10 Best Movies With Robots in Them

A comment from a reader lead me to create this random list about some of my favorite robot-based movies off all-time. I'll appologize to Brian in CA in advance for not including The Transformers in this list. With so many other robots out there providing wacky hi-jinks, just turing into a car isn't enough to get you on my list!


Not Quite Human (1987) Here's the first of three old school Disney Channel movies staring Hollywood Alan Thicke who builds a life like robot and then adopts him as his son. He calls his new invention Chip...get it!? Only Thicke's daughter knows her new brother is a robot, so when Chip goes off to school you can imagine all the hilarity that ensues as Becky tries to cover up all the robot things Chip does. Great movie followed by the equally great Not Quite Human II and Still Not Quite Human. (I gotta dig out my tapes of these!)

Chopping Mall (a.k.a. Killbots) (1986) Seriously, you haven't experienced cinema until you've layed your eyes on this masterpiece. And yes, I've mentioned this movie before...you can read more on it in an October 2006 post of WWoB.

The Iron Giant (1999) This movie is crazy good! At first you think you're just watching a really good animated fantasy and then you find yourself smack in the middle of a beautiful story about humanity and fearing the unknown. All crap sensors off: this is a wonderful movie that gets overlooked.

Seeing Double (2003) Crap sensors reengaged: Seeing Double is the feature film debut of the super popular British pop group S Club 7. Never heard of them? That's because they were popular in England, although their TV series did linger around on the Fox Family Channel for quite sometime. In this big screen adventure, an evil scientist makes robotic clones of the members of S Club and attempts to cash in on their success without the groups knowledge. If you like movies where the entire cast breaks out into song for no reason what-so-ever than pull up a chair and get ready to be entertained my friend!


Star Wars (1977) Obviously at this point in time, the world of Star Wars has taken on a life of it's own. But for my money, the original 1977 version of the movie...without added special effects...without "Episode IV" plastered all over it, is pure movie goodness. There's lots of robots and droids and all kinds of things in Star Wars but you just can't beat R2-D2 and C3-PO as two of the greatest characters ever created for film!

Jetsons: The Movie (1990) There's robots all over the place in this big screen adaptation of the classic 60's television series. You got Rosie the robot maid, you got all those robot arms brushing the Jetson's teeth and getting them dressed, in the movie the Jetsons even have a family of robots as their new next door neighbors! Jetsons: The Movie came out at a time when computer animation was still new, and it was used in conjunction with traditional hand drawn cell animation. Some of the shots in this movie using (a touch of) CG are still beautiful today. The film's major drawback is the decision to replace the original voice of Judy Jetson with that of pop singer Tiffany. Yuck!

Wall-E (2008) An absolute masterpiece of a film, nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Film of the year. If you don't believe me, how good this film is, go to a place where movies are sold or rented and buy it...or rent it!

Short Circuit (1986) Any movie where a robot (or alien) learns to speak English from watching TV, you know you're in for a good time. And so, little cute robot Johnny 5 makes wise cracks and does cute un-robot like things in this 80's classic. Along with primo robot action, you'll witness Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, and Fisher Stevens all at the top of their game. This is one of those movies that alot of people my age watched a million times as it came out around the time VCR's were starting to become more common. It was so popular that Short Circuit 2 came out a few years later. It made me cry when Johnny 5 got beat up in a dark alley!

Heartbeeps (1981) OMG! This is too good a movie for words! Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Petters play two robots along with two other robots escape the robot factory for a life of freedom. Of course, the robot factory has to send out a Police robot to capture them and bring them back. So good folks! My neighbor and I used to watch this everytime it came on The Movie Channel when we were little. Then the movie disappeared for the longest time and was reissued in the late 90's when the Andy Kaufman biopic came out. I rejoiced at my purchase of this great film on video.





C.H.O.M.P.S. (1979) Ladies and gentlemen, this is a movie that is so fantastically awesome that not only does it make the top of my Robot Movie List - it's also the top spot on my Dog Movie List. A robot dog, people! A robot dog! Does it get any better than this!? He's a home security system but he looks like a regular ol' dog. Boy, does he fool the bad guys! Let's get serious here for a moment folks...if you don't go out and find yourself a copy of C.H.O.M.P.S...or Heartbeeps for that matter, you are doing yourself and everyone else in your close immediate circle of family and friends a huge disservice.