![]() Plus, the inclusion of the dementia sub-plot gives it an adult, bittersweet taste missing from your usual kid's flick. One of the things I liked most about it is that it has great characterisation for an effects film all of the people living in the apartment block have their own story arcs. Nevertheless, it still works when you watch it, even today, as a touching fable. Needless to say, Spielberg's fingerprints are all over it. Yes, BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED is twee, sentimental and silly, and totally unrealistic with it. ![]() The highlight, for me, is Michael Carmine's villainous Carlos, who's given much more characterisation (and who elicits far more sympathy) than you might expect from a Hollywood bad guy. The cast are faultless Jessica Tandy is a given, but kudos to the producers for hiring SHADOW OF A DOUBT's Hume Cronyn, who has a kind of crusty charm all his own. The special effects are exemplary and hold up to this day, even by modern standards. Certainly the aliens themselves are wonderful creations little UFOs who whizz around the screen and commit all sorts of mischief. I don't usually 'do' sentimental films, but I'll make an exception for this one: it's a solid piece of entertainment that quite often reaches magical levels. Despite the presence of the geriatrics in the cast, it's a children's film through and through, an old-fashioned fable about tenants in a run-down housing block trying to hold out against greedy developers and the little aliens that come to help them. I'm guessing that following the success of COCOON, Hollywood producers saw the potential of mixing old-timers with aliens, hence we get BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. It's as good today as it was in 1987! Prices may vary in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. If you haven't seen this movie in 20 years, go ahead and give it a spin. Thanks to great acting, a decent-enough script, good cinematography and an equally emotional score from James Horner, this picture works in every way. I believe it takes more talent to get the audience to emotionally invest themselves in a movie than to create eye candy. Many have written that this movie tries to suck the viewer in, using emotional techniques, as opposed to making it an intellectual masterpiece. There's something about filming a real model, built by human hands against a blue screen, then matting it into the film that makes it look more realistic than computer animated visuals. especially for those of us who have tired of CGI effects that look more like a cartoon than reality. Although the aliens are portrayed as mechanical beings with heart, they certainly give hope to the residents, and help bind them together. They also wash dishes, repair broken Virgin Mary statues and stopwatches and they replicate using spare pots and pans and electrical appliances, fused together by at least 1.21 gigawatt's of electricity. Just when it looks hopeless for our friends, small spaceships, compliments of Industrial Light and Magic show up and start fixing everything. The characters are developed to the point that you actually care for all 5 of them. After throwing large sums of money at them (to no avail), the developer hires Carlos (Michael Carmine) to run them out using whatever means are necessary, including force. This movie represents a cross section of people who are on the verge of losing their homes to a real estate developer, who will stop at nothing to get them out of their building. His only lines (which were few) in this movie were lines from commercials. Finally there's Frank McRae as the former boxer extraordinaire Harry Noble, now living in the basement of the building that houses each character and the Riley's diner. Dennis Boutsikaris is the cynical artist/painter Mason Baylor, who has a heart as big as his artistic talent, yet no one other than Marisa seems to acknowledge his talent. Elizabeth Peña is Marisa Esteval, a single soon-to-be mother who clings to her statue of the Virgin Mary for what little hope she has. Hume Cronyn is Faye's husband Frank, owner of a small diner with no customers. Jessica Tandy gives one of the best performances of her career as Faye Riley who appears to be in the early-to-mid stages of Alzheimer's disease. There was nothing sugar coated about the performances of the 5 main characters in *batteries not included. The pros, such as Roger Ebert seem to give it some respect (along with 3 thumbs up). *batteries not included is a very underrated movie, especially among reviewers on the IMDb.
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