I, Robot

Not a bad movie. Especially if you've never read the book.

The movie had many good characteristics--amazing special effects (some of the best I've ever seen), some riveting action sequences, a thought-provoking concept, emotionally-engaging moments,and interesting commentary on human/robot relations and the question asked in so many sci-fi movies: What does it mean to be human?

Those were the high points.

The film was fraught with negatives, though. Will Smith's character is abrasive and annoying, early in the movie. As the story progresses, he becomes more likeable, but the weak and fairly simple plot works against him. All in all, standard action movie fare, as far as storyline goes. Bits of the dialogue were inane and silly, and the obvious advertisement for Converse All-Stars tennis shoes early in the flick was as subtle as a two-by-four over the head. Also, there were at least two scenes in the movie where "surprises" were sprung on the audience, though these revelations were common knowledge to the film's characters. Only those of us watching in the theater were kept in the dark for most of the movie.

The biggest flaw in the story is the laughable idea that it's based on the works of Isaac Asimov. As a huge science fiction fan and voracious reader of the genre, I can assure you that this movie has almost nothing in common with Asimov's stories. Only the Three Laws of Robotics and a few character names bore any relation to his fiction. Asimov wrote his stories as rivals of the Golden Age of sci-fi's typical robot-as-clanking-monster story. He envisioned a world where robots were not threats to the human race, but assets. They coexisted in harmony with humans. Apparently, the filmmakers found this idea boring--thus the decision in favor of flipping the idea on its head and producing a film in Asimov's name that he would scarcely recognize as his own creation.

Was the movie good? Yes, in many ways. Could it have been much better? Definitely. I think there's an overdose of egotism involved in going out of one's way to attribute a story to a specific author, then telling a completely different tale from that which the author penned. Happens far too often. Either tell it right, or leave it alone.