Bicentennial Man

Best robot film ever. This really is a great film, which shows how a machine who strangely is endowed with creativity, thought and awareness unlike other robots, strives to become more than he is. This is a great film and very much about family life, emotions, what it means to be human, and trying to better oneself through both serving others and learning with others about oneself. If you ever wanted to be more than you are then watch this film. This is not so much a film about robots or sci-fi, but a film about life and humanity and relationships, love and family. The robots and sci-fi is just a scenario which allows us to explore ourselves more as humans and wonder about our existence.

Then, however, just as we are about to give up hope in it, the movie becomes more intriguing. Rather than staying within the context of the present life of this one family, the screenplay begins to move ahead in time, exploring Andrew's gradual growth toward total humanity, while the initial family grows up and eventually dies off. Actually, despite how one may feel about the film itself, one must admire its boldness and audacity, for it is not often that, in a film billed as a mass audience comedy, all the main characters pass on to their heavenly reward at one point or another – but, then again, how many comedies span a two hundred year time period? `Bicentennial Man' obviously has more on its mind than mere fish-out-of-water buffoonery, as it becomes an often-elegiac reflection on the transience of life, the meaning of being human and the search for societal acceptance. The mood of the film is remarkably hushed and reflective at times, which again might make it slow going for the modern mass audience more conditioned to a faster pace and giddier tone, especially in a Robin Williams film (though, of late, his films have certainly been taking on a much more somber quality, vide `What Dreams may Come,' `Patch Adams' and `Jakob the Liar'). There are times when `Bicentennial Man'