BICENTENNIAL MAN
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
MRS. DOUBTFIRE's director (Chris Columbus) and star (Robin Williams)
team up again in BICENTENNIAL MAN with magical results. The movie tells
the poignant story of the 200-year-long life and times of a model
NDR-114 robot named Andrew Martin (Williams). Although frequently quite
funny, the film rarely goes for the cheap laughs. Most of the
surprisingly serious story focuses on exactly what it means to be human
and on what is important in life. There are some impressive special
effects, but the picture is more a charming character study than a
futuristic adventure.
If you've seen the trailers, you probably think of the film as slightly
slapstick. It turns out, however, to be much more substantial and
moving that you would suspect. The downside to this is that, despite
its mild PG rating, the story isn't for kids who aren't able to handle
the death of loved ones on the screen. Key characters die naturally and
peacefully of old age, but they do pass away -- a fact upon which the
story dwells. The result is either meaningfully touching or
depressingly sad. Adults and teens will mostly be in the former
category, but younger ones may be completely turned off. As the
10-year-olds with us explained, it's one thing to witness a dinosaur
violently devour people you don't care about, but it's much harder to
watch one treasured character after another perish.
Andrew, who refers to himself with the impersonal "one," lives in the
Martin household headed by Sir (Sam Neill) and Ma'am (Wendy Crewson).
The older daughter is a sassy 10-year-old girl, Miss (Lindze Letherman),
and the younger one is a sweet 7-year-old girl, Little Miss (Hallie Kate
Eisenberg). Embeth Davidtz (MANSFIELD PARK) plays the grown Little Miss
as well as Little Miss's granddaughter, Portia. The star of the
production, however, is Nicholas Kazan's script based on an Isaac Asimov
story. It's a script that plays simultaneously to the head and to the
heart, asking many questions to make the viewers think.
Andrew turns out to be a model NDR-114 like no other. He has artistic
abilities, able to make intricate carvings and delicate clocks, and he
has "almost" human feelings. The primary question posed by the story is
under what circumstances could we remove the word "almost" from the
previous sentence.
Sir seizes every opportunity to train Andrew in the ways of humans. The
results prove quite comical. Teaching a robot to tell a joke is
especially tricky since he tries to dissect the meanings rather than
enjoying the spirit of the joke.
In one scene we come in at the end of Sir's birds-and-bees talk with
Andrew. A bewildered Andrew stares at Sir in disbelief. "People
actually do this, Sir?" he asks. Once convinced that this is not
another of Sir's jokes, Andrew inquires as to the typical frequency
among married couples.
The story, which is told chronologically, makes several large leaps in
time. When we meet the first set of grandkids, one of them dumps sand
on Andrew out of pure meanness. Never at a loss for words, he quips,
"One understands why some animals eat their young."
At one point in the story, Andrew goes off on a long and hard journey in
an attempt to locate other models of his type. He wants to see if any
of them were blessed with his gifts. Along the way he comes into
contact with a female robot named Galatea (Kiersten Warren), who appears
to have his intellect. Alas, she just has her "personality chip"
engaged and has about as many brains as a talking Barbie doll. Galatea
does provide great fodder for humorous material. Her master is Rupert
Burns (Oliver Platt), a robot repairman and inventor, who comes to
Andrew's aid.
By the time the 200 years have passed, we have come to realize that the
movie isn't really about a robot, per se. It is about love and about
the true meaning of life.
BICENTENNIAL MAN runs 2:11. It is rated PG for language and some sexual
content. The film would be fine for teenagers. Whether the movie would
be appropriate for those under 13, depends on the kid's sensitivity to
the issues of dying.
My son Jeffrey, age 10, gave the movie **. He laughed harder than I've
ever seen him laugh in a movie, but he complained that he found the
deaths "really depressing." His friend Alan, also 10, gave the picture
** 1/2. They had similar comments about the movie. Both were extremely
upset over its sadness, and both thought sections of it were hilarious,
especially those with Galatea in it.
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Have I seen this movie: Yes
And what did I think: Bicentennial Man is a heartwarming story about a robot's quest for humanity in a span of 200 years. It stars Robin Williams as the lovable android named Andrew. The film is directed by Chris Columbus who also directed Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. In the year 2005, a family purchases a robot to help out around the house. The man of the house, Sir, played by Sam Neil, discovers that this robot is rather unique. He discovers that he has a creative side to him after the robot carves statues for his youngest daughter Little Miss, played by Hallie Kate Eisenberg (the little girl from the Pepsi commercials). He also has a fondness for music as well. He takes the robot back to the factory to learn if this is normal. The head of the company wants to take Andrew back and take him apart to see what makes him tick, because it's definately not normal. Well, Sir refuses it and take Andrew back home to explore his creative side. Throughout the years, Andrew stays with the family even though he's not considered a servant anymore. The two daughters of the house grow up and get married and eventually Andrew wants his own independence as well. Reluctantly Sir agrees and Andrew goes to live on his own even though he still keeps in touch with the family. After more years pass by, Andrew tries to find others like him. Eventually he finds a scientist played by Oliver Platt who is able to help Andrew become more human. He gives Andrew skin and eventually a nervous system too. When Andrew returns home he discovers Little Miss is a grandmother and Andrew falls for her granddaughter who looks just like her. Towards the end of the film, Andrew appeals to the United Nations to recognize him as a human being. He also asks the scientist to make him mortal because he can not stand to see all of the people he cares for die off. He himself wants to become old and die.
This movie is based on a novel by Isaac Asmov who is known for writing some great science fiction stories. It has depth and feeling. It's both funny and sad at times. The futuristic world is portrayed in a believeable way, but the film doesn't focus on all the futuristic gadgets, but rather the triumph of the human spirit. I had no problem with the acting here. Robin Williams does a great job portraying Andrew. It seems he enjoys playing more serious but enlightening characters then the goofball comedy he used to do. There are also fine performances by Sam Neil, Oliver Platt and Embeth Davidtz This film wasn't noticed too much at the box office probably because of the failure of Jacob the Liar which was released shortly before this film. I definately would recommend checking this out at the video store.
I give Bicentennial Man 4 out of 5 stars
Review written July 11, 2000
