'd guess that it was significant), but this new edition is clear, precise, and sounds great (1080p, hi-def, Uncompressed PCM Stereo). Those looking for extra supplemental features, however, will not find them on this reissue--so whether or not an upgrade is worth the investment will largely be determined by how much you enjoy the film. And from the plethora of glowing Amazon reviews, this certainly would appear to be a crowd pleaser.

To add my two cents, I am going to be a little more reserved in my ranking simply to address the notion of new viewers discovering the film for the first time. This movie, while not without undeniable charm, has a nostalgic "so silly, it's funny" appeal. Capitalizing on this nostalgia factor, this is a quintessential family friendly find from the Reagan era. I suspect that many who embrace the film wholeheartedly are products of that film period who saw and fell in love with it years ago. To note--I AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. And looking back is always goofy fun. To say, however, that this is a production worthy of the highest rating may set up some expectations with new viewers that this film simply has no chance of meeting. This is a movie that benefits from being discovered with no preconceived notions--and then the viewer must accept whether or not to be caught up in the madcap silliness that follows.

I was no huge fan of the original film, and actually thinks its sequel has a more universal appeal. Johnny 5's comparison of himself to both Frankenstein and Pinocchio still strikes a memorable chord for anyone who has felt like an outsider. In this film, Fisher Stevens (in full Indian shtick) returns as 5's creator--now hocking toy replicas of his finest work on the mean streets of New York City. Through happenstance, he meets the world's least effective business woman (the lovely Cynthia Gibb) as a toy buyer making an only-in-the-movies deal to buy thousands of his product. Joining forces with con man Michael McKean, the two encounter many problems trying to fulfill the order. Johnny 5 to the rescue! But before you can say happily ever after, there is much comic mayhem and moments of sincere pathos as the group also thwart an unscrupulous band of thieves.

As a feel good film, you pretty much know where you're going the entire time. But amidst the sublime silliness (and there's lots of it), the film has a sweet center and a message of acceptance. I like "Short Circuit 2" and I hope I've made that evident--but objectively, it is what it is. Anyone who approaches the film with the expectation that it will be the best thing ever has the potential to be disappointed. You need to enter this film with an open mind and an open heart to enjoy its charms. But it's silly--there's really no other way to describe it adequately. But silly good. KGHarris, 4/11.

i loved this movie as a kid, and now my son loves it too. i will warn parents though, there is a traumatic scene near the end of the movie where johnny 5 gets beaten up, but he ends up getting repaired and putting the bad guys in jail, so it works out. also, there is a little bit of bad language, so if you look down on that, don't let your child watch it. other than that, it's still the great movie it was when i was a child... ;)