Share

As a child of the 80's, I'm pretty confident that I'm not the only person who loved the Short Circuit series and watched the movies over and over. Though the movies aren't particularly good, they rocked because of how awesome and believable the robots were. Until then, most of the robots I had seen in movies were typical sci-fi concepts. Short Circuit broke that by introducing robots that looked like they could actually exist.

I feel the believability of Johnny 5 is crucial for my love of the movie as a kid. It's also why Short Circuit 2 would make me so sad and angry. If you don't recall, there is a point where Johnny 5 gets savagely beaten with crowbars by guys he thought were his friends. Sure, he is only a robot, but the scene is brutal. I have no idea who decided to put this scene in a "family" movie, but I suspect they did so with the sole intent of making children cry.

Fortunately, Johnny 5's beating is the catalyst for his suit-up scene. As far as suit-up scenes go, it's pretty average. However I give it bonus points because of the odd items that are suited-up. Most of his items are random electronics: capacitors, batteries, wire, circuit boards etc. The scene technically rides a fine line between a suit-up and a build up, since the premise of the scene is that he is repairing himself. The scene really shines when Johnny 5 applies items that appear to be simply cosmetic in nature, for instance his robot mohawk and spikes. Very punk rock, Johnny.