Batteries Not Included — The Cute Alien Robot Movie With a Surprisingly Dark Story

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Added 2 months ago by McDan

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Batteries Not Included is usually remembered as the cute little alien robot movie from the 1980s — the one with tiny flying saucers, charming practical effects, and that unmistakable Spielberg/Amblin feeling.

But when you go back and watch it as an adult, the story is much darker and sadder than most people remember.

Underneath the adorable Fix-Its is a movie about eviction, aging, dementia, loneliness, abandoned people, and a neighborhood being erased in the name of progress. What looked like a sweet family sci-fi movie on VHS turns out to be one of the quietest and most heartbreaking Amblin films of the decade.

In this video, we revisit Batteries Not Included, the Spielberg-produced 1987 movie that had all the ingredients of an ’80s classic — tiny robots, practical effects from Industrial Light & Magic, comedy, heart, and a magical premise — but somehow became something stranger, smaller, and more emotional than the blockbusters it grew up beside.

Was Batteries Not Included a forgotten classic? Did it deserve to be remembered alongside E.T., The Goonies, Gremlins, Short Circuit, and Cocoon? Or was it always too quiet, too sad, and too unusual to become a true ’80s phenomenon?

Let me know in the comments: did you grow up with Batteries Not Included, and did you remember how dark the story actually was?