Aggressively "feel-good" at the cost of everything else, Brian and Charles could be described as Disney's Pinocchio meets The Room, shot as a documentary in the Welsh countryside; but not in a good way. Or maybe just "Cliché the Movie."
To call painfully introverted protagonist Brian an "inventor" is incredibly dishonest. His inventions range from gluing pinecones to a bag (poorly), to cobbling together a bike, cuckoo clock, fan and wings... and then actually expect the device to fly. In short, this man is an idiot and everyone we see him interact with in the village (except the generic village bully) seems to like him and cut him slack for his child-like shenanigans and his suggested inability to pay for things on a regular basis.
Brian somehow (magically) creates a sentient 7-foot tall robot that goes from acting like a human child to an incredible docile "rebellious" human teenager, to young adult by the end. So to be clear, this is not a film about a lonely man who makes a robotic friend who has a unique non-human experience and perspective, it's about a lonely man who has a documentary crew following him around while he makes a child and keeps said child prisoner in his home until the child gets kidnapped, tortured and only wants to return to his former prison because it wasn't so bad by comparison... not what I'd call a feel-good movie.
The film almost gets interesting when Charles occasionally begins to gently rebel against Brian's terrible parenting, but this goes nowhere and is quickly shrugged away with more bad parenting... In fact, the film actually suggests (after the aforementioned kidnapping and torture by the generic village bully) that Brian was right all along... before doing a noncommittal 180 at the very end and Brian somehow (magically) presents Charles with a "ticket around the world" where the first stop is Honolulu, and nobody that Charles knows will be going with him... that's definitely going to end well.
I would say you might be able to enjoy this film if you just turn your brain off. But at an hour and a half the film drags and you'll likely wind up taking a nap instead.
To call painfully introverted protagonist Brian an "inventor" is incredibly dishonest. His inventions range from gluing pinecones to a bag (poorly), to cobbling together a bike, cuckoo clock, fan and wings... and then actually expect the device to fly. In short, this man is an idiot and everyone we see him interact with in the village (except the generic village bully) seems to like him and cut him slack for his child-like shenanigans and his suggested inability to pay for things on a regular basis.
Brian somehow (magically) creates a sentient 7-foot tall robot that goes from acting like a human child to an incredible docile "rebellious" human teenager, to young adult by the end. So to be clear, this is not a film about a lonely man who makes a robotic friend who has a unique non-human experience and perspective, it's about a lonely man who has a documentary crew following him around while he makes a child and keeps said child prisoner in his home until the child gets kidnapped, tortured and only wants to return to his former prison because it wasn't so bad by comparison... not what I'd call a feel-good movie.
The film almost gets interesting when Charles occasionally begins to gently rebel against Brian's terrible parenting, but this goes nowhere and is quickly shrugged away with more bad parenting... In fact, the film actually suggests (after the aforementioned kidnapping and torture by the generic village bully) that Brian was right all along... before doing a noncommittal 180 at the very end and Brian somehow (magically) presents Charles with a "ticket around the world" where the first stop is Honolulu, and nobody that Charles knows will be going with him... that's definitely going to end well.
I would say you might be able to enjoy this film if you just turn your brain off. But at an hour and a half the film drags and you'll likely wind up taking a nap instead.