User Reviews

(www.plasticpals.com) I thought Blinky™ was decent, though it definitely couldn't sustain a full-length film. Technically speaking it's a great demo, used as an excuse to show off the director's expertise with visual effects. The story focuses on a boy's relationship with his pet robot during the break-up of his parent's marriage. You'll have to venture into spoiler territory (and past the break) to get my full thoughts on it.

Alex, played by Max Records (Where The Wild Things Are), knows what he wants for Christmas: a 4 foot tall humanoid robot named Blinky. Alex is initially overjoyed, but he soon becomes bored of it. Unable to provide any real comfort or support, the robot is revealed for what it really is: a machine incapable of true compassion or friendship. Alex's anger towards his parents leads him to command the robot to kill his family, and when the robot malfunctions it complies.

Unfortunately, both the script and the acting aren't very good. We're never given a scene where the parents sit Alex down and explain they are getting divorced, so we don't see Alex's world really fall apart. It would have helped to show that Alex was an unpopular kid at school to further highlight his isolation and dependence on the robot, while also engendering some sympathy from the audience. Instead, we're given a brief scene where Alex and Blinky are carrying groceries – what's the point? Well a fancy robot walks by, and that seems to be it: to show off more special effects.

Sure, the attention to detail on the robot and some of the near-future background elements is nice, but it fails as a film. If you're interested in robots it is probably worth the 12 minute running time, but personally I can think of a dozen ways this could have been better. As a fun aside Blinky looks quite a bit like LG's robot mascot (both feature bulbous heads and are entirely computer-generated).

One of the things I really liked about this short was how it, before rushing headlong and irrevocably into horror territory, does an effective enough job with the few more dramatic scenes of establishing why the kid is so lonely and messed up inside that he would treat the poor little robot helper like complete s**t until he eventually scrambles its circuits and causes it to turn homicidal! When I first watched it I thought that the constant mistreatment had somehow bred some kind of resentment in the robot against the boy, what especially make me think that theory was the definite 'tone' with which it says "Look at the mess you made." But I suppose the most credible and obvious reason it turns murderous would be simple "user error." It did get left out in the rain, was given multiple conflicting commands, the order by the kid to kill everyone and probably the mother's "If you make a mess like this again I'll have him clean and cook you for dinner", creating an order 'stack' so that when it rebooted, it was simply doing what it was told to as perceived orders from the family. The robot was the only real intelligent character in the story! The robot's design was eerie because it looked so innocent, like it had a permanent sweet smile on its face. It looked like a cross between Wall-E and R2-D2, and I honestly had no clue that it was a CGI creation, it looked like it was really there to me. It is such a wonderfully chilling moment when it grabs the meat carver from the kitchen drawer and says "Ready or not, here I come!" And that sure is one helluva nightmarishly grisly twist! The moment is all the more disturbing because it's slightly humorous by the cheery matter-of-fact way in which it informs the astonished parents! It's more effective in that it's what the robot was implied to have done, not what was shown. I think the ending would have worked better if they'd have just left it with the door closing instead of showing the unnecessary moment of gore which I found a little tacky. It just goes to show you, don't ever take out your troubles on someone that's only there to help and wants to be your friend, even when it's just a machine. Alex would have been just fine if he'd only respected Blinky, but the constant abuse made a monster out of it. Very good, it seamlessly blends elements of family sci-fi and horror into a wicked short which combines the creepy terror of the killer robot with the more old-fashioned macabre horror of cannibalism. That horrid little brat was a creep, he asked for it! Not too many problems that I personally can think of with this short, it delivers the goods. Later!

I liked Blinky. At first the kid gets Blinky for a Christmas present. The thing must have costed a fortune. It's a fully functioning artificially intelligent robot. It's designed to keep kids company, and play with them. You almost develop a warm feeling with this robot. It does everything the child asks.

The kid who was gifted it by his fighting parents, eventually goes nuts, and makes Blinky clean up after him. He blatantly abuses the robot throughout, as he notices his parents fighting more and more. Sooner or later, Karma kicks in, and Blinky gets even.

This is a classic tale about revenge, and how you should treat others how you would like to be treated, even robots. I think this was an excellent short film. Who ever appreciates film as art will like this horror short. I did.

I won't tell you what happens, but let's just say the brat is in better taste by the end of this short film.

This short is well made, great realistic visuals,and even though the gore factor is not present it will leave you with a bit of a sick stomach. The story is obvious, boy gets robot, robot gets boring, boy plays cruel games with robot and acts like an annoying prepubescent tyrant with his electronic companion. Blinky is indeed cute and lovable, but as we know this is not going to end well. The performances are strong for the kid and his dog, and the short screen time for mom is also convincing even though rushed. It is an easy watch and would recommend it to all parents who what a robot to cook for them. Oh and if you don't want to spoil your child, keep them in the fridge.

If you look past the horror/violence elements from this 12-minute short movie, there really is not that much left. A boy gets a robot as a gift, but after spending some time with it initially, he quickly loses interest and starts mistreating his new pal. The fact that he asked for a new one when old Blinky seems broken shows that the boy definitely had a touch of sadism to his character. He does not simply lose interest and stops caring, he wants to keep humiliating the robot. But revenge is a dish best served cold. In cold metal robot-style here in this short film. The writer and director is Ruairi Robinson from Ireland and he made this one 10 years after his Academy Award nomination. The lead actor is Max Records and he was already a bit of a star when this was made due to his turn in Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are". There's some drama in here, some horror, some humor even (the scene with the war robots with the actual danger being Blinky), but none of the aspects were really fascinating enough to let me recommend it. However, I did like the early parts with all their fake harmony and music, even if there was something really scary and eerie about the robot from the beginning. All in all, I hoped for more though. Not recommended.