Appelez-moi Johnny 5

I have just finished re-watching this pillar of my youth, and was reminded of what a family classic this really is! The sequel to Short Circuit is an improvement on the first film, if only for the inclusion of the then beautiful Cynthia Gibb as Sandy Banatoni (whom I had a HUGE crush on when I first saw the film at the age of around 8). But there are hundreds more memorable moments from the film which came flooding back to me as I watched, much to the annoyance of my housemates.

Great film, maybe not in a 'Pulp Fiction/Donnie Darko' sort of way, but great in a 'Bill & Ted/Flight of the Navigator' way, that it's a testament of my youth and will be shown to my kids when I eventually have some!

p.s. anyone notice a small similarity between Cynthia Gibb in this film and young Potter star Emma Watson? Weird...

In this second installment of Short Circuit, Johnny Five is sent to New York to help his creator Ben Javari(Fisher Stevens), run his new toy business, which is lagging behind in production. Number Five decides while he's at it to check out the city and runs afoul of everyone, including the police and greedy banker Oscar Baldwin(Jack Weston), who has stolen a collection of valuable international jewels. When Number Five is smashed to near death by Baldwin and his gang, he decides to get his revenge. Can Number Five survive a leaking main battery and very little backup power long enough to outsmart Oscar and recover the jewels before he dies? Give this a rent and find out.

This movie takes the robot Johnny 5 on a magical whirlwind tour of New York. He meets up with his friend and creator Ben Jahrvi they have fun, and Ben falls for an uptown girl. Johnny 5 comes to the aide of his friend and rescues the bank from a heist that he helped! Sounds like a lot to pack into the film but Steve does a great job of getting everything it needs to be into the small amount of time that this film takes up in our small meaningless lives. If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you rent it. Forget the blockbuster's and just rent this down to home comical romp through the lives or Ben and Johnny 5, I guarantee you will not regret it.

As much as I enjoyed the first movie, I had a feeling that getting the second one on DVD would be a mistake. I should have gone with my gut feeling. On the cover, it says that Siskel and Ebert have uttered that this may possibly be better than the first one. I really doubt that - someone please give me the reference if I'm mistaken. The problem is, as with Crocodile Dundee 2 and numerous other sequels, the purpose and originality of the first movie is the development of the characters. The quirks, social ineptitude, surprising qualities, cultural clashes, are what make the movie worthwhile and even enjoyable to watch. With a revenue success, far too often a sequel will appear. Again and again, it becomes clear that when you apply the lovable characters from the first movie to some formulaic plot in the sequel, it fails. It not only fails, it becomes painful to watch, going from one cliché to the next. Funnily enough, the kids seem to like it...

Jonny Five's back... is this a good thing? Actually, yes. The good news is that Fisher Stevens' character, Ben Jahrvi, is the star of this movie and has a lot more attention. In the first movie, he was overshadowed by Steve Guttenberg. Also, the music score is cool too. The bad news is that this movie could have been better. Jonny Five talks more like a human now but that is not necessarily a bad thing. If you've never seen Short Circuit or Short Circuit 2 then please watch you may like it. If you've seen Short Circuit and despised it, then don't watch this.