Number 5 is a cute robot brought to amazing life through special effects, however, I'm a little confused as to how this is a kid's film. It's full of foul language, even from the robot and it has a real dark sense of humour that is more likely to scare kids than entertain them. Number 5 is a cute character when he is not shooting at something with his laser and when his eyes are bloodshot red.
It's about a series of prototype robots called S. A. I. N. T. S. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) that are built by NOVA Laboratories. Newton Graham (Steve Guttenberg) is the designer of the robots and he disagrees with the company's agenda of using the robots for the Cold War. Number 5 is hit by a lightning storm and has his programming scrambled which gives him a sense of free will and he becomes intelligent. The Robot escapes the facility and ends up on the run with, Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy ) while a team of agents is in hot pursuit to recover the robot as his laser is still armed.
Number 5 is a battlefield weapon. He moves and talks like a real person and has a strong intelligence he gathers from reading through books at lightning speed. His metallic body and impressive facial structure make him an interesting character to look at. The picture opens with a demonstration of the robots using lasers to blow up several army jeeps. Steve Guttenberg appears as a slack-type brilliant scientist who doesn't like media or press because of the company's intentions with the robots he has made for them. Guttenberg becomes the lucky hero when he must get the robot back before the company he works for loses all their funding.
It's got an impressive story but this is a very dark and violent film. Whenever the robot is going to blast something, his eyes turn red and he looks like something nightmares are made of. He has a friendly heart but the army chases him throughout the whole picture and it's a gunshot here and a gunshot there. It never rises above a basic premise to give us anything special.
It reminded me of ET in the sense that Number 5 is almost like an alien. He is curious and has no assurance of his surroundings. He doesn't know what's going to happen next but he can sense the danger ahead.
None of the characters in the picture is interesting except for Ally Sheedy. She is a third major character. She takes care of animals in her home so we can figure out what her personality is but she never does anything in the picture except try to hide the robot until Steve Guttenberg shows up and finally realizes the robot is alive at the last twenty minutes of the movie. When Number 5 shows up on her doorstep, she adopts him thinking he is an alien when she finds him in her ice cream truck. There are a lot of good ideas here but none of them are presented and we're left with a boring premise that showcases Number 5's robotic abilities and the plot never rises above a "Search & Destroy" movie that is too dark and violent for kids.
5/10.
It's about a series of prototype robots called S. A. I. N. T. S. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) that are built by NOVA Laboratories. Newton Graham (Steve Guttenberg) is the designer of the robots and he disagrees with the company's agenda of using the robots for the Cold War. Number 5 is hit by a lightning storm and has his programming scrambled which gives him a sense of free will and he becomes intelligent. The Robot escapes the facility and ends up on the run with, Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy ) while a team of agents is in hot pursuit to recover the robot as his laser is still armed.
Number 5 is a battlefield weapon. He moves and talks like a real person and has a strong intelligence he gathers from reading through books at lightning speed. His metallic body and impressive facial structure make him an interesting character to look at. The picture opens with a demonstration of the robots using lasers to blow up several army jeeps. Steve Guttenberg appears as a slack-type brilliant scientist who doesn't like media or press because of the company's intentions with the robots he has made for them. Guttenberg becomes the lucky hero when he must get the robot back before the company he works for loses all their funding.
It's got an impressive story but this is a very dark and violent film. Whenever the robot is going to blast something, his eyes turn red and he looks like something nightmares are made of. He has a friendly heart but the army chases him throughout the whole picture and it's a gunshot here and a gunshot there. It never rises above a basic premise to give us anything special.
It reminded me of ET in the sense that Number 5 is almost like an alien. He is curious and has no assurance of his surroundings. He doesn't know what's going to happen next but he can sense the danger ahead.
None of the characters in the picture is interesting except for Ally Sheedy. She is a third major character. She takes care of animals in her home so we can figure out what her personality is but she never does anything in the picture except try to hide the robot until Steve Guttenberg shows up and finally realizes the robot is alive at the last twenty minutes of the movie. When Number 5 shows up on her doorstep, she adopts him thinking he is an alien when she finds him in her ice cream truck. There are a lot of good ideas here but none of them are presented and we're left with a boring premise that showcases Number 5's robotic abilities and the plot never rises above a "Search & Destroy" movie that is too dark and violent for kids.
5/10.