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.

Saving Mr. Banks

A Disney movie about Walt Disney? Now that's meta. I was thinking it would be funny if they put the Paramount logo at the front of the film. I probably would have found it funnier than half the jokes in the film. Not that it wasn't entertaining, it just tried too hard.

The film is split into two stories. One is P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) travelling to Los Angeles to decide whether to sell the rights of her character Mary Poppins to beloved businessman and entertainer Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Disney has told her that she can work with the writer Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and composers Dick and Bob Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak) to decide if she will sell the rights.

The other story revolves around a young Travers (Annie Rose Buckley) as she grows up in Australia. She is very close with her alcoholic father (Colin Farrell) who only wants the best for his young family.

Overall, this film tries too hard to be both emotionally engaging (as with Travers recollections of her father) and hilariously funny (as with Hanks' portrayal of Disney). Also the flashback scenes to Australia, while an interesting insight into this woman's early life, feel disjointed and at times made me confused.

Tom Hanks, who is an actor whom I usually enjoy, didn't really work in the role of Walt Disney. He was very charming, to say the least, as I am sure the real man was, but I felt as though he was playing Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. The film also brushes over some of the more nefarious aspects of the real Walt Disney, but being a family film, I can understand why.

Thompson did an okay job at portraying Travers, but she played the character a tad too cold for my liking. The film ends with a recording of the real Pamela Travers, who although bitchy, you can definitely sense a playfulness in her attitude, whereas Thompson just played the character as mean throughout.

Colin Farrell was excellent as Travers' father. He did a wonderful Australian accent, although sometimes he would slip into his own Irish one. I can overlook this however, as he was playing an Irish Australian. 

My favourite performances came from relatively minor characters. Bradley Whitford (Billy Madison) played the exasperated screenwriter excellently and both Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore) and B.J. Novak (Inglourious Basterds) did a fantastic job. I only felt as though Novak's character could have been fleshed out a little more. Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Barney's Version) was also good as Travers' chauffeur.

Verdict: An enjoyable film that I felt tried a little too hard to both funny and emotional.