Robot & Frank: Your Ideal Retirement

Few modern day movies can create an original premise that captures your attention beyond your the superficial nature of a hollywood movie trailer. Robot and Frank is one of those movies that doesn’t lose it’s originality beyond first viewing. The film follows Frank, a former jewel thief begrudgingly adapting to life as a senior citizen.

Robot and Frank was received well by the public thanks to the outstanding performance Peter Sarsgaard and Frank Sangella (Robot and Frank), whose chemistry set the stage by establishing Frank’s crabby human nature which in turn played off of Robot’s originally unfeeling persona. As the film progresses and Frank begins to adjust to Robot’s persistency the viewer grows more attached to the pair. Robot is given the illusion of affection by the creativity of his programming, allowing Frank to make deals, jokes and even tell stories with him.

This appeals to many audiences as viewers as Frank’s criminal tendencies and Robot’s lack of a moral structure create several themes. Themes as thought provoking as ethical robotic design to ones as simple as how Frank should deal with his family.

The film casts it’s net far and wide successfully interweaving a bevy of smaller plots to keep watch for and just enough quirkiness to keep one's interest. Though other movies such as I-Robot poke the idea of human-robot coexistence better, Robot and Frank do a family friendly job of introducing the idea.

Although this movie lacked the kind of excitement you’d be expect from a heist story, it was as much you could realistically expect from a plot revolving around a senior citizen. Robot and Frank therefore receives a 7 out of 10. A solid perfomance.