Bicentennial Man is an impotent and confused film that follows a robot for 200 years without ever developing another character in-depth or sharing with the audience will mark the end of a journey that seems to be as long and laborious for the audience as ever. The film of director Chris Columbus focuses on a not-very-entertaining Robin Williams like Andrew, the machine mentioned earlier, and his trials and tribulations that are as unexplored as the West Indies that another guy supposedly discovered called Columbus.
We meet the Martin family and their newest household gadget in "the not too distant future": Andrew. From generation to generation, our protagabot ventures of a cliched and unnecessarily boring Martin family-mostly women. He also meets a few other humans and robots, but none notable enough in this analysis to merit any consideration. They come and go, Andrew remains, and the movie limps through a future setting like Jetsons-style.
An excellent 1960's Don Adams show (which Fox unsuccessfully attempted to bring back a few years ago) called Get Smart, now relegated to a fate worse than regular re-runs. Richard Gautier, an anonymous relative who never ventured past G. I. Joe fame, Hymie the Robot was playing. Hymie was a computer that always pursued life, just like Andrew, and commonly found himself in funny circumstances where his inner-workings were ineptly played. Hymie was romantic and sweet, but ultimately robotic. Maybe Richard Gautier isn't Robin Williams, but the show is just as funny, and a lovely Friday or Saturday night otherwise.
There are some qualities to boast of the positive end of this almost-dead battery. Robin Williams, with some typical Disney tear-jerking scenes, is hilarious and touching. The gender description given is edited to a degree of general appropriateness. But when we realize that being human is the ultimate achievement and you do not need to mourn the dead, the movie is also confused about its family characteristics (for all those that pass away, only one tear is seen). We are also advised that imperfection is the secret to life, and it is possible to take marriage lightly.
