Pinocchio 1940, Edward Scissorshands 1990, Chappie 2015, Robocop 2014,AI: Artificial Intelligence 2001, and Bicentennial Man 1999
This is not just an entertaining and dramatic marathon, it's a journey. For every single film in this lineup, the audience goes on an emotional journey with each of these characters as they go from being non-human to gaining an ounce of humanity and dreams of becoming real people which suddenly becomes a reality. The theme of acceptance is universal for so many people in the world but for this marathon specifically, it is shown through the advancement of technology. The technology to create a Pinocchio gets far greater with each film but also the desire of wanting to be viewed as a person. Pinocchio is a powerful story of a puppet boy who has dreams and wishes of becoming a real boy by the end of his journey. He goes on a trip with his conscience whose a cricket to make that dream a reality. His creator Geppetto acts as the father figure towards Pinocchio and cares enough about him to go searching for Pinnochio when he disappears. For every Pinocchio movie after the first film that parallels it, there is a Geppetto who looks after and cares for each creation as they look past the puppetry and technology to see a person underneath it all. Pinocchio was a film that was generally considered a technological breakthrough and perfection for Disney upon it's release in 1940. The film gained unanimous critical acclaim but struggled at the box office, ultimately becoming a hit after several reissues over the span of decades accumulating a domestic gross of 84 million on a 2 million budget. When you think about it and look at the box office figures for each of these films, none of them were really box office success upon their immediate releases in theaters. It is through years of replay value that many of these movies became cult classics through nostalgia. The second movie of the marathon is Tim Burton's critically acclaimed cult classic Edward Scissorshands. Nominated for an Oscar for best makeup, Edward Scissorshands focuses on a young and gentle robot man played by Johnny Depp, who wasn't fully completed by his master before he died and ends up with giant scissors for hands. On his own journey towards becoming a person with emotional feelings, he falls in love with a beautiful young girl played by Winona Ryder. Johnny Depp received a well deserved golden globe nomination for his powerful performance as the artificial and more adult version of Pinocchio. Edward Scissorshands is generally considered one of Tim Burtons finest films. The third movie of the lineup is Chappie starring Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman and Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel. The story centers in a futuristic world where crime is patrolled by the mechanized police force. One of the police droids named Chappie ends up becoming stolen and is given new programming, making him the first robot to have the ability to show emotion and think for himself. Chappie is a glowing parallel to Pinocchio with technology taking a serious jump yet the emotions of the machines are getting stronger. Chappie's creator Deon serves as his own Geppetto and someone who genuinely cares about his well being. The next film in the lineup serves as a perfect parallel to Chappie and Pinocchio with the 2014 remake titled Robocop. Based on the same storyline as the 1987 classic, Robocop takes place in the year 2028 in Detroit where a great husband, father and cop named Alex Murphy becomes critically injured in a car explosion. In order to save his life, the Corporation that controls the police named OCP which stands for Omni Consumer Products, seizes the opportunity to create a part-man, part-machine police officer. The storyline of Robocop puts a spin on the Pinocchio story arc with a man being transformed into a machine that can be controlled, yet still has memories and emotions that make him remember his human life. His dream and desire is to be a husband to his wife again and a son to his father. In other words, he wants his humanity back and the only person who can help him achieve that goal is his own Geppetto, Dr. Dennet Norton played by Gary Oldman. The remake of Robocop did not receive the critical acclaim that it's predecessor thrived on but is overall considered a better than expected reboot and has stronger similarities towards the Pinocchio theme. The fifth movie of the night is the criminally underappreciated Steven Spielberg drama titled AI: Artifiical Intelligence. Nominated for two academy awards including best music and visual effects, the story centers around a young robotic boy played by Haley Joel Osment, who dreams of becoming a real boy in order to regain the love of his human mother who set him free after an accident involving the robot and her real son. Frances O Connor, Jude Law, and William Hurt lead a strong supporting cast with Hurt providing the Geppetto of this story and Francis O Connor setting the boy David loose instead of searching for him like Geppetto did in the original story. AI: Artificial Intelligence is considered one of the biggest box office disappointments in movie history and has sparked debate over the years on why the film did poorly with American audiences. Perhaps the answer could attribute to it being released way before it's time similar to the theatrical release of Blade Runner. The final movie of the evening brings everything full circle with the Pinocchio of this story going on a 200 year journey towards finally becoming a man. The film like AI: Artificial Intelligence was not a box office success upon it's initial release but has garnered favorable reviews as time passed. Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams, Embeth Davitz, Oliver Platt, and Sam Neil centers around a family android who possesses unique learning abilities, and slowly becomes a member of the family with the help of his own Geppetto played by Sam Neil. Once he gains his freedom to do whatever he wishes, he sets out on a journey towards becoming human as he quickly obtains human emotions as time goes on. He not only learns about what it truly means to be human but he also learns to love a woman and what it means to care about someone. He completes his journey towards becoming human by being declared a human by society and being granted marriage to his soul mate Portia Charney but not before they both pass away together once the announcement is made. Bicentennial Man stands as one of the defining films of Robin Williams career and one of the greatest parallels of the Pinocchio story ever put on film.
So what is the message behind this marathon when you place all the films together in one lineup? The message says that you should not judge someone because they are different and non humans can obtain feelings of emotion and desire to be one with the human race if they truly wish for it. A man like Andrew Martin from Bicentennial Man can become a human without actually being one because of his compassion for society and understanding of how human nature works. A robot young boy like David can learn what it's truly like to be a human boy and want the desire of his mommy like that of a regular child. David should not be disregarded because he's not flesh and blood.
Our characters for this evening:
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