Wonderful sci-fi family film, one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. I'm shocked I've never seen this considering I'm an 80s kid! I watched this with my son, who loved it as well. It really has three chapters. The first is a kid with AI, part human/part robot, named D.A.R.Y.L. (Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform), found in the woods after a scientist partially responsible for his "birth" (later explained to have been "developed in a test tube in a lab") leaves him before military's "dark forces" drive him off a cliff. He has no recollection of who he is and yet retains the ability to talk, receive information, store his experiences as if recording data in a computer (which is his brain), and through everything he learns (and does so immediately) evolves. He is relocated to a foster family (construction supervisor, Michael McKean, and, piano instructor, Mary Beth Hurt), adapting to his surroundings and feeling actual emotions, including love for his new family and best buddy, Turtle (Danny Corkill). Before long, though, those who "made" him eventually find him. Claiming to be his parents, scientists Dr. Stewart (Josef Sommer) and Dr. Lamb (Kathryn Walker) are actually among the staff that created Daryl, retrieve him from disappointed McKean and Hurt (as the Richardsons). The second chapter is Daryl in the Pentagon as Stewart and Lamb remain astonished at the abilities to function within a human environment and actually acclimate so well. But General Graycliffe (Ron Frazier) tells Stewart that the military/government aren't interested in a boy robot who can function impressively with a family, opting for Daryl's destruction, favoring a killing machine who is an adult. So Stewart and Lamb collaborate to set him free so that someone valuable as Daryl (not considered just some machine to be obliterated because a general feels he isn't important anymore) can have an actual life, seeing him as more than just a device to be done away with. And the third chapter has Stewart and Lamb tricking the general, with Stewart narrowly escaping with Daryl before Graycliffe can stop him. So Graycliffe, a bevy of police, all point bulletin, and the military seek to catch Stewart and Daryl, or kill them if necessary, as they hope to eventually get away.
While I had a hard time believing Graycliffe would want to just dispose of Daryl, who proves to be incredible and elusive, it does give us a great adventure, with a thrilling car chase that spills into an interstate full of high speed pursuits and crashes. And this is a rare chance to see Sommer as a hero, risking (and ultimately and tragically giving) his life to keep Daryl safe...so often Sommer is the one who would be at the forefront in disposing of Daryl but he actually sacrifices his career and all to keep him out of harm's way until he can no longer protect him. Daryl taking a stealth plane and fooling the military at the end might seem quite far-fetched, I personally nonetheless found it to be a ton of fun! The early scenes with McKean (given a rare dramatic part that has very little need for his particular brand of comedy chops) and Hurt (who feels like Daryl is the parent, instead of her, until Turtle convinces Daryl that he shouldn't be altogether perfect and make mistakes on occasion) play a more conventional family drama with the big baseball game (Daryl hits some homeruns until he listens to Turtle and purposely strikes out), a key videogame excursion in Turtle's sister's room (Amy Linker) where Daryl proves to be quite adept at car racing that later comes in handy when he drives as Sommer tenses up in the passenger seat, piano training, and Daryl's bonding with his surrogate family and friends. There is a visit allowed for the Richardsons and Turtle to visit Daryl at the Pentagon, as we later learn from Dr. Stewart and Lamb that their doctor colleague had damaged a memory portion of Daryl's microcomputer brain so he wouldn't know he was part AI. Once again, the military are portrayed as sinister and downright cold-blooded.
The performances of the main cast-including Barret Oliver of "The Neverending Story"-are solid and the happy ending means more because of Sommer's sacrifice (never thought I would be teary-eyed as he was fading into oblivion). It is hard to believe this same Sommer who is out to kill young Haas in the same year in "Witness".
While I had a hard time believing Graycliffe would want to just dispose of Daryl, who proves to be incredible and elusive, it does give us a great adventure, with a thrilling car chase that spills into an interstate full of high speed pursuits and crashes. And this is a rare chance to see Sommer as a hero, risking (and ultimately and tragically giving) his life to keep Daryl safe...so often Sommer is the one who would be at the forefront in disposing of Daryl but he actually sacrifices his career and all to keep him out of harm's way until he can no longer protect him. Daryl taking a stealth plane and fooling the military at the end might seem quite far-fetched, I personally nonetheless found it to be a ton of fun! The early scenes with McKean (given a rare dramatic part that has very little need for his particular brand of comedy chops) and Hurt (who feels like Daryl is the parent, instead of her, until Turtle convinces Daryl that he shouldn't be altogether perfect and make mistakes on occasion) play a more conventional family drama with the big baseball game (Daryl hits some homeruns until he listens to Turtle and purposely strikes out), a key videogame excursion in Turtle's sister's room (Amy Linker) where Daryl proves to be quite adept at car racing that later comes in handy when he drives as Sommer tenses up in the passenger seat, piano training, and Daryl's bonding with his surrogate family and friends. There is a visit allowed for the Richardsons and Turtle to visit Daryl at the Pentagon, as we later learn from Dr. Stewart and Lamb that their doctor colleague had damaged a memory portion of Daryl's microcomputer brain so he wouldn't know he was part AI. Once again, the military are portrayed as sinister and downright cold-blooded.
The performances of the main cast-including Barret Oliver of "The Neverending Story"-are solid and the happy ending means more because of Sommer's sacrifice (never thought I would be teary-eyed as he was fading into oblivion). It is hard to believe this same Sommer who is out to kill young Haas in the same year in "Witness".