Not having seen any trailers nor having heard anything about this movie, I started off taking it somewhat seriously. Yes, the ad introducing the Furby-like toy that was the springboard for all of this was somewhat cheesy, but I could see having a cheesy product ad in a serious horror movie. TV Ads in movies almost always look a little cheesy and satirical.
The problem then was, when Gemma cracks the holy grail of robotics by creating a sentient, learning robot able to move about as well as a human being (and later, we find, with considerably greater strength and speed) after working on it for what seemed like a week or two--without any sort of great breakthrough or insight, I was pretty incredulous. I thought, "And this happened. . . How, exactly?" (Yes, I know it's a movie).
Now, if I had been aware from the very beginning that this was supposed to be a rollicking comedy, then I could have just turned off my critical faculties and laughed at it all. But in fact, it starts out on a pretty serious note: a young girl is orphaned and she's sent to live with her aunt, who clearly has no interest in raising a child, even if she believes she's obligated. It's all quite serious, and actually a really nice dramatic premise. And I was trying to take it seriously.
So then when it shifted into Chucky meets the Terminator, as so many reviewers here have accurately described it, I guess I was a little disappointed that it wasn't taking itself more seriously. It had a pretty solid story, all in all, even if there was never a moment's doubt about where this bad doll was headed. And the climax is kind of a nice steal from (homage to. . . ? It's always a fine line) the climax of Aliens, with the "man amplifier" robot being used to defeat Megan.
I appreciated the deft commentary on our obsession with our personal devices and the internet. I loved the questions it asked about developing robots as substitutes for human caregivers. And Megan herself was also a great killer robot. I liked the combination of nurturing and murderous.
I was just never quite able to settle into the movie because of its shifting tone.
The problem then was, when Gemma cracks the holy grail of robotics by creating a sentient, learning robot able to move about as well as a human being (and later, we find, with considerably greater strength and speed) after working on it for what seemed like a week or two--without any sort of great breakthrough or insight, I was pretty incredulous. I thought, "And this happened. . . How, exactly?" (Yes, I know it's a movie).
Now, if I had been aware from the very beginning that this was supposed to be a rollicking comedy, then I could have just turned off my critical faculties and laughed at it all. But in fact, it starts out on a pretty serious note: a young girl is orphaned and she's sent to live with her aunt, who clearly has no interest in raising a child, even if she believes she's obligated. It's all quite serious, and actually a really nice dramatic premise. And I was trying to take it seriously.
So then when it shifted into Chucky meets the Terminator, as so many reviewers here have accurately described it, I guess I was a little disappointed that it wasn't taking itself more seriously. It had a pretty solid story, all in all, even if there was never a moment's doubt about where this bad doll was headed. And the climax is kind of a nice steal from (homage to. . . ? It's always a fine line) the climax of Aliens, with the "man amplifier" robot being used to defeat Megan.
I appreciated the deft commentary on our obsession with our personal devices and the internet. I loved the questions it asked about developing robots as substitutes for human caregivers. And Megan herself was also a great killer robot. I liked the combination of nurturing and murderous.
I was just never quite able to settle into the movie because of its shifting tone.