When Isaac Asimov wrote The Bicentennial Man, little did he know that nearly 25 years later, almost eight years after his own death, it would be turned into a film by one of the hottest directors and most popular actors of the day. And yet, the film Bicentennial Man was not a hit with either critics or audiences. It suffered from a misleading marketing campaign and disappointing reviews, in large part because it was unapologetically sentimental. Here’s the story of Isaac Asimov’s Bicentennial Man, an often overlooked movie adaptation.
A Long Road to the Screen
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Isaac Asimov was a well-known and prolific American author, credited with working on more than 500 books. Along with Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov was one of the “Big Three” science fiction writers of the 20th Century. He was approached to create a story celebrating the United States Bicentennial in 1976, and the novelette he wrote was eventually published as The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories. Set in Asimov’s epic Foundation universe, it tells the 200-year story of an unusually creative android named Andrew Martin, who wants to become human.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Asimov and fellow author Robert Silverberg expanded the work into the 1992 novel The Positronic Man, published just months after Asimov’s death. He had sold the screen rights to his original story years earlier, but the project had sat dormant for years and had yet to go into production. Eventually, producers hired Nicholas Kazan, son of famed Broadway and Hollywood director Elia Kazan, to write a screenplay. Kazan’s take featured a love story and attracted both director Chris Columbus and comedian Robin Williams.
Misleading Marketing
Released a week before Christmas 1999, Bicentennial Man was supposed to be a big holiday movie. The budget was reportedly close to, if not over $100 million, and Disney spent even more on a marketing push. But the movie audiences saw advertised was very different from the one released. Marketing of all kinds put a large emphasis on the fact that both the director and the star had worked together on the smash hit Mrs. Doubtfire. And the clips chosen for the original 30-second trailer made Bicentennial Man seem like a similar fast-paced comedy. It was not. With a runtime of over two hours, and a story literally spanning centuries, younger audiences looking for non-stop laughs were let down, even bored.
Unabashed Sentimentality
If it isn’t a comedy, what kind of movie is Bicentennial Man? It’s definitely science fiction, posing some interesting questions about artificial intelligence and individuality. There is comedy sprinkled throughout, as well as a love story. There are parallels with Pinocchio and Frankenstein’s monster, but above all, the film is sentimental. More and more as it continues, the story focuses on growth, change, and ultimately death. Columbus’ direction and James Horner’s score seem designed to elicit tears.
A young girl, “Little Miss” Amanda, grows into a woman and is married. She has children and grandchildren. The same actor, Embeth Davidtz, plays both Amanda and her granddaughter Portia. Robin Williams’ Andrew loves them and works to become more and more human, eventually able to embrace his own mortality. Roger Ebert was not impressed, writing that the movie “begins with promise, proceeds in fits and starts, and finally sinks into a cornball drone of greeting-card sentiment.”
Disappointing Reviews
Ebert was not alone in his condemnation. Positive reviews for Bicentennial Man were rare. The film holds a 36% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and only slightly a better rating of 58% from audiences. After several weeks, it disappeared from theaters. Domestically, it made some $58 million; not a complete flop, but certainly a loss for both Disney as well as Sony, who handled the international release, where the film made even less. Williams himself seemed disappointed with the movie. He began joking about it in his standup routine. And he didn’t do another comedy film for years, instead turning to darker material, including One Hour Photo and Insomnia, though Williams wanted to re-team with Columbus for a Harry Potter movie.
Gone but Not Entirely Forgotten
Following Bicentennial Man’s release on VHS and DVD in June 2000, it largely moved out of public consciousness. It never got a Blu-Ray release, and for now, it is not available on any major streaming service in the U.S. However, it was successful enough to have some influence. Hollywood remained interested in mining Asimov’s robot stories and released A.I.: Artificial Intelligence in 2001 and I, Robot in 2004. Even Asimov’s Foundation has been recently adapted into a streaming series for Apple TV+. And many of the questions asked in Bicentennial Man have been raised again in the much more successful Westworld revival series.
The film’s effects hold up pretty well, and it’s often included on lists of movies featuring robots. Ironically, it was the death of Robin Williams in 2014 that produced the most attention in years. Fans of the actor began re-evaluating his filmography, especially movies that were lesser known or did not do well at the box office. Opinions of Bicentennial Man remain mixed; but for some, it is a film that has gone unnoticed for too long.
