D.A.R.Y.L. Movie Review

Boy found by the side of the road is too polite, too honest, and too smart. Taken in by a childless couple, Daryl is told by a kid pal the necessity of imperfection (if you don't want the grown-ups to bother you too much) and he becomes more like a real child. But he's actually a lost American military project ("Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform"), a computer brain in a cloned body. Intriguing parental Twilight Zone situation, aimed at family audiences, concentrating on characterizations rather than f/x hardware. Doesn't quite hold up to the finale; compare with the more effective TV pic Prototype with its grownup android.

1985 (PG) 100m/C Mary Beth Hurt, Michael McKean, Barret Oliver, Colleen Camp, Danny Corkill, Kathryn Walker, Josef Sommer; D: Simon Wincer; W: David Ambrose, Allan Scott, Jeffrey Ellis; C: Frank Watts; M: Marvin Hamlisch. VHS, Beta, LV PAR