as a rule i don't really like films that took at the heartstrings
films that make me well up and weep because i watch films
for escapism from reality and i don't like being sad when i'm watching films
however i really wanted to see robot and frank and i'd heard very mixed things
about it on the one hand some people thought it was the most
emotional thing ever and on the other a lot of people found it very funny and
i thought that combination was something i could deal with
and i loved the concept so there will be no spoilers in this video i absolutely
promise but i can say if you just want to know
whether or not i think it's worth watching
i i completely do i'm shocked that's taken me eight years
if you'd asked me i would have said this was released in 2016 or 17
no it was released in 2020 2012 and i wish i'd seen it sooner but i'm glad
i've seen it so as i said no spoilers i'm going to read out the description
from imdb and then bounce off of that a little bit
and talk about things i liked and if there was anything that i
disliked this is unscripted so my thoughts may be
a little bit scattered but bear with me so according to imdb
in the near future an ex-dual thief receives a gift from his son
a robot butler programmed to look after him but soon the two companions
try their luck as a heist team i mean that sounds crazy straight away a
robot and a retired can be a retired jewel thief
an elderly former dual thief plan a heist it sounds
insane and it slightly is but it's also
brilliant so first of all i love the idea of a robot butler
not necessarily because i want one but it's really great as a character to see
how this robot interacts with frank
and also within society because he's not the only person who has a robot other
people do too and there are there are some funny
interactions with other robots and um with robot himself the robot is
voiced by peter sarsgaard and it is so brilliant it's the robot is
certainly really the main source of humor in this
and i think it's such a brilliant character and a brilliant way
of telling this story of frank because it is mainly
frank's story and he basically starts out as
being a bit of a grumpy old man a very stereotype not wanting this butler
doesn't want anybody to interfere with his daily
routines and then something mysterious happens
and he suddenly has a reason to go back into trying to plan out the
heist it's been many years since he did that
that in itself is quite not an odd thing for this character
because frank is very lovable he's that typical
lovable grumpy older man but when you think that
he used to be a jewel thief it makes you feel a bit uncomfortable
because like how can i feel like i really like this character
but if this was a film from 40 years ago when he was younger
he would have been an antagonist unless he was playing at being robin hood
so it's it's it really does question the way you look at this character and also
how we just look at people in general but we see him planning this heist with
the robot and that in itself is hilarious
because the robot has knowledge but no real emotion and it's quite
entertaining to watch in fact that's an understatement it's very entertaining to
watch it takes it doesn't take that long to
get into but it takes a little bit of time for it
to develop the narrative so we can really work out what the point is if for
example you hadn't read the description and
didn't know what to expect it's not just about him
getting on with a robot and what life would be like with a robot
in fact that's secondary but it's secondary
but it makes you think about it at forefront still and it's really cleverly
done it's not a film about what life would be like with a robot but that is
completely there in the background and at times you can bring it to the
foreground and i think it works very well
i would love one of the robots so the narrative is brilliant i won't talk
about the ending in detail but i will say that i was
personally very satisfied i was left feeling
i think the film was about an hour and a half an hour and 45 or something
i was left feeling like that was a fantastic way for me to have spent that
time it was absolutely sensational
so we'll have a quick look at the cast the cast for me
was neither a pro nor a con there wasn't really anybody in it who i thought i
absolutely have to see that but when watching it every performance
was solid i had absolutely no problems with anybody so it was directed by jake
schreier i hope that i'm pronouncing that correctly he's done
several things um paper towns some other films i believe are quite
well known but not really something that i'm
particularly familiar with because this is not usually my kind of film as i said
and the screenplay is written by christopher ford and
i don't know how much they hacked up his screenplay or if it's pretty much
verbatim but the robot's dialogue is just
it's sensational it's brilliant it's great fun
obviously frank is the star of the show and
he is played by frank now that langella or langella
or an you know secret option c his his performance was brilliant i don't
know how lonely it would have been on set a lot of the time because obviously
he's performing with this fantastically articulate
robot but apart from the crew there are many times when it's really just frank
and the robot on the screen so i'm not sure how much time he
actually had around other humans but their relationship is is beautiful to
watch james martin plays his son his son hunter and liv
tyler plays his daughter madison the other strong point for me and that
made me really really excited and her performance was amazing is susan
sarandon who plays jennifer she's a librarian i
love that a lot of this takes place in a library
although the library is a central point for some of the issues but i thought she
was brilliant and beautiful and just
exquisite and it just made me that little bit more
excited in the film so the cast great i have absolutely no
problems nobody kind of made me question their
performance or wondered why they'd cast x as y obviously the best
casting is the robot himself i i am i forgot to look this up before i sat
down to do this and i don't think i can see the information on the screen in
front of me i'm not sure who built or developed the
robot or how much of it is actual robot how
much of it is
done in post-production but it is brilliant
and either way whatever the case may be it's a thrill to watch
i did i cry i don't think i cried i got a little bit choked up at one or two
points but i didn't cry so for me it just ticked all the right
boxes without being too emotional if you haven't seen it i expect most
people have seen it by this stage i was very late to the party but if you
haven't seen it i thoroughly suggest you because it it's
beautiful and it's just one of those films
that will really make you feel warm and fuzzy inside while kind of also making
you question your priorities and how we
judge people and what the future of technology is and
the benefits that it can bring i have no complaints at all about
robot and frank and all i can do is say please watch it and let me know what you
think personally i thought it was beautiful