Robin Williams Tribute Month: Bicentennial Man (1999)

Bicentennial Man was one of Williams' movies that wasn't that well received when it came out, but there is something about it (like Jack) that struck a chord with me when I first watched it that still resonates with me today.

One day, the Martin family get a delivery of a new serving android, whom they call Andrew (Robin Williams). Over time, they come to realise that Andrew is a special robot, who is able to feel and convey emotions, something which he shouldn't be able to do. Andrew's owner, Richard (Sam Neill), takes Andrew to the company where he was constructed. Instead of taking Andrew to study him, the head of the company suggests that they reprogram him. Time passes and the family grow older. Andrew eventually decides to look for similar robots like him and comes across Rupert Burns (Oliver Platt). Together they work on making Andrew more like a human, both in features and internal workings. After a long time away, Andrew returns and meets Richard's great-granddaughter, Portia Embeth Davidtz), who he falls in love with.

Robin Williams' performance in this movie is really fun. It evolves from an extremely robotic to a regular human being. Watching him misunderstand human emotions is extremely fun. He has incredible chemistry with Embeth Davidtz, who also plays Richard Martin's daughter, Amanda or "Little Miss". Sam Neill is also a pleasure to watch in this movie as a man who is incredibly tolerant of his 'property'.

Thematically this movie is all over the place. It touches on concepts such as humanity, slavery, prejudice, maturity, love, intellectual freedom, conformity and sex. Whilst these all may have worked well in Isaac Asimov's novel, for a film that is a lot to cover, especially a family movie.

The theme of slavery and humanity are probably the most prevalent of themes. Andrew eventually is granted freedom by his master and obtains the right to die. These themes have been and are still important in today's world.

Verdict: A good family film that suffers slightly from having too much content.