Smart House

Nick Cooper (Kevin Kilner) is a widower trying to raise two children, Ryan and Katie. Ryan, who misses his real mother very much, has a head for computers. When a contest is announced for a family to win a computer controlled house, Ryan secretly enters his family. They win! Nick is a bit reluctant to make the move until he gets a look at the home's attractive designer, Sara. Deciding to give it a whirl, Nick, Ryan and Katie begin living in the "smart" house. What could go wrong? Plenty.

This movie falls into the realm of good, clean fun. The house "talks", with a voice brought to life by Katey Sagal; consider her a kinder, gentler "big brother". The children are charming and intriguing while the film contains a romance, which should please the adult viewers. Families searching for nice films for a wintery Saturday night at home should consider this one. It is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Hmmmm, why don't people seem to like this movie? I think it's one of the better made-for-Disney-Channel films in the last couple of years. After seeing how good Ryan Merriman was in Deep End, I was looking forward to Smart House and I wasn't disappointed. Hopefully, Ryan can do another Disney film in 2001.

One of the more clever Disney television movies is definitely Smart House. This involves a family winning a contest to live as guinea pigs in a futuristic house that is completely computer controlled. But like HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey or Colossus, The Forbin Project the super artificial brain starts to take over everything.

Kevin Kilner and his son Ryan Merriman and daughter Angie Volding are the Cooper family and they win moving into a house that is completely computer controlled. It cleans up after itself, cooks meals, makes beds, etc. All with the cheery voice of that ultimate mother figure, Katey Sagal. It's even got a name like HAL, PAT in this case. It even helps Kilner organize his work so he can stay at home most of the time. Kilner has other needs however that Pat can't supply and that his kids can't understand.

Especially Merriman who misses his mother and is jealous of computer woman Jessica Steen who runs PAT's support systems and who Kilner starts showing an interest in. Merriman downloads some old family television shows to give PAT an idea of what the ideal mother is like.

It's a lot of laughs and then gets a bit frightening when Sagal materializes as a holograph and shuts the place down.

Several centuries later all the kinks got worked out and the Starship Enterprise certainly didn't need a mother figure supervising the crew's every needs. Smart House was a clever idea for a family film, nicely packaged by the folks at The Magic Kingdom.

A cute little Disney feature. In fact, "cute" says it all; Kevin Kilner as the father is very cute indeed, and the romance between him and Jessica Steen (the creator of the Smart House in the title) is adorable. And the kids, of course, are very sweet. But the plot is achingly wheezy; even a couple of references to Kubrick's 2001 can't save it. The best thing about it is the ever-enjoyable Katey Sagal, who voices the Smart House and who never fails to entertain. The other actors - notwithstanding their adorability - seem to be sleepwalking through the script. This might be a good choice for a rainy afternoon and a houseful of kids - but it would be best to have a couple of other movies in your pocket at the same time.

Not sure why this got some hate although I'm glad some liked it. I enjoyed quite a bit as kid and now I'm 28 watching again, still appreciate it! A charming family moves into a Smart House that is more than they expected. I like the fantasy aspect and heartwarming kid vibe; definitely better than most said!