Bicentennial Man

Starring: Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, Oliver Platt, Stephen Root, Bradley Whitford, Lynne Thigpen, Wendy Crewson
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
1999

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A robot (Robin Williams) shows very human characteristics as it undergoes a 200 year journey to find who he really is.

Review:

Tim: Bicentennial Man is an ambitious effort from Chris Columbus that doesn't quite work as well as intended. The film certainly has its moments (the 132 minute run time ensures there'll be a few hits here and there), but as a whole, the movie is strangely devoid of real emotion. Unlike our protagonist, it's often a empty shell with no real soul inside. Sure, this isn't a terrible movie, but it's not a particularly memorable one, either.

The basic premise is interesting, as it was adapted from an Isaac Asimov short story. A robot (who is immortal) connects with a family and shows signs of humanity that far exceed his programming. The story unfolds over many, many years, as the robot becomes progressingly more human. It's a fascinating idea, and one that has been explored many times on film. We create robots in our own image and are surprised when they start to emulate us. When you can create something so lifelike, so humanlike, what would it be like to intact with it? Would the lifelike robot have its own thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams? You could explore this concept in a hundred different ways. That may be why the film ended up being so long.

Now, the idea was there, but the execution was lacking. I keep bringing it up, but there was absolutely no reason for this movie to clock in at 132 minutes. That's easily 30 minutes too long (at least). The film is this slow, plodding affair that never seems to be in any hurry to get where it is going. I remember hearing a critic write that "The robot's story unfolds over 200 years, and I felt like that's how long it took to watch the movie." That was an accurate observation. I admit I completely lost interest at one point. It took all my energy to stick with the story for the last 30 minutes. The film desperately needed to be cut down. It didn't have nearly enough compelling moments to support such a long run time.

I did enjoy the performance of Robin Williams. Yes, it was a little robotic, but that was intentional. This won't be among his better performances, but he brought some real warmth and humanity to the role. I did believe in his slow transformational from purely a robot to something confusingly human. That was impressive and I give Williams credit for pulling it off. The supporting cast was fairly good. Embeth Davidtz has two roles and she's decent in both of them. I don't think she was great, but certainly serviceable. Sam Neill was a great addition but has far too little screen time. Oliver Platt was a huge boost to the film and kept me interested whenever he was on screen. He gives a good, lighthearted performance. The rest of the cast was decent.

Bicentennial Man definitely tries to be ambitious with this epically scoped tale. However, the movie was really missing out on heart. Yes, there are a few emotional moments sprinkled throughout, but I never really connected with this robot. I suppose I was rooting for him because I knew that I was supposed to, but I never felt any of his pain. It must have been horrendously lonely to be him, yet Chris Columbus never fully captures that feeling on screen. Some of it had to do with the fact that robots don't show much emotion, so his protagonist was hampered in that regard. I guess you have to deal with issues like that when you make emotional movies about robots. The film could have done a better job in this area, however.

The movie as a whole is decent. You have to admire the scope and everything that went into making this movie. Unfortunately, the end product just comes across as being hollow. Ambitious attempt, but the execution was severely lacking. I didn't hate this movie, but there is no way I could ever, every sit through it again.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: I, Robot; Mrs. Doubtfire, Imposter