Bicentennial Man (1999) Review:

Robin Williams is the funnyman. He's the guy most people enjoy on screen when they want a good laugh. In fact, he's done a good job at being versatile as well. Williams has also shown that he can play very serious roles that involve a lot of emotion. And this Chris Columbus film is probably one of his most emotional performances. Here, Robin Williams plays a robot named Andrew whose original purpose was to serve mankind. Soon, he becomes self-aware and wants to understand more about what it's like to be human.

While an a robot

This triggers a switch in Andrew's mind and from then on, he makes it his goal to do anything he can to be human. It's a very sweet plot that really tugs at the heartstrings. Unfortunately, this is where people may draw the line because the screenplay can get very sappy at times and very emotional. If a viewer likes that kind of material than there should be no problem but because this is about a robot who wants to become human, he's going to have to go through many significant events that many of us regular people have to go through everyday. This will have viewers feel like the story drags on forever. That's the downside to the writing - it can be very sappy and drawn out at times.

Becoming Human

But for the cast, Robin Williams is very solid. He includes his mix of humor and emotion and performs well. His struggle to understand how to be human is very intimate because many of us can relate to such scenes that involve pain, love and joy. Sadly, he's also the only reason why people would want to go see this because through the running time, new characters come into play every scene which can be tiresome because the audience has to get to know a whole new set of faces. The special effects are good though. So much of it is well blended that it’s hard to know what is real and what is CGI. But by far, the most effective element to this movie is James Horner's score. Every scene containing his music is to the point of magical and childlike simultaneously. Extremely emotional music. I would say it's for the true Robin Williams sappy story fans.

It has good special effects, excellent music and a performance many Robin Williams fans would love. However, the plot can be drawn out and overly sappy.

Points Earned --> 7:10