“Looks like you have created another Frankfurter’s monster.”

I think I should warn everybody that I did watch this film A LOT as a child of the 80s…but I’m not really a huge fan of it any more. It had its time and its place in my life and I am kind of done with it. I’m not going to hurry and show this one to my son like “E. T.” and “The Neverending Story.”

But….

….it would be unfair not to have a mention about it since I did watch it WAY too many times than I should’ve.

Basically, the American military has created weaponized robots in their effort to win the military race with the Soviet Union during the cold war. Well one of them (#5) is electrocuted in the lab during drills and just “wakes up” later and leaves when everyone believes that he is shutdown.

While on the run from the military, he meets up with the girl from “War Games” and shenanigans ensue.

Mix in the fact that Number 5 is now being tracked by two factions: the military leaders that want him stopped/”disassembled” at all costs and his creator; played by everybody’s favorite 80s actor Steve Guttenberg. I joke of course, however, say what you want about him, he got a lot of work in the 80s; some of it very legitimate. (“Diner,” “Police Academy,” “Cocoon,” “Three Men and a Baby“)…and that’s how you come up with a “Short Circuit.”

What I remember as a child is laughing at how the robot talked after he was able to watch television. He had his regular “Johnny 5 is Alive” voice, but once he watched television and learned other “catch phrases,” he could make his voice sound like any that he had heard.

This is hands down a child’s movie in every sense of the description. I have no real desire to catch up on it again. I know this because it was on at my mom’s one time when she had some of my younger cousins over who were watching it for the first time. I sat down beside them and found myself bored with the material. When I was their age, I loved it. I couldn’t stop laughing. This is probably the first movie that I have written about where I feel that I don’t have a real strong sense of nostalgia for.

Why write about it then?

I really did love this movie at one point. I think it is fair to write about movies that you once loved, but do not have desire for any more. Taste changes and this movie was my first proof of that.

I will admit…should it be on the tv when my son is watching…I’d have him pause to finish it for sure.