Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Once upon a time...
People believed in magic to explain the things they could not understand, and magic offered the possibilities to change or control our lives . In fairy tales, protagonists undergo certain trials or tests to be found worthy of some wish, and a magical spell is spoken to make the wish come true.
Today...
Technology is our magic, and passwords are our magic spells. But people still must prove themselves worthy of the things we most wish for: love, good sex, companionship, and happiness.
A man, now old, has had a robot maid since he was a young man, and she has served him selflessly. Unfortunately, she is an early model; later models have sexual upgrade kits that allow their owners to act out their fantasies and have sex with their droids. The early model maid wishes she could be more like a real woman so she could please her young owner sexually. But he does not care if she can't, he loves her. Years later, she is an outdated model; replacement parts are difficult to find and her batteries no longer recharge. The man has kept her anyway, because of his love for her. She sits in a corner, lifeless, yet he is content to carry on conversations with her.
This movie is a clever updating of the Pinocchio fairy tale, replacing magic with technology; and if you look closely, all the plot elements are there:
In the original story, being a human boy was the wish and honesty the test. In Maid-Droid, true love is the wish and knowing the difference between sex and love is the test.
In the original Pinocchio, there was a dark side to being a human boy and he was in danger of being swallowed up by it. Likewise, in Maid-Droid there is a dark side to love and sex: when sex is mistaken for, or replaces, love. The police are looking for a droid that is seemingly preying on women. The built-in faithfulness of droids has been warped into unwanted sexual attacks by a chimerical droid assembly.
If that weren't enough to draw the parallels, one character has had his personality transferred to a mechanical puppet after his death, so that mentally he may continue to live.
Along the way there are some very good science fiction elements (including Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics in full frontal display) and some very witty and convincing observations on male and female relationships and sexuality.
Essentially, this is a Japanese Pink Film-style version of the Spielberg/Kubrick film AI, which was itself a version of Pinocchio. Some viewers will find that moments of (too) precious tenderness are offset, jarringly, with scenes of crass (and pretty funny) soft-core sex. But you'll see this helps to drive the point home that good sex is love's reward. Not the other way round.
I give this movie 4 stars because someone needs to make this movie again with more polished production values and more sophisticated screenwriting; and when they do it will be a great film. Others might give it 3.
I recommend this movie, its fun, titillating, sexy, sincere, and clever, even with its flaws.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Maid-Droid (2008)
In 20XX, Maria, a robot, came to Ueno's house while he was still a child. Programmed to take care of him, Maria was given to him by his parents. After his parents pass away, Ueno experiments with Maria by attempting to program her for sexual functions. Years pass and Ueno falls in love with Maria but she eventually runs out of power, leaving their love unconsummated.
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