Laugh Until You Short a Circuit

The very first time I saw this movie, I was not thrilled about watching it. In fact, I curled up in the other room reading "Watership Down" to avoid watching this boring military movie. But as I read, the spontaneous outbursts of riotous laughter from my family convinced me to wander over to see what was going on. And I was hooked.

Since that first viewing, I've probably watched "Short Circuit" a hundred times, thoroughly enjoying it each time. It is the tale of a robot who wants to be more. The story begins at the NOVA robotics center, where a demonstration is cut short by a sudden storm. Upstairs, the robots line up to promenade down to show themselves off to the visitors. Number 5 is in the wrong place at the wrong time (or should I say the right place at the right time?) and is struck by lightning. Seemingly unfazed by the incident, he follows the other robots but gets distracted by a robotic coffee server. One thing leads to another, and he finds himself outside, in the bed of a truck leading out into the country. Voraciously reading everything in sight, he is a sort of metallic Pinocchio who finds himself brought to life by the blue fairy of lightning.

While NOVA is in an uproar looking for him, he hitches a ride on the back of a snack truck driven by a young woman named Stephanie. She unknowingly drives him home, and when she discovers him she welcomes him into her home, convinced he is an alien. Fascinated by all the wonderful new things in Stephanie's house, he begins to investigate...wreaking havoc in the process. The rest of the movie is pure laughs as Stephanie learns Number 5's true identity, NOVA tries to recapture him, and Number 5 tries to convince everyone that he is alive.

Great characters are just as essential to this movie as the hilarious situations and memorable lines. There's Number 5, of course, the robot who is learning what it is to be human and teaching everyone else in the process. Stephanie is the rather ditzy animal-lover who takes him in and eventually begins to believe his story. Newton Crosby, the creator of Number 5, is a pacifist who has fallen for Stephanie but thinks she's crazy to believe that Number 5 is alive. And then there's Ben, the idiom-mixing-up fellow from who-knows-where who evokes a laugh each time he speaks.

This movie is just plain clean fun, and it raises some very interesting issues as well about what it means to be alive. Number 5 (re-christened Johnny 5) was one of the predecessors to Star Trek's Data and many of the other androids we love so much. He appears in a second film with Ben, and that is well worth a viewing. But the original movie is the one which I will continue to watch over and over again. One of the funniest movies of all time, any connaisseur of comedy should pick this one up. It is sure to become a family favorite.