Synopsis:
Number 5 of a group of experimental
robots in a lab is electrocuted, suddenly becomes intelligent, and escapes.
The Freak's
Rating: A- :
Whenever I go back to watch a film I loved when
I was younger, I'm always a little nervous.
Most stand the test of time since I was, of
course, a wonderful movie reviewer back then as
well. Some do not. Thankfully, Short
Circuit maintains rock star status with me.
Steve
Guttenberg is one of the most amazing "where did
he go?" stories in Hollywood. Having a
fantastic career start in the Police Academy
franchise and Cocoon, Guttenberg seemed ready to
excel. He was sadly typecast as the
humorous guy in nearly every movie he was in and
therefore faded into obscurity. Ally
Sheedy had a tremendous run as one of the Brat
Pack, starring in some of my favorite films of
all time including St Elmo's Fire and The
Breakfast Club. She too faded away.
It is nice to watch Short Circuit and see both
of them in their prime. That said, neither
are blockbuster performances, but both provide a
nice retro look at what we used to consider
A-list.
Putting a Family/Comedy film in the A range is
difficult, especially one that is over 20 years
old. However, Short Circuit shines so
brightly in the way that it captures the
innocence of a family film, mixes it with comedy
and doesn't attempt to push any political agenda
(Wall-E)
or marketing for toys (Kung Fu Panda)
down your throat. There wasn't a Number 5
toy in every happy meal back then and it was
kinda nice :). For those of us adults who
have seen it, I encourage you to give it another
spin and remember why you liked it so much.
This is one title I simply can't wait to watch
with my child.
Sebastian's
Rating: A : It's nice to see some reviews
happening around here again.
I borrow this movie from a friend a long time
ago, and loved it from beginning to end. Funny
at parts, and for the first time ever, almost
shred a tear at the end. I would reccomened it
to almost anyone.
Brian's Rating: C-
: You guys are smoking something. Your
irreverent memory has caused you to lose all
sense of objectivity on this one. I
loved...loved Johnny 5 when I was 10 years old.
I rented the movie on VHS at least 3 times, then
taped it off TV (parents would not allow me to
copy the rental) and watched it even more. I
did not even remember that the movie uses the
word "shit" until just watching it recently.
Since I was watching it with my 2 year old, I am
now wising I actually had my old TV edited copy
as the few times the swearing was used, it was
not needed at all. Like Scott, I fear watching
all these movies again. So it was with some
trepidation that I decided to take the spark of
recommendation from your guys' reviews and watch
it again.
Feelings of warm nostalgia were quickly
destroyed as dialog was delivered that was flat,
wooden and with about the same amount of warm
feeling as a GPS navigator unit. The chick in
the film ran around shouting out her lines like
she was a 6th grader on stage for school play
trying to get the microphone to pick her up.
The main dude did a little better, but was often
too whiny in a really bad, fake
Saved-By-The-Bell sort of way. The primary army
bad guy seemed as if he was reading from
prompting cards, and his character made no
rational sense at all.
Despite all the bad writing and acing, the movie
is somewhat salvaged by #5. The voice acting
for this was touching, and the movements of the
robot, and the face were lifelike and
endearing. Bringing #5 to life was done very
well, and he steals the show. I found myself
laughing and smiling throughout many lines.
Sort of like Wall-E, it is too bad that this
movie had to be ruined by the humans.
This movie was much better in my 10-year old
memory, and I wish I would have left it that
way. I'll take this as a lesson to NOT watch
the Goonies or the Flight of the Navigator again
no matter how much nostalgia pulls at me.
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