D.A.R.Y.L (A-)
STARS...
Barret Oliver, Mary Beth Hurt, Michael
McKean, Josef Sommer,
Kathryn Walker, and Colleen Camp.
DIRECTOR: Simon Wincer
YEAR & RATING: 1985 (PG)
PLOT SUMMARY...
An adopted robot boy tries to pass for a human.
QUICK SCAN...
This film could be compared to "Android". Barret Oliver
is great as the robo-boy. Michael McKean, who rose to great fame
playing a goof ball on "Laverne and Shirley", gives a
sensitive and sympathetic portrayal as Oliver's adoptive father.
SR-7l fans will appreciate an exciting "Black Bird" sequence,
one of the film's highlights.
SYNOPSIS...
A little boy is found in the woods by an old couple. He's taken
to the city, where an agency places him with a nice young couple.
Although the boy is strange, his foster parents love him, and he
makes a good friend. He excels at baseball, to the delight of his
little league coach foster dad.
The boy's "real" parents show up and take him away. The
boy turns out to be a robot. When the military threatens to destroy
him, he escapes, fakes his death, then goes to live with his foster
parents once again.
BEST BETS: Android, Critters
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Review:
Director Simon Wincer's D.A.R.Y.L., while containing few surprises,
is a surprisingly viewer friendly Sci-Fi tale.
Wincer opens D.A.R.Y.L. in an exciting fashion: a guy in a car, with
a young boy in the back seat, races along a mountain road, pursued
by a helicopter. Temporarily out of sight from the helicopter, the
guy slows down and lets the boy out, who scrambles up a hill. The
guy races away. When the chopper catches up to the guy, he intentionally
drives off the road, crashing into a stream far below. Meanwhile,
the boy is picked up by an elderly couple, and drives off with them
in their pickup. Back at the mountain stream, the chopper hovers over
the water. Using no dialogue, and no background music, Wincer grabs
our attention and holds it with lean, purely visual film making.
Barrett Oliver (Cocoon), as Daryl, is a natural. His deadpan, robotic
delivery on lines like, "It's extremely kind of you to be looking
after my welfare like this" is cute without being obnoxious,
sort of like a junior league Mr. Spock.
Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap) and Mary Beth Hurt (World According
to Garp) are warm and believable as the parents who have been waiting
to adopt a child for a long time. McKean, best known for his broad
work in the TV show "Laverne and Shirley" and the mockumentary
"This Is Spinal Tap", gives a more low key performance here,
to great effect.
My favorite scene is an exciting SR-71 "Black Bird" sequence
late in the picture. Courtesy of Visual Effects Supervisor Richard
Hewitt, this sequence is more convincing than similar scenes in the
film "Firefox".
Director of Photography Frank Watts delivers pretty shots of suburban
life, without resorting to pastel shades or "candy apple"
colors. One shot outside McKean and Hurt's house in the 'burbs', with
golden light on the tree branches, seems like an idealized memory
of a perfect childhood day!
The Music, by Marvin Hamlisch, is quite beautiful. While a bit sweet
at time, it's totally in keeping with this gentle, likable Sci-Fi
fable.
The Screenplay, Written by David Ambrose, Allan Scott and Jeffrey
Ellis, doesn't break any new ground. However, as brought to life by
Director Wincer and his talented group of actors, this Pinnochio-like
story is quite enjoyable and families will especially enjoy this film.
D.A.R.Y.L. should be fairly watchable for Sci-Fi fans. SR-71/ Black
bird fans will be particularly entertained.
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