The 80's Mixes Up "Cute" with "Gritty": D.A.R.Y.L.

D.A.R.Y.L. has gotten surprisingly bad press and is not easy to find.  Computers and robots making friends and achieving sentience was another common 80's theme, though D.A.R.Y.L. seems to fall somewhere between the zany (Short Circuit) and the outright terrifying (Terminator). The film starred Barrett Oliver, who was a VERY common face in 80's kids films, with roles in The Never Ending Story, Cocoon, and a few others.  While the film certainly uses some very common 80's themes, the production look, feel, and even structure of the film is very 70's, which may have hurt D.A.R.Y.L.'s chances of becoming the family film it really wanted to be.

MIKE SAYS D.A.R.Y.L. is another childhood favorite, though its fan base is much smaller than any of our other films on this list. It's also one of the films I remember best; I'm not sure why exactly, though I'm betting that the simplicity of the story, along with some fun gags, really seemed to catch my attention.

What sticks out in my memory as being my favorite feature of the film is the short Hulk cartoon clip, along with the video games.  I used to fantasize about having Daryl's entertainment system when I was a kid...It was a little disappointing to see it now and recognize it as 6 old TVs mounted in a wall.  The doctor's death scene was something else that stood out in my memory, and caught my attention during this viewing, as it's very gritty and shocking for the film's family audience.

Watching the film again, I was actually very impressed with the structure and plotting.  Daryl shows up mysteriously, and it's a solid 35 minutes into the film before the first hints are given that all is not as it seems.  While there are glimpses of Daryl's abilities, these can be written off in a variety of ways.  In fact, the film could almost end with the victory at the baseball game and not seem to be missing anything.

For someone not aware of the film's premise, I can see the twist as something of a surprise.  The revelation of the twist, as well as the pacing of the film are pretty impressive; the real shame is what is an otherwise clever movie is handicapped by some pretty standard movie problems.

First off, the acting is just wooden and awkward, especially AFTER the twist.  Daryl goes from a mildly interesting character that is growing emotionally to, well, a robot.  The most impressive performance may have been given by Turtle, and that may only be because he's so laid back you almost wonder if he's an audience member that somehow wandered on stage. Secondly, the movie never really decides on its tone or audience.  With some gritty visuals, a few dark moments, and some pretty dire consequences, the film really has a lot of elements of a 70's movie.  But given the age of the characters, the theme of family, and some pretty silly gags, it's also obvious the film was at least trying for family appeal. 

These different elements clash so badly that the film never really congeals.

Despite this, the idea is fun, and there are some fairly enjoyable sequences, especially for kids.  I know when I was younger I got a huge kick out of a kid out smarting so many adults.  And, the plane was pretty cool too.

KATE SAYS call me an anomaly; although this is the least popular of the kids-exploring -the-universe films we've seen, I liked it the most! The opening scene is awesome--what a way to propel the viewer right into the problem!! I like how ordinary the problem seems, even though it is totally extraordinary--it reminds me of Sam Rockwell's Moon, especially the way Daryl's existence is simply taken for granted. And I like how the viewer sees things, at least at the beginning of the movie, from Daryl's point of view.

In fact, it is really the way the story is told more than the story itself that impressed me. The story itself is pretty basic: machine learns to like ice cream, people feel sympathy for said machine, people save the machine while the military tries to stop them.

And yeah, it's been done a billion ways. What makes D.A.R.Y.L. unique is how the viewer is shown specific events only when the characters learn of them--so, we see that Daryl wasn't destroyed by the doctors (even though we guess he wasn't) only when the bad military man does. (And I do like the bad military man's dryness.)

The car scene is rather silly--movies always make this error; they think that because a superhero's reflexes would be fast or extra evolved, he or she will be able to get equipment to work faster or better. But a computer can only work as well as its technology. There's a very funny scene in Lois & Clark where Clark types really fast and then has to wait for the computer's buffering to catch up.

Would that car really be able to do what Daryl needs it to do? Probably not.

Other than the car and airplane chase, everything else seems to unfold quite naturally. The ending is extremely abrupt--though not unexpected.

So I enjoyed it. But I have to confess: my main thought throughout the movie: "Wow, Michael McKean looks so young!!"