Blinky™ (2011)

Just what I expected

A different way of telling a story

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

I couldn't help but crack up at the parts where Blinky was starting to go bad, I'd like to believe it's possible to depict a cute little robot going evil in a non-comical way, but maybe in this medium such a scenario just isn't possible and I should excuse the director. It was a very predictable short and nothing too clever, but the special effects were top-notch and the acting was above average. The idea behind BlinkyTM was unoriginal but the story seemed very fleshed out and set in reality compared to most other shorts of the horror genre, if you can even consider BlinkyTM "horror". That's the main problem I had with this short: the absolute lack of horror aspects in it. The film dragged on and that's saying a lot when talking about a 13 minute short; nothing really happened, 12 minutes were used to set the stage, and 1 minute was used for horror.The short itself--regardless of the lack of horror--was still well done, albeit riddled with clichés (fighting parents, neglected kid, takes it out on the robot, etc.) which make the film rather uninteresting. It's definitely not a short you'll remember for years to come, it's very forgettable but the quality of special effects and execution of the short overall--even though lacking in the horror field--earns itself a generous 7/10 from me.

(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).

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.