It looks like that Robosapien movie we’ve been hearing about for a couple of months is really happening. In case you missed our previous coverage and have never walked into an electronics store before, Robosapien is a toy robot which claims to be super-intelligent, but let’s face it, it’s still dumber than a sack of bricks.
The movie version of the toy is being pushed along by Marvel’s Avi Arad, and now Variety has the scoop on what the movie will be about. Ready? Great. Pull up your Netflix account. Order a copy of Short Circuit. Wait for it to arrive. Watch it. Pretend there was a cute kid in it. You now know the plot to Robosapien.
Here’s how Variety describes it: “The story concerns a scientist working on artificial intelligence who creates robots for humanitarian purposes, only to discover that the corporation he works for intends them for military use. He steals one of his creations, a robot boy named Toby, who, by a series of accidents, gets lost and broken, and then found and fixed by the lonely 11-year-old son of a harassed single mother. The robot and boy become friends, and embark on a series of adventures, pursued by the authorities, climaxing with them having to rescue the scientist and the mother from prison.”
Now a positioning statement: I like robots. No scratch that, I love robots. Giant ones are best, but man-sized robots are pretty cool too. When Short Circuit first came out, I was at that perfect boy age where robots are probably the coolest thing in the world. It’s what happens after boys get over dinosaurs. Once we’re sick of the brontosaurus (I refuse to call it apatasaurus!) boys move on to wanting their own robot pal. I wanted my own robot pal, and Johnny 5 was that robot pal. And you know what, sometimes in retrospect a movie like Short Circuit isn’t as good as it seemed when you were a kid. But I’m going to stand by it, Steve Guttenberg at all. Short Circuit was well done, and it deserves better than to be blatantly ripped off to promote a toy line in movie form.
I’m all for more robot movies. Heck, I think we’re starved for robot movies. Those giant freakin robots in Transformers look great, but we need more robot variety. So bring on the robots, but hey Hollywood, try to come up with something new to do with them. Or, if you’re simply unable to come up with something original, take a robot idea that someone screwed up, redo it, and do it right. Robot Jox is out there somewhere, just begging for a remake.
