D.A.R.Y.L.
| Year: | 1985 |
| Studio: | Paramount |
| Director: | Simon Wincer |
| Cast: | Barret Oliver, Michael McKean |
Spoiler!
A film with such a strong idea it could have been anything, from an action blockbuster to a cult movie.
Paramount opted for the family-friendly adventure route, and while the movie doesn't suffer from it (although I watched it when I was a member of the 10-15 year old target audience), it could have been presented much better to other demographics.
It's smartly presented insofar as the entire premise isn't blown until about halfway through. Until then it's just about a cute kid with some strange behaviour trying to belong in a young family.
Barret Oliver (fresh from global acclaim in The Neverending Story plays the young boy found wandering the streets with no memory of who he is. The Richardson family take him in to help him search, and here's where it goes all very M Night Shyamalan, and if they hadn't given half the game away in the marketing, it could have been a plot twist to make Night proud.
Daryl is really an acronym that stands for Data Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform, and he's a top-secret robot created by the military as a weapon who's got loose and whom they now want to destroy as he's too dangerous! As the tagline says, he can fly a fighter plane, race a car etc.
The premise was much stronger than the movie and in the right hands it could be a fantastic remake.
Paramount opted for the family-friendly adventure route, and while the movie doesn't suffer from it (although I watched it when I was a member of the 10-15 year old target audience), it could have been presented much better to other demographics.
It's smartly presented insofar as the entire premise isn't blown until about halfway through. Until then it's just about a cute kid with some strange behaviour trying to belong in a young family.
Barret Oliver (fresh from global acclaim in The Neverending Story plays the young boy found wandering the streets with no memory of who he is. The Richardson family take him in to help him search, and here's where it goes all very M Night Shyamalan, and if they hadn't given half the game away in the marketing, it could have been a plot twist to make Night proud.
Daryl is really an acronym that stands for Data Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform, and he's a top-secret robot created by the military as a weapon who's got loose and whom they now want to destroy as he's too dangerous! As the tagline says, he can fly a fighter plane, race a car etc.
The premise was much stronger than the movie and in the right hands it could be a fantastic remake.