Konrad

Saw this for the first time when I was about five. I immediately fell in love with it. The idea was cute, and and funny. Plus, I like quoting it "Bartelotti, Bartelotti!" I've watched it several times over the years since I saw it, and i'll probably buy it from amazon soon. I'm surprised I haven't already.

I remember watching this movie many times when I was young! I always had to fast forward through the part when she first opens the tin because the dessicated body was too much for me as a young child. But I too first knew Max Wright from this movie than anywhere else! It's a very cute movie. I have even found that now that I am an adult, many of my mannerisms are the same as Bertie's...my house looks the same! I do have to warn small children away from that scene, though. The factory scenes may also be intense for young viewers. Highly recommended as a family movie, with perhaps some explanation for small children about adoption.

I saw this film on PBS when I was a kid and it stuck in my memory, such that when I came across it in my local video store I rented it immediately. It's not in any sense a realistic story, and it's really ham-fisted with the moral, but I found it sweet and entertaining. Polly Holiday's performance as Konrad's hapless hippie mom is especially natural and memorable. Although it's definitely a kid's movie, I still find it to be more creative and amusing than the vast majority of children's television that's coming out today. Watch it with a child!

A film for the whole family, and almost fits in with the Alf film era, of which Max Wright was prominent in his role. By mistake, an instant child is delivered to the wrong woman. She activates him, and falls in love with him, and he, of course, was programmed to love her. And Konrad was programmed for perfection. And he does not understand that others make mistakes. But the bottom line is that humans are not robots, and the factory was creating robots that are programmed to be human. There is sort of a gentleness to the movie but it is not a great movie, and it fits in well for when it was made. Of course, when the factory discovers the mistake, they seek to recover Konrad, as he remains their property forever. It has the look of being done very cheaply, but that also may be for when it was made. Futuristic factories were just wild guesses as to appearance then. The casting of the main characters fits well with the story.

WonderWorks was an amazing series on PBS, incredible family movies week after week. Fortunately, this came around about the time my kids were at the age to appreciate it, so I'm glad they got to see it. (Without kids, I might not have discovered it, either.)

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1241895 (Article about WonderWorks)

Konrad was one of the best episodes of the series. An absolutely delightful little movie, with some of the best actors.

Of the many WonderWorks episodes, I can only remember one we enjoyed more, and that was Anne of Green Gables, a multi-week miniseries that may be the single best family movie ever made.

It would be fun to find these individual films (we own Anne on VHS) and put the whole WonderWorks series back together.