

BICENTENNIAL MAN

 Reviewed by Harvey Karten
 Walt Disney Pictures/Columbia Pictures
 Director:  Chris Columbus
 Writer:  Nicholas Kazan, story "The Bicentennial Man' by
Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg
 Cast: Robin Williams,  Wendy Crewson, Embeth Davidtz,
Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Lindze Letherman, Sam Neill, Oliver
Platt

   Critics have jumped on director Chris Columbus for turning
out a movie that looks like a Hallmark greeting card, one in
which, they imply, sap oozes slowly and perpetually like
molasses crawling up a tree in January.  If I might demur, I
find that Disney--we're talking Disney don't forget--pushes the
envelope with "Bicentennial Man," just as that studio did in
exposing the tobacco industry with the muckraking and
explosively acted "The Insider."  Disney, known for often
appealing to the most commercial interests, is aiming
"Bicentennial" at the young 'uns in a PG-rated movie--which
contains some frank, discreetly expressed sexual discussion,
a judicious scene of a couple in bed engaged in post-coital
banter, and a nicely clarified exposition of the nature of
robotics suitable for children without talking down to them.  If
you come expecting lots of laughs because Robin Williams is
featured, forget it.  This is not "Moscow on the Hudson" but
rather intends to be a clone not of any other Williams film but
a well-done exploration of another type of cloning.  What's
more, the picture goes beyond the multi-generational
composition of P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia," harking back to
the old-style family epics like George Stevens' 1956 "Giant."  

   The title comes not only from the 200-year longevity of its
title character but from the story's birth as an Isaac Asimov
yarn that came out in 1976 during America's bicentennial
celebration of independence (and also from a novel by
Asimov and Robert Silverberg, "The Positronic Man").  During
the first half, Robin Williams is encased in the 100-degree
heat of a metal suit--leading Variety critic Todd McCarthy to
complain about what he considers a throwaway first half:
"Unfortunately, it takes about an hour for the film to even
suggest that it intends to be about anything other than a
futuristic tin man" while critic Roger Ebert, on the other hand,
reacts, "At the 60-minute mark, I was really enjoying it."  

   During the initial hour, Sir (Sam Neill) takes delivery of a
robot which his family calls Andrew (Robin Williams).  Andrew
does the cleaning and can cook up a splendid chicken.  The
robot is treated with indifference and some fear by Sir's
plastic wife (Wendy Crewson), badly by the envious older
daughter, and with genuine affection by the adorable 7-year-
old Little Miss (Hallie Kate Eisenberg).  When Sir notes that
the robot shows human traits like friendliness and creativity
(though it breaks the favorite toy in Little Miss's glass
menagerie), he acts to have its inners upgraded until, finally,
Andrew receives a central nervous system and all the
equipment he needs to be a real man.  Despite the good
treatment he receives at Sir's home, Andrewy's humanity
compels him to ask for his freedom and his own living
quarters, which he buys with money saved up from working
with Sir.  

   Columbus takes the story ahead a full two centuries from
its opening in the year 2005 until the point that Little Miss's
granddaughter, Portia (Embeth Davidtz) has grown to
adulthood.  As Portia faces life with Andrew, she is plagued
with a conflict. Engaged to another, she ponders giving up
her fiance and taking up with a man-machine who can
implicitly promise her indefatigable love coupled with an
inability to reproduce.  

   This allegedly sappy story could actually be both scary and
thought-provoking for children younger than 10 years of age,
and parents might even be intimidated by its subject matter. 
What does a mother do when her 7-year-old girl asks,
"Mommy, what does Sir mean when he says that men and
women do something as often as they can (at first) because
it feels good?"  Or, Mommy, why does that cute Little MIssy
look so gray and pale and bad and stays in bed at the end of
the picture?"  

   In addition to its provocative dialogue, "Bicentennial Man"
features some cute scenes of the future city as people
transport themselves about the skyscrapers in flying cars and
the Golden Gate bridge is reborn as a double-decker.  The
whole project is an absorbing mixture of sci-fi and fairly deep
(for a kid audience) dialogue about love and death, extending
political correctness to the rights and dignity of a machine.

Rated PG.  Running Time: 133 minutes.  (C) 1999
Harvey Karten, [email-masked]