Bicentennial Man (1999)

OVERDONE AS USUAL!

WHAT BEGINS AS INTERESTING, A ROBOTIC HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE EXPRESSING HUMAN EMOTION, BECOMES THE RE-TELLING OF THE STORY OF PINOCCHIO, WITH A TWIST. OVERDONE AND CHILDISH...SO TYPICAL OF HOLLYWOOD. April 1, 2008

I Enjoyed the Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial Man was a very enjoyable four star film for me. It contained comedy, drama and morality messages all in a sci-fi film setting. This film had wonderful mechanical effects. However, I enjoyed it first and foremost because of Robin Williams and don't understand what those 1 and 2 star rating people were complaining about. Robin Williams worked very hard at his performance and I think brought out qualities in Andrew that no one else could have. I think all the special effects were beautifully done and the musical score was exquisite. Frankly, this helped get me through some of the few more drawn out portions of the film.

This is another in a long string of Hollywood robot films that quoted Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, although it didn't seem to invoke any of them too heavily in any of the plot developments. Several of the film messages are lost on me and I don't quite know what the writer was trying to say about marriage and sex defining humanity. Perhaps he wasn't saying any more about life than "let's try to enjoy the ride".

I loved the scene in which the option of becoming "a complete man" was presented to Andrew by the robot maker and thought it was handled very well. I do know that when Andrew wished to be "more human" by being made mortal, I agreed with the robot maker. He felt that Andrew was definitely becoming more human because he was making one huge mistake.

It is clear to me that as long as life is pleasant and not filled with intolerable pain, it is also filled with constant fascination. If I were the writer I would not have permitted Andrew to "check-out", by becoming artificially mortal. Andrew, being above all things sentient and intelligent, should not have wished for death because his "life partner" was dying. In fact, I think he should have tried to convince his partner into extending her life by means of his biological implants. When she eventually died he could have remained behind to glorify her memory, and also could have developed devices to further extend the useful life of people and rendered other great services to humanity.

If there was some great point the writer was trying to make about marriage and sexuality defining humanity I guess I just missed it. Although I count myself as a great fan of both, I really don't think a reasoning robot would permit his "humanity" to have been defined by such a measure or have chosen to abandon useful life and just "check out". March 25, 2008

Excellant Family Movie

We all love this movie including my 3 yr old!!
You'll laugh, cry and really think about life in a different way.
LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!! And love Robin Williams too! March 8, 2008

This is for older children on up

I thoroughly enjoyed this film when it first came to theaters a long time ago. Robin Williams almost always provides us with fun and laughter, but this story touches on serious philisophical and ethical questions. It seems to me that I saw this movie ages ago; however, it been only 9 years since its release. While I enjoyed Bicentennial Man, I never realized that the story was published in hardcover in 1976 as I had always thought that the book, The Positronic Man, had been the model for "Data" in the Star Trek Next Generation series. All of these are wonderful stories, but I do believe that if you haven't read The Positronic Man by Asimov and Silverberg that you would enjoy it. It definitely changed many of my views on life, death, and the phrase "sentient being". It is more adult book, but suitable for teenagers on up. As I will soon be 70, maybe I ought to read that book again! February 16, 2008

Fun for family

My family and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It's a good movie for all ages. My Grandchildren and I have watched it time and time again. Spectacular performance by Robin Williams and cast. Lots of laughts. February 8, 2008

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