There is a charming little family movie in here somewhere. It's hidden behind a few bad choices and some sloppy edits. But the backbone is solid. It's part of the kids find a missing creature genre of films. There are some classics there. There are some interesting aspects though here. FREDI can receive messages from her hero scientist Doctor Palmer played excellently by Kelly Hu of Agents of SHIELD fame. Beyond that FREDI is an all purpose plot machine. I don't have many issues with her but one is that she's a robot who acts like a dog. In AXL that makes sense because it's a robot dog but FREDI is a personal defense drone. I don't want to see her explore without a mission parameter to explore. There's a scene where she cleans his room because James' father, James being our hero boy, uses hyperbole that suggests he would die if he didn't clean his room. This is perfect robot material. How does the robot know how to clean the room? That's handwavy kid's film stuff. What's important is the motivation and the action. There's a similar scene with bullies hunting James on the way to school. The scene is excellent backbone it just needs to be reworked a bit so the robot has proper motivations. Maybe James knows they're after him maybe he says "they're gonna kill me" and that's triggers FREDI.
But as i said FREDI has some interesting tricks. James says she can't speak in the library so FREDI texts him. It's an utterly simple sight gag and it works beautifully. I wanted to see more things like that.
The villain is forgettable which is unfortunate because i've seen good actors in these cheesy villain roles and one thing they aren't is forgettable. I can't even remember literally in the hour after I watched this if he had an accent and what it was. I swear his voice was odd but I can't remember why. Candace Cameron Brue does a solid job with the voice of FREDI. It's robotic without being completely dispassionate and cold. She's a friendly vocal assistant and it show. Christina Cox is a lackey who probably should have played the main villain because she's the only villain acting with any character. Plus she's hot and that would have been a fun combination.
The effects were inoffensive and the FREDI abilities were vague but not too all consuming. One of the most interesting twists for me was that James actually comes clean with his dad and tells him everything. Too often in these movies are parents considered persona no grata. I think James and his father have a solid relationship and that's because the movie does a good job of showing they have a good relationship. James being a stupid kid doesn't understand that dogs can live in apartments though. Speaking of relationships. Part of what could have made this movie better was better interpersonal tension. There are just weird character choices like when James finds out his BFF is tutoring his crush and he sees it as betrayal rather than an opportunity for his friend to put him on her RADAR. There are other scenes where tension could have been introduced in a way that made sense.
The movie never gets to the level of 'Good' but it could have with some better direction.
Review by wolfkinBlockedParent2019-12-07T16:00:42Z
There is a charming little family movie in here somewhere. It's hidden behind a few bad choices and some sloppy edits. But the backbone is solid. It's part of the kids find a missing creature genre of films. There are some classics there. There are some interesting aspects though here. FREDI can receive messages from her hero scientist Doctor Palmer played excellently by Kelly Hu of Agents of SHIELD fame. Beyond that FREDI is an all purpose plot machine. I don't have many issues with her but one is that she's a robot who acts like a dog. In AXL that makes sense because it's a robot dog but FREDI is a personal defense drone. I don't want to see her explore without a mission parameter to explore. There's a scene where she cleans his room because James' father, James being our hero boy, uses hyperbole that suggests he would die if he didn't clean his room. This is perfect robot material. How does the robot know how to clean the room? That's handwavy kid's film stuff. What's important is the motivation and the action. There's a similar scene with bullies hunting James on the way to school. The scene is excellent backbone it just needs to be reworked a bit so the robot has proper motivations. Maybe James knows they're after him maybe he says "they're gonna kill me" and that's triggers FREDI.
But as i said FREDI has some interesting tricks. James says she can't speak in the library so FREDI texts him. It's an utterly simple sight gag and it works beautifully. I wanted to see more things like that.
The villain is forgettable which is unfortunate because i've seen good actors in these cheesy villain roles and one thing they aren't is forgettable. I can't even remember literally in the hour after I watched this if he had an accent and what it was. I swear his voice was odd but I can't remember why. Candace Cameron Brue does a solid job with the voice of FREDI. It's robotic without being completely dispassionate and cold. She's a friendly vocal assistant and it show. Christina Cox is a lackey who probably should have played the main villain because she's the only villain acting with any character. Plus she's hot and that would have been a fun combination.
The effects were inoffensive and the FREDI abilities were vague but not too all consuming. One of the most interesting twists for me was that James actually comes clean with his dad and tells him everything. Too often in these movies are parents considered persona no grata. I think James and his father have a solid relationship and that's because the movie does a good job of showing they have a good relationship. James being a stupid kid doesn't understand that dogs can live in apartments though. Speaking of relationships. Part of what could have made this movie better was better interpersonal tension. There are just weird character choices like when James finds out his BFF is tutoring his crush and he sees it as betrayal rather than an opportunity for his friend to put him on her RADAR. There are other scenes where tension could have been introduced in a way that made sense.
The movie never gets to the level of 'Good' but it could have with some better direction.