RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Robot Stories
Robot Stories

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Robot Stories (2004)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
71 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:41

Fresh:29

Rotten:12

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Although its 4 stories vary in quality, Robot Stories is still worth a look for Twilight Zone fans.

Runtime: 85 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Theatrical Release:Feb 13, 2004 Limited

Synopsis: Set in the near future, "Robot Stories" tells stories of human beings struggling to connect with each other in a world of mechanical office workers and robot babies. Featuring film stars Tamlyn... Set in the near future, "Robot Stories" tells stories of human beings struggling to connect with each other in a world of mechanical office workers and robot babies. Featuring film stars Tamlyn Tomita ("The Joy Luck Club," "Picture Bride") and Sab Shimono ("The Big Hit," "Jackie Chan Adventures") in four stories, the film explores love, death, family... and robots. The stories include: "My Robot Baby" Before they can adopt a human child, young professionals Marcia (Tamlyn Tomita) and Roy (James Saito) must prove themselves by taking care of a robot baby. But when Roy leaves on a business emergency and the robot begins to malfunction, Marcia must confront her fears of the machine - and of motherhood itself. "The Robot Fixer" Bernice Chin (Wai Ching Ho) has never really known her estranged son Wilson. Now a car accident has put Wilson into a coma. And the only clue he's left behind is a box of twenty-year-old toy robots. As her daughter Grace (Cindy Cheung) presses her to deal with Wilson's deteriorating condition, Bernice becomes obsessed with Wilson's toys, as if repairing the robots will help her connect with her unreachable son. "Machine Love" The latest component of the digital office, the Sprout G9 iPerson is a walking, talking coding machine programmed to fit seamlessly into its work environment by learning from its human co-workers. But when he finds himself in an oppressive office surrounded by dysfunctional people, a G9 named Archie (Greg Pak) learns just how much he needs love. "Clay" In John Lee's world, technology allows people to scan their memories - and thus their consciousness - into computers. John (Sab Shimono), an old sculptor, struggles to complete his design for a major public square project, but his body is falling apart. His doctor, his son Tommy (Ron Domingo), and his digitized wife Helen (Eisa Davis) all tell him the same thing - it's time to get scanned. Then he'll merge with all human knowledge and experience, achieving perfect love, perfect art. But John resists, fighting for the right to struggle and die. [More]

Starring: Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono

Starring: Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono

Director: Greg Pak

Director: Greg Pak
Screenwriter: Greg Pak
Producer: Kim Ima, Greg Pak

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Nov 16, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Robot Stories

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

It's a confident first feature from director-to-watch Greg Pak, one that pulls off sci-fi ideas with a lo-fi budget.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
04/16/04
E! Online

Each story has a unique style and something profound and/or wonderful to say. The players might be artificial, but the human drama is real.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
02/13/04
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

The title encourages us to think of Robot Stories as the cinematic equivalent of a book of short stories, and I'd say a book in which half the stories are excellent is not a bad bet.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
01/06/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Pak sets himself up as a filmmaker to watch, a creator of intelligent, thoughtful stories that refuse to be contained by traditional definition.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
02/10/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

The last is the most touching, but all are skillfully made.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
02/12/04
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

The four stories expertly touch on the human side of relationships, even when using robots, toys or uploaded memories to get their points across.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/10/04
Doug Brunell
Doug Brunell
Film Threat

Greg Pak's fantasy anthology piece, which details the ways robots have complicated the lives of humans, has a dexterous sense of wonder that nonetheless leaves the film feeling a bit detached.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
02/12/04
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Impressive if modest debut effort.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
03/01/04
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter

Clearly the work of a beginning filmmaker, modestly budgeted and variable in effect, but it shows promise.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
05/25/04
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

This collection of four thinly connected pieces possesses an immediate relevance grounded in the everyday tension between the real and the artificial and ever-narrowing distinction between the two.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
03/12/04
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

The stories, which range in length from 20 to 25 minutes, have an unhurried pace but they never dawdle and never bore.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
02/13/04
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Offers considerably more insight into the conceptions of real and artificial intelligence and emotion than the immensely overrated debacle that is AI: Artificial Intelligence.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
02/13/04
Jordan Reed
Jordan Reed
Boxoffice Magazine

Part of the minimalist allure of Robot Stories is that it's much more than the sum of its parts.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
04/26/04
Karen Karbo
Karen Karbo
Oregonian

Following in the footsteps of Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling and Philip K. Dick rather than George Lucas, Pak returns to the tradition of intelligent, humanistic sci-fi and reminds us of the value of good genre fiction.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
02/13/04
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

As a complete work, Robot Stories is a solid collection.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
05/09/04
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

A quietly impassioned, genuinely stirring indie rarity.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
02/10/04
Mark Holcomb
Mark Holcomb
Village Voice

These are simple stories, most with a strong insightful element. All but one really says more about humanity than about robots.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
02/24/04
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Each vignette is worthy of admiration — not too much admiration, as Pak's ability as a storyteller is more developed than his filmmaking skills.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas CityLife | comment Comment
09/03/04
Matt Kelemen
Matt Kelemen
Las Vegas CityLife

They're not like the "Twilight Zone" which is an easy comparison; they're more deep, artistic and subtle.

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
02/27/04
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
57
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
128
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
182
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
93
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
88
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
83
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
71
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
45
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
33
  • RT's Blu-ray Picks from WB
22
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
22
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
19
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Robot Stories at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Robot Stories at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.