Contents



1999



Bicentennial Man (1999)

Directed by 
Chris Columbus    
  
Writing credits (WGA) (in credits order) 
Isaac Asimov   (short story The Bicentennial Man) 
Isaac Asimov   (novel The Positronic Man) and 
Robert Silverberg   (novel The Positronic Man) 

 
Nicholas Kazan   (screenplay) 
  
Cast (in credits order) 
Robin Williams ....  Andrew  
Sam Neill ....  Sir  
Embeth Davidtz ....  Little Miss/Portia  
Oliver Platt ....  Rupert Burns  
Wendy Crewson ....  Ma'am  
Hallie Kate Eisenberg ....  Little Miss 7 Yrs. Old  
Stephen Root ....  Dennis Mansky  
Lynne Thigpen ....  Female President  
Bradley Whitford ....  Lloyd  
Kiersten Warren ....  Galatea (Robotic/Human)  
John Michael Higgins ....  Bill Feingold  
George Wallace (I) ....  Male President  
Lindze Letherman ....  Miss 9 Yrs. Old  
Angela Landis ....  Miss  
Igor Hiller ....  Lloyd 10 Yrs. Old  
Joe Bellan ....  Robot Delivery Man  
Brett Wagner (I) ....  Robot Delivery Man  
Scott Waugh ....  Motorcycle Punk  
Quinn Smith (II) ....  Frank  
Kristy Connelly ....  Monica  
Jay Johnston ....  Charles  
Ples Griffin ....  Zimbabwe Representative  
Marcia Pizzo ....  Lloyd's Wife  
Paula DuPre Pesmen ....  Feingold's Assistant  
Clarke Devereux ....  Priest  
Bruce Kenneth Wagner ....  Engagement Party Guest  
Paula West ....  Singer  
Kevin 'Tiny' Ancell ....  Restoration Worker #1  
Richard Cross (IV) ....  Restoration Worker #2  
Adam Bryant ....  Humanoid Head  
Eric Fiedler ....  Puppeteer  
Billy Bryan ....  Puppeteer  
Christopher Nelson (II) ....  Puppeteer  
Jim Kundig ....  Puppeteer  
Terry Sandin ....  Puppeteer  
Mike Elizalde ....  Puppeteer  
Mark Garbarino ....  Puppeteer  
Christian Ristow ....  Puppeteer  
Leonard MacDonald ....  Puppeteer  
Bernhard Eicholz ....  Puppeteer  
Evan Brainard ....  Puppeteer  
Benny Buettner ....  Puppeteer  
Kamela Portugues ....  Puppeteer  
Michael Steffe ....  Puppeteer  
Mark Walas ....  Puppeteer  
Allan Rich (I) ....  The Judge  
Merridee Book ....  World Congresswoman (uncredited)  
Kimberly Delmer ....  Dancer (uncredited)  
Scott Trimble (II) ....  Wedding Guest (uncredited)  
  
Produced by 
Michael Barnathan    
Chris Columbus    
Paula DuPré   (associate) (as Paula DuPré Pesman)  
Gail Katz    
Dan Kolsrud   (executive)  
Laurence Mark    
Neal Miller    
Wolfgang Petersen    
Mark Radcliffe    
  
Original music by 
James Horner    
  
Non-original music by 
Joseph Haydn   (from "The Hunt Quartet Suite No. 1")  
  
Cinematography by 
Phil Meheux    
  
Film Editing by 
Nicolas De Toth    
Neil Travis    
  
Casting 
Janet Hirshenson    
Jane Jenkins    
  
Production Design by 
Norman Reynolds    
  
Art Direction 
Bill Hinley    
Bruton E. Jones Jr.    
Mark W. Mansbridge    
  
Set Decoration 
Anne Kuljian    
  
Costume Design by 
Joseph G. Aulisi    
  
Makeup Department 
Rick Bongiovanni ....  special makeup effects artist: Cannom Creations crew  
Greg Cannom ....  special age makeup  
Keith VanderLaan ....  makeup effects artist: Cannom Creations  
Brad Wilder ....  key makeup artist  
Wes Wofford ....  special makeup effects artist: age effects  
  
Production Management 
Geoffrey Hansen ....  unit production manager  
  
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director 
Jennifer A. Giancola ....  assistant director  
Maggie Murphy (I) ....  assistant director  
David Sardi ....  assistant director  
  
Sound Department 
Jennifer Barin ....  sound re-recordist (uncredited)  
Eleanor Beaton ....  assistant sound designer  
Beau Borders ....  sound design assistant  
Tony Eckert ....  foley mixer  
Gabriel Guy ....  machine room operator (uncredited)  
Stuart McCowan ....  apprentice sound designer (uncredited)  
Rick Norman (II) ....  production music mixer  
Juan Peralta ....  sound mix technician (uncredited)  
Robert Shoup ....  supervising sound editor  
Nelson Stoll ....  production sound mixer  
Gary Summers ....  sound re-recording mixer  
Randy Thom ....  sound designer  
Dennie Thorpe ....  foley artist  
Jana Vance ....  foley artist  
  
Special Effects 
Christian T. Andrews ....  special effects props: electronics foreman  
R. Christopher Biggs ....  POV graphic overlays  
Rick Bongiovanni ....  effects crew: Captive Audience Productions  
Gustavo R. Ferreyra ....  mechanical/electronic effects coordinator  
Eric Hanson (I) ....  3D matte painter: Dream Quest Images  
Kyle J. Healey ....  art/previs manager  
John Huikku ....  digital compositor: Dream Quest Images  
Jennifer Law-Stump ....  digital effects artist: Pacific Title Digital  
Mark Lefitz ....  digital artist (3D matte painter)  
John McLeod (III) ....  special effects coordinator  
Jeff Olm (II) ....  digital compositor: Dream Quest Images  
James E. Price ....  visual effects supervisor  
Travis Price ....  texture painter
texture painter: Dream Quest  
Paul Van Camp ....  technical director  
  
Stunts 
Mike Mitchell (I) ....  stunt co-ordinator  
  
Other crew 
Eddie Adolph ....  payroll accountant  
Ellen Adolph ....  production accountant  
Chris Allen (VI) ....  mechanical effects
property master  
Aglika Angelova ....  piano teacher  
Larry J. Aube ....  rigging key grip (as Larry Aube)  
Wayne Billheimer ....  set decoration co-ordinator  
Beau Bonneau ....  extras casting
location casting  
Mauro Borelli ....  illustrator  
J. André Chaintreuil ....  cad operator (as Jean André Chaintreuil)
miniatures (as Jean André Chaintreuil)  
Michael Chickey ....  production assistant  
Astrid Crabbe ....  set production assistant  
Nicolas De Toth ....  additional editor  
Rory Enke ....  location manager  
Ava Fang ....  production assistant  
Tim Flattery ....  illustrator  
Katie Gilbert ....  production co-ordinator  
Lisa Goldberg ....  digital producer  
Thomas M. Harrigan ....  location scout  
Geoff Hubbard ....  set designer  
Chris Keene ....  computer graphics modeler  
John Lacy (II) ....  rigging electrician  
Sean Landeros ....  machine room operator (uncredited)  
Kevin Michael LeBlanc ....  production assistant (as Kevin LeBlanc)  
Brian Magerkurth ....  machine room operator (uncredited)  
Starrs McBurney ....  assistant camera  
Brian Minzlaff ....  electrician  
Kate O'Neill ....  second assistant camera  
Robert L. Peden ....  scenic artist  
Bobby Powell (I) ....  rigging gaffer (as Robert E. Powell)  
Tom Proost ....  foreman  
Dan Rebert ....  puppeteer  
Tom Richardson (I) ....  scenic artist  
Jan Ruona ....  second assistant camera  
Doug Sherman ....  information services
special effects  
Michelle Stevens ....  key second assistant accountant  
Brian Sullivan (III) ....  director of photography: second unit  
Terry Sullivan ....  best boy electric  
Bill Taliaferro ....  set designer  
James E. Tocci ....  set designer  
Scott Trimble (II) ....  extras casting intern  
Michael Umble ....  unit publicist  
David Wiezer ....  property maker  
Darrell L. Wight ....  set designer  
Mary Zeeble ....  production assistant  
 
 
 


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BICENTENNIAL MAN
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

MRS. DOUBTFIRE's director (Chris Columbus) and star (Robin Williams) team up again in BICENTENNIAL MAN with magical results. The movie tells the poignant story of the 200-year-long life and times of a model NDR-114 robot named Andrew Martin (Williams). Although frequently quite funny, the film rarely goes for the cheap laughs. Most of the surprisingly serious story focuses on exactly what it means to be human and on what is important in life. There are some impressive special effects, but the picture is more a charming character study than a futuristic adventure.

If you've seen the trailers, you probably think of the film as slightly slapstick. It turns out, however, to be much more substantial and moving that you would suspect. The downside to this is that, despite its mild PG rating, the story isn't for kids who aren't able to handle the death of loved ones on the screen. Key characters die naturally and peacefully of old age, but they do pass away -- a fact upon which the story dwells. The result is either meaningfully touching or depressingly sad. Adults and teens will mostly be in the former category, but younger ones may be completely turned off. As the 10-year-olds with us explained, it's one thing to witness a dinosaur violently devour people you don't care about, but it's much harder to watch one treasured character after another perish.

Andrew, who refers to himself with the impersonal "one," lives in the Martin household headed by Sir (Sam Neill) and Ma'am (Wendy Crewson). The older daughter is a sassy 10-year-old girl, Miss (Lindze Letherman), and the younger one is a sweet 7-year-old girl, Little Miss (Hallie Kate Eisenberg). Embeth Davidtz (MANSFIELD PARK) plays the grown Little Miss as well as Little Miss's granddaughter, Portia. The star of the production, however, is Nicholas Kazan's script based on an Isaac Asimov story. It's a script that plays simultaneously to the head and to the heart, asking many questions to make the viewers think.

Andrew turns out to be a model NDR-114 like no other. He has artistic abilities, able to make intricate carvings and delicate clocks, and he has "almost" human feelings. The primary question posed by the story is under what circumstances could we remove the word "almost" from the previous sentence.

Sir seizes every opportunity to train Andrew in the ways of humans. The results prove quite comical. Teaching a robot to tell a joke is especially tricky since he tries to dissect the meanings rather than enjoying the spirit of the joke.

In one scene we come in at the end of Sir's birds-and-bees talk with Andrew. A bewildered Andrew stares at Sir in disbelief. "People actually do this, Sir?" he asks. Once convinced that this is not another of Sir's jokes, Andrew inquires as to the typical frequency among married couples.

The story, which is told chronologically, makes several large leaps in time. When we meet the first set of grandkids, one of them dumps sand on Andrew out of pure meanness. Never at a loss for words, he quips, "One understands why some animals eat their young."

At one point in the story, Andrew goes off on a long and hard journey in an attempt to locate other models of his type. He wants to see if any of them were blessed with his gifts. Along the way he comes into contact with a female robot named Galatea (Kiersten Warren), who appears to have his intellect. Alas, she just has her "personality chip" engaged and has about as many brains as a talking Barbie doll. Galatea does provide great fodder for humorous material. Her master is Rupert Burns (Oliver Platt), a robot repairman and inventor, who comes to Andrew's aid.

By the time the 200 years have passed, we have come to realize that the movie isn't really about a robot, per se. It is about love and about the true meaning of life.

BICENTENNIAL MAN runs 2:11. It is rated PG for language and some sexual content. The film would be fine for teenagers. Whether the movie would be appropriate for those under 13, depends on the kid's sensitivity to the issues of dying.

My son Jeffrey, age 10, gave the movie **. He laughed harder than I've ever seen him laugh in a movie, but he complained that he found the deaths "really depressing." His friend Alan, also 10, gave the picture ** 1/2. They had similar comments about the movie. Both were extremely upset over its sadness, and both thought sections of it were hilarious, especially those with Galatea in it.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com




Have I seen this movie: Yes
And what did I think: Bicentennial Man is a heartwarming story about a robot's quest for humanity in a span of 200 years. It stars Robin Williams as the lovable android named Andrew. The film is directed by Chris Columbus who also directed Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. In the year 2005, a family purchases a robot to help out around the house. The man of the house, Sir, played by Sam Neil, discovers that this robot is rather unique. He discovers that he has a creative side to him after the robot carves statues for his youngest daughter Little Miss, played by Hallie Kate Eisenberg (the little girl from the Pepsi commercials). He also has a fondness for music as well. He takes the robot back to the factory to learn if this is normal. The head of the company wants to take Andrew back and take him apart to see what makes him tick, because it's definately not normal. Well, Sir refuses it and take Andrew back home to explore his creative side. Throughout the years, Andrew stays with the family even though he's not considered a servant anymore. The two daughters of the house grow up and get married and eventually Andrew wants his own independence as well. Reluctantly Sir agrees and Andrew goes to live on his own even though he still keeps in touch with the family. After more years pass by, Andrew tries to find others like him. Eventually he finds a scientist played by Oliver Platt who is able to help Andrew become more human. He gives Andrew skin and eventually a nervous system too. When Andrew returns home he discovers Little Miss is a grandmother and Andrew falls for her granddaughter who looks just like her. Towards the end of the film, Andrew appeals to the United Nations to recognize him as a human being. He also asks the scientist to make him mortal because he can not stand to see all of the people he cares for die off. He himself wants to become old and die.
This movie is based on a novel by Isaac Asmov who is known for writing some great science fiction stories. It has depth and feeling. It's both funny and sad at times. The futuristic world is portrayed in a believeable way, but the film doesn't focus on all the futuristic gadgets, but rather the triumph of the human spirit. I had no problem with the acting here. Robin Williams does a great job portraying Andrew. It seems he enjoys playing more serious but enlightening characters then the goofball comedy he used to do. There are also fine performances by Sam Neil, Oliver Platt and Embeth Davidtz This film wasn't noticed too much at the box office probably because of the failure of Jacob the Liar which was released shortly before this film. I definately would recommend checking this out at the video store.

I give Bicentennial Man 4 out of 5 stars
Review written July 11, 2000
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