Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Everyone s favorite lovable robot has finally returned to home video at a new price! Something wonderful has happened Number five is alive! Steve Guttenberg (cocoon) and Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) co-star in this high-tech comedy adventure about number five a mischievous robot who escapes into the real world after he short-circuits in an electrical storm. Because he s considered a destructive weapon the Defense Department and his designer are desperate to find him but Number Five is being protected by a young woman who teaches him a gentler way of life. Other Information: Runnig Time 99 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com:
John Badham's family-oriented adventure comedy, though obviously hatched in the wake of E.T. and Star Wars, manages to create its own identity through a sweet tone and an affectionate sense of fun. Military robot Number 5, a well-armed killing machine, is zapped by lightning during a test and emerges with a consciousness, curiosity, a wacky sense of humor, and a new peace-loving philosophy. Ally Sheedy (who debuted in Badham's hit WarGames) is the animal lover whose home is sanctuary for a zoo-full of strays and who adopts the adolescent robot. Steve Guttenberg is the goofy but reclusive robotics designer who goes off in search of his creation to save him from the gun-happy army. The mix of gentle slapstick and innocent romance makes for a harmless family comedy. It veers toward the terminally cute, what with 5's hyperactive antics and E.T.-ish voice, and the mangled grammar of Guttenberg's East Indian sidekick (Fisher Stevens) threatens to become offensive, but Badham's breezy direction keeps the film on track. Sheedy and Guttenberg deliver spirited and engaging performances, but most importantly the robot emerges as a real person. Give credit to designer Syd Mead, an army of puppeteers and robotics operators, and the cartoony voice of Tim Blaney: Number 5 is alive. --Sean Axmaker

Rating : - Pick the best of the bunch, Number 5!
When at loss for a movie, pick a comedy I say. It always cheers you up, unless it's a particularly bad comedy. But starting to watch Short Circuit, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know anything apart from what the blurb said on the back. I knew Ally Sheedy from some of the 80s high school movies, and Fisher Stevens was apparently playing Apu from The Simpsons. OK then.

Short Circuit is one of those sweet little movies, where the blurb just simply does not do it justice. Reading the blurb, I was not thrilled about watching it - it totally gives the wrong idea about the movie. Rather than a movie about robots (zzzzzz), it's a movie about a robot, who gets human feelings after being struck by lightning. Number 5, or Johnny 5 as he (it?) becomes later known at the end of the movie, is a hilarious little robot, who can mimic anything, and do anything, not believing he's a robot. He's alive!

The plot's not THAT terrific. A previously killer robot gets struck by lightning, somehow gets human feelings, learns to drive, reads everything in sight for "input", watches TV for input, and even gets a female friend in Ally Sheedy. There are two guys chasing him, the only two who seemingly know how to reprogram him to become a killing machine again, when they originally designed him as a marital aid. (How?) There are several funny scenes, one of the stand out scenes for me being dancing to Saturday Night Fever (still a god awful film but never mind), and saying "input" constantly.

Ally Sheedy, Fisher Stevens and the rest of the cast do brilliantly with what little they have to work with - what you'll normally find when an actor has to work opposite something CGI/puppet/animal, and the money's gone on the special effects rather than the script. The special effects were good, considering if Short Circuit was ever remade (heaven forbid) it would be full of CGI and not realistic at all. The way it has been done is good, and believable. Who says robots don't have feelings?

Short Circuit was amazing, although having never heard of it before, I was happy to watch it and surprised when it was quite good. Johnny 5 is one of the sweetest robots you will watch in this time, when it has not been touched by CGI or any celebrity voice behind the robot. Genius.