Movies like The Terminator and TV shows like Black Mirror have taught us that we should be afraid of machines and, especially, the rise of artificial intelligence. However, there are quite a few classic sci-fi movies that offer a more optimistic perspective on technological progress by introducing a sentient mechanical organism with a kindly personality. These are a few examples of movies with robots that capture our hearts.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (C-3PO And R2-D2)
Going in order of release date, the Star Wars saga begins with C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) delivering Princess Leia's (Carrie Fisher) message to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) on Tattooine. This heroic act from George Lucas' 1977 blockbuster was pivotal to the Rebels eventually overthrowing the Empire. Not to mention, the droids boast a politeness that not nearly enough humans possess in any galaxy.
Short Circuit (Johnny 5)
There are many perfectly understandable reasons why some might call 1986's Short Circuit a cult classic that actually sucks but we would not consider Johnny 5 to be one of them. An electrical accident causes the experimental robot to suddenly gain sentience and, with it, a positively charming personality.
I, Robot (Sonny)
One of Alan Tudyk's best roles is the voice of Sonny in 2004's I, Robot. While the loose Isaac Asimov adaptation shows that he is certainly capable of violence, he is only violent in service of mankind and is even the only robot who teams up with his enemy, Det. Del Spooner (Will Smith), to take on a malevolent A.I. known as VIKI.
The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant)
A film that easily could have won the Best Animated Feature Oscar had the category existed in 1999 is director Brad Bird's '50s sci-fi throwback, The Iron Giant. One might argue that Vin Diesel gives his best and most heartfelt performance in the title role – a sentient extraterrestrial weapon that befriends 10-year-old Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) when he crashlands on Earth and loses his memory.
Roz (The Wild Robot)
In DreamWorks Animation's 2024 adaptation of Peter Brown's novel, The Wild Robot, Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) is already programmed to be friendly, as part of her purpose as a robotic personal assistant. However, she is forced to alter her programming when an accident leaves her stranded in the wilderness where she finds herself caring for an orphaned gosling (voiced by Kit Connor).
Transformers (The Autobots)
Based on the popular toy line and tie-in animated series, the live-action Transformers movies follow two races of shape-shifting alien robots known as the Autobots and the Decepticons – the latter of which, as you can likely guess, are not too friendly. When their centuries-long conflict finds its way to Earth, Optimus Prime (Peter Weller) and the Autobots take it upon themselves to keep humanity safe.
The Day The Earth Stood Still (Gort)
The 1951 classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, is unlike most alien invasion movies in that the otherworldly visitor, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), arrives to warn humanity of impending doom, not to bring it upon them. Assisting him is a robot named Gort (Lock Martin), who comes equipped with a special laser beam that he only uses to neutralize weaponry.
Big Hero 6 (Baymax)
Even if Disney's animated adaptation of the Marvel Comic, Big Hero 6, was not an Oscar-winning superhero movie, it would still be a beloved entry to the genre, especially because of Baymax. Scott Adsit voices the cuddly, inflatable healthcare robot invented by the late father of Hiro (Ryan Potter), with whom he teams up to create the eponymous crew of vigilantes.
T-800 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
The version of the unstoppable T-800 that Arnold Schwarzenegger plays in James Cameron's The Terminator is one of the most fearsome movie villains of the '80s. The version he plays in the 1991 sequel, thanks to some reprogramming, is a hero assigned to protect young John Connor (Eddie Furlong), to whom he becomes an unlikely father figure, with the caveat that the teen ends up helping the cyborg act more human.
Wall-E (Wall-E)
Disney introduced the world to one of the most adorable robots in cinematic history in the acclaimed Pixar movie, 2008's Wall-E. The eponymous machine (voiced by Ben Burtt) is not only environmentally friendly (having been tasked with cleaning up a desolate, uninhabitable Earth in the dystopian future) but also has the capacity for love, as seen when he meets a more advanced bot named EVE (Elissa Knight).
Companion (Iris)
Iris (Sophie Thatcher) does not even realize that she is a robot programmed to be head-over-heels in love with her purchaser until grim circumstances force Josh (Jack Quaid) to tell her the truth in Companion. Apparently, she was also programmed to have feelings (both in the emotional and physical sense), which is why she earns the audience's full sympathy as she struggles to escape from her nigh-sadistic "boyfriend" in one of the first great horror movies ("horror adjacent," more accurately) of 2025.
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (Goddard)
In 2001's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and its Nicktoon spin-off, the titular young brainiac (Debi Derryberry) gave himself the most reliable dog imaginable by creating Goddard. The mechanical canine can do all the things a normal pet can do, including barking, fetching, and playing dead (by self-exploding, that is) but it also comes with a myriad of other cutting-edge tools.
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (David)
After Stanely Kubrick's passing, Steven Spielberg stepped in to complete A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, which does not shy away from sentient technology's potential troubles while also offering one of the most effective arguments in its favor. The 2001 futuristic fairy tale tells the story of David (Haley Joel Osment) – a robot made to resemble and act like a child who, after being adopted and later abandoned by a human family, wants nothing more than to be a "real boy."
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Marvin)
There certainly are friendlier robots in pop culture history than the clinically depressed Marvin, who is portrayed on set by Warwick Davis and voiced by Alan Rickman in Disney's 2005 adaptation of Douglas Adams' absurdist sci-fi adventure, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. However, it is not the paranoid android's fault that he was embedded with astonishingly vast intelligence and never given a chance to apply it.
Finch (Jeff)
One of the most uplifting post-apocalyptic movies you will ever see is Miguel Sapochnik's Apple TV+ original dramedy, Finch, from 2021. Academy Award winner Tom Hanks stars as the title character – one of the few to survive the destruction of the ozone layer – who decides to build a robot he names Jeff (Caleb Landry Jones) so that his dog, Goodyear (Seamus), will have someone to look after him after his imminent death.
Interstellar (TARS And CASE)
Only in a Christopher Nolan movie could some of its most personable and endearing characters be machines who make up for their lack of humanity with a great deal of personality in the epic 2014 space movie, Interstellar. Josh Stewart provides the voice of the quieter CASE, who is puppeteered by Bill Irwin – the voice of TARS, who is often a little too indulgent with his humor setting but earns his place with selfless heroism.
Treasure Planet (B.E.N.)
In Robert Louis Stevenson's influential 1883 novel, Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins befriends a marooned member of Captain Flint's pirate crew named Ben Gunn. The character served as the inspiration for the amnesiac robot, B.E.N. (which stands for Bio-Electronic Navigator), who is voiced by Martin Short in Disney's cosmic reimagining of the story, 2002's Treasure Planet.
Earth To Echo (Echo)
If Steven Spielberg had shot E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in the style of a found footage movie and with a sentient alien robot instead of a living creature, the result might have looked something like Earth to Echo. The 2014 sci-fi family film follows a group of children who discover the eponymous, telekinetic android and offer to help it find its way back home.
Robots (Rodney Copperbottom)
As the title of the 2005 Blue Sky Studios animated movie suggests, every single character in the visually wondrous Robots is a sentient mechanical device, yet some are certainly nicer than others. For instance, the innovative lead protagonist Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) and his friends Cappy (Halle Berry) and Fender (Robin Williams) were built with much more favorable personalities than power-hungry business tycoon, Phineas T. Ratchet (Greg Kinnear).
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (K-2SO)
It has taken some Star Wars characters on the wrong side of history years to change their tune and fight against the Empire. In the case of the charming K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk) from 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, all it took was some simple reprogramming for the imperial droid to become one of the most trusted members of the Rebel Alliance.
Star Kid (Cy)
The extra-terrestrial mechanical device from the 1997 sci-fi family film Star Kid is not exactly a robot. It is actually an A.I.-powered exoskeleton or "cybersuit" (voiced by Arthur Burghardt and portrayed on set by Alex Daniels), which is why shy 13-year-old Spencer Griffith (Joseph Mazzello) gives it the nickname "Cy" when he discovers it in a junkyard and tries him on for size.
Batteries Not Included (The Fix-Its)
Most movies depict flying saucers as massive vessels that house extra-terrestrial visitors but 1987's Batteries Not Included flips the script by making the aliens themselves flying saucers of a much smaller stature. Frank (Hume Cronyn) and Faye Riley (Jessica Tandy) and the tenants of their Manhattan Apartment building nickname the otherwordly, mechanical couple the Fix-Its for their ability to repair things around the residence.
D.A.R.Y.L. (Daryl)
At first glance, Daryl (Barret Oliver, a child actor who later walked away from Hollywood) seems like an ordinary, albeit socially awkward, 10-year-old boy until his foster family notices his unusual genius intellect. It turns out that he is really a U.S. Government-issued "Data-Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform," hence the title of the 1985 sci-fi film, D.A.R.Y.L.
Alita: Battle Angel (Alita)
One of the most underrated hero movies of its time is 2019's Alita: Battle Angel – producer James Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Yukiton Kishiro's manga series. It stars Rosa Salazar in the title role of a cybernetic organism who tries to uncover the secrets of her past when she is reactivated by a professor (played by Christoph Waltz) who finds her remains in a junkyard.
Ron's Gone Wrong (Ron Bintscatsco)
In the 2021 animated flick Ron's Gone Wrong, Barney (Jack Dylan Grazer) longs to fit in with his classmates by getting the most popular digital device around called a B-bot. When he finally gets one of his own, which he names Ron (Zach Galifianakis), it is certainly as friendly as he hoped but also comes with a few bugs and glitches that make him trouble to have around.
The Creator (Alphie)
Co-writer and director Gareth Edwards' 2023 dystopian thriller, The Creator, stars John David Washington as a special forces agent tasked with locating and destroying an artificial intelligence weapon. However, when he discovers that the weapon is a cyborg resembling a young girl known as Alpha-O, whom he calls "Alphie" (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), he goes against his orders and becomes her protector.
Robot & Frank (Robot)
Few films have demonstrated a more optimistic purview of man's bond with machines like the 2012 sci-fi dramedy, Robot & Frank. It stars Frank Langella as a technophobic ex-con diagnosed with dementia who begins to warm to a robotic assistant (played on set by Rachael Ma and voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) that he reluctantly accepts from his son after it proves to be a helpful teammate in a jewelry heist operation.
I'm Your Man (Tom)
You might be convinced that you could fall in love with a robot after you see 2021's German sci-fi rom-com, I'm Your Man. English actor Dan Stevens brushed up on his German to play Tom, a robot designed to satisfy a woman's innermost desires whom scientist Alma Felser (Maren Eggert) agrees to live with for three weeks to fund her next project.
Bicentennial Man (Andrew)
Bicentennial Man, Chris Columbus' 1999 adaptation of Isaac Asimov's novelette of the same name, stars Robin Williams as a service android dubbed "Andrew" by the family that employs him. He later embarks on a quest to find other beings like him and, eventually, desires to become human.
Astro Boy (Astro Boy)
Based on the manga series of the same name, Astro Boy is the story of a robot (voiced by Freddie Highmore) programmed with the memories of Dr. Bill Tenma's (Nicolas Cage) late son. The child-like robot eventually goes off on his own and becomes a great hero.
Chappie (Chappie)
In Neill Blomkamp's 2015 sci-fi action flick Chappie, a gifted engineer (played by Dev Patel) discovers how to create a human-like artificial intelligence that, once uploaded into a robot body, must learn about life from scratch, much like a child. Said robot (voiced by Sharlto Copley) is given misguided life lessons by a pair of criminals (played by South African hip hop duo Die Antwoord).
And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird (Newman)
The 1991 comedy And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird is about two brothers (Joshua Miller and Edan Gross) who invent a sentient robot out of a vacuum cleaner that they call Newman. Much to their surprise, the machine soon becomes inhabited by the spirit of their late father (voiced by Alan Thicke).
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
