Bicentennial Man Synopsis & Summary

If a robot spends enough time around humans, can he learn to become one of them? The Martin family purchases a domestic android as a servant and names him Andrew (Robin Williams). Andrew comes to know the man of the house as Sir (Sam Neill), his wife as Ma'am Wendy Crewson, and their daughter as Portia (Embeth Davidtz); before long, the Martins suspect that they do not have an ordinary robot on their hands. Andrew seems capable of expressing emotion and generating original thoughts, and the longer he stays with the Martins, the more strongly these human traits manifest themselves. Over the next 200 years, Andrew becomes less a machine and more a member of the family, until a mechanic (Oliver Platt) tells Andrew that he might be able to turn him into a human being. Based on a short story by renowned science fiction author Isaac Asimov (surprisingly, it's only the second Asimov story to be brought to the screen), Bicentennial Man was directed by Chris Columbus, who previously worked with Robin Williams on Mrs. Doubtfire. - Mark Deming, All Movie Guide