Batteries Not IncludedThe past should be cherished so as to not be forgotten. Batteries Not Included is a light-hearted science fiction film about a group of residents in an apartment building in New York City, who are being muscled out of their homes for a massive urban restoration project. Just when things seem hopeless, a pair of interstellar flying saucers about the size of hubcaps come down from the heavens, and befriend the elderly Faye Riley (Jessica Tandy). They have the ability to repair almost anything that's been destroyed, and their presence instills new hope in the residents.
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The space ships in Batteries Not Included are surprisingly emotive considering that they are, well, space ships. However, they are not "robots"; one moment shows that they are populated by innumerable points of multicolored light, suggesting that they are vessels transporting the real aliens on the inside. When their adorable "offspring" emerge into the world, the runt of the litter looks like it was made from the scrap parts left behind, with a perpetually mopey look to its eyes (or headlights). The space ships buzz around like cartoon-like versions of quadcopter drones, albeit far more advanced and with more personality. I was most excited for the scenes in Batteries Not Included that featured the aliens as a child, with the apartment tenants' crisis lost on me at that age. As an adult, I can appreciate the broader theme in Batteries Not Included about the value of maintaining the past, emphasized in the apartment building and in Faye and Frank Riley (Hume Cronyn). The elderly Rileys are the oldest holdouts to resist being bullied out of their home by the likes of the ambitious thug, Carlos (Michael Carmine) and his gang. Carlos is commissioned by the corrupt industrial mogul, Lacey (Michael Greene)--through his own sleazy underling, Kovacs (John Pankow)--to drive the tenants out due to the time constraint involved in leveling the area so he can build a massive corporate district. The Rileys are joined by a struggling artist, Mason Baylor (Dennis Boutsikaris), an expecting mother, Marisa (Elizabeth Peña), and the superintendent of the building and former heavyweight boxer, the quiet Harry Noble (Frank McRae); Mason has even tried to get the building declared a historic landmark. The elderly Rileys are the true ambassadors of the apartment building, and their age speaks to the theme that the past should be venerated. The black and white opening montage for Batteries Not Included depicts vintage photographs of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, as jazz music plays on the score. It recalls a simpler time--the "old New York" neighborhood--now being shoved aside by a younger, faster, greedier generation. When Frank discovers that a picture of his past he thought was destroyed has been restored by the aliens, it becomes clear why Frank regards these beings as a "miracle". They represent a means to preserve Frank and Faye legacy for a younger generation, represented in Marisa and Mason, and the presence of pregnancy and childbirth in Batteries Not Included means that the younger generation is always just around the corner.
Batteries Not Included was originally marketed as a family film, designed to be enjoyed by audiences of virtually all ages. There are times when Batteries Not Included banks toward the animated silliness of a cartoon, like when Carlos discovers that he shouldn't mess with a space ship while it's on the nest, running off with his hair sticking right up and char marks around him. Consider how the "baby" space ships adorably float around and get into mischief, or when the "mama" space ship tries to teach her hatchlings how to fly. Brad Bird, who would go on to direct some truly beloved animated films, like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, is among several authors credited with the screenplay, and Batteries Not Included shares many tonal similarities with these films. The supporting characters in Batteries Not Included are more complex and convincing than one might expect from a film which looks like it was designed to sell cute space ship toys. Although the space ships had been filching assorted appliances from the other residents, that they repair their possessions in compensation speaks to values like charity and community. Marisa tells Mason that her boyfriend is a travelling musician who is on the road a lot, but there is a convincing chemistry between them that develops. When Mason's girlfriend walks out on him, he hurls his artwork into the street in a bout of self-pity, discovering later that Marisa saved his work and admires it and likes it. (There is a similar scene in The Iron Giant, and the alien space ships exhibit the same mix of machine and humanity that the Iron Giant did, if on a much smaller scale.) Even Carlos shows a moment or two of humanity, like when he repeatedly tries to convince the oblivious Faye that he is not her son, Bobby. He talks about how he never really knew his father, speaking to his aggressive need to make something of himself by any means necessary and escape the trappings of his upbringing. It would have been easy to treat the story of Batteries Not Included as a mere escapist popcorn muncher about flying saucers that do crazy things like fix things and look cute. Instead, the film populates the world they visit with people facing both a literal and existential crisis of home and history; by cherishing the aliens, they can overcome their crisis by putting community ahead of commercial greed.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and cute story about a batch of little flying saucers that literally and metaphorically "fix" the lives of a group of seemingly doomed, disparate people. Batteries Not Included underscores the importance of venerating the past and those who have lived it.
Batteries Not Included was originally marketed as a family film, designed to be enjoyed by audiences of virtually all ages. There are times when Batteries Not Included banks toward the animated silliness of a cartoon, like when Carlos discovers that he shouldn't mess with a space ship while it's on the nest, running off with his hair sticking right up and char marks around him. Consider how the "baby" space ships adorably float around and get into mischief, or when the "mama" space ship tries to teach her hatchlings how to fly. Brad Bird, who would go on to direct some truly beloved animated films, like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, is among several authors credited with the screenplay, and Batteries Not Included shares many tonal similarities with these films. The supporting characters in Batteries Not Included are more complex and convincing than one might expect from a film which looks like it was designed to sell cute space ship toys. Although the space ships had been filching assorted appliances from the other residents, that they repair their possessions in compensation speaks to values like charity and community. Marisa tells Mason that her boyfriend is a travelling musician who is on the road a lot, but there is a convincing chemistry between them that develops. When Mason's girlfriend walks out on him, he hurls his artwork into the street in a bout of self-pity, discovering later that Marisa saved his work and admires it and likes it. (There is a similar scene in The Iron Giant, and the alien space ships exhibit the same mix of machine and humanity that the Iron Giant did, if on a much smaller scale.) Even Carlos shows a moment or two of humanity, like when he repeatedly tries to convince the oblivious Faye that he is not her son, Bobby. He talks about how he never really knew his father, speaking to his aggressive need to make something of himself by any means necessary and escape the trappings of his upbringing. It would have been easy to treat the story of Batteries Not Included as a mere escapist popcorn muncher about flying saucers that do crazy things like fix things and look cute. Instead, the film populates the world they visit with people facing both a literal and existential crisis of home and history; by cherishing the aliens, they can overcome their crisis by putting community ahead of commercial greed.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and cute story about a batch of little flying saucers that literally and metaphorically "fix" the lives of a group of seemingly doomed, disparate people. Batteries Not Included underscores the importance of venerating the past and those who have lived it.