"Short Circuit" Review

"Short Circuit" Review

7/10

1986
A John Badham Film
Protagonist(s): Tim Blaney, Steve Guttenberg, Ally Sheedy, Fisher Stevens
Antagonist(s): George William Bailey
Run-time: 1 hour 38 minutes

When Number Five of a prototype Robot for the Military inexpliccably becomes sentient, it stirrs up problems all around.

The premise of the story is very fascinating. Spontaneous Artificial Intelligence. The philosophical and ethical implications of such a situation are what draw me to the film. The witty situations and steep learning curve of the robot keep me interested.

While the effects are crude compared to what we have today they are effective in the same manner as Jim Hendson with the Muppets in relaying emotion through mechanical puppets. Today they might have placed a man in a blue body suit and exchanged him with a computer animated figure later.

The design of the robots is very good, and as it's not overly exaggerated in its complexity it becomes more believable and therefore relatable.

I first saw this film before I could speak or truly understand the English language, but lost no interest after I learned.

I recommend this film for any light-hearted occasion, as long as the audience isn't composed of nit-picking engineers or physicists.