Batteries Not Included

Name	Batteries Not Included
Image
Caption	Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan
Director	Matthew Robbins
Producer	Ronald L. Schwary
Screenplay	Brad Bird Matthew Robbins Brent Maddock S. S. Wilson
Story	Mick Garris
Music	James Horner
Cinematography	John McPherson
Editing	Cynthia Scheider
Distributor	Universal Pictures
Released	1987-12-18
Runtime	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Gross	$65.1 million

Plot

Frank and Faye Riley, an elderly couple, manage an apartment building and cafe in the East Village, Manhattan. Their tenants are Mason, an unsuccessful artist; Marisa, a pregnant woman waiting for her boyfriend to return; the janitor, Harry, a retired boxer; and an older couple, Muriel and Sid.

Lacy, a property development manager, sends a gangster, Carlos, to bribe the occupants to move out. When they resist, Carlos punches through Mason's door, intimidates Marisa, destroys Harry's property, and vandalizes the cafe. Faye, who is suffering from dementia, believes Carlos is their deceased son, Bobby, and asks Frank to treat him kindly. Muriel and Sid take the bribe and move to a retirement home in New Jersey.

That night, two flying mechanical creatures visit the Rileys' apartment and repair the cafe, putting Frank and Faye back in business. The creatures take up residence in a shed on the roof. Carlos returns to threaten the tenants, but the creatures scare him away.

The female creature gives birth to three babies. One is stillborn, but Harry repairs it. The demolition crew boost business in the cafe, while the creatures help in the kitchen. When Marisa's boyfriend returns to say he has found work in Chicago, Marisa tells him to go without her and begins a relationship with Mason.

Unhappy with the delays, Lacey fires Carlos. Carlos breaks into the basement to sabotage the pipework and electricity and attacks the father creature. After Harry throws him out, Frank and the tenants realize the children are missing and search for them in the city. Faye stays behind with the mother as it fixes the father. With the father repaired, the creatures find their children with Harry and leave.

With the building still not empty, Lacey sends a professional to burn it down. Enraged, Carlos rigs the building to explode instead, but discovers that Faye is still in the building. When Faye refuses to leave, Carlos lies that he is Bobby, but she realizes he is lying. He rescues her as the fire spreads.

By the next morning, the building has been destroyed. The demolition crew refuse to continue as Harry is sitting on the steps. The mechanical creatures return with dozens of others and restore the building, ending Lacey's plans. Carlos visits the Rileys in the hospital; when Frank introduces him as Bobby, Faye weeps, and Carlos leaves dejected. Years later, the cafe is doing well, surrounded by skyscrapers.

Cast

James LeGros and José Santana received opening credit billing as two of Carlos' goons.

Production

Batteries Not Included was conceived by Steven Spielberg as an episode of his 1980s television anthology series Amazing Stories. Spielberg changed his mind and decided to adapt it as a feature film. Mick Garris, who had been a story editor on Amazing Stories, wrote the first two drafts of the screenplay, expanding Spielberg's half-hour television script. Spielberg brought in Matthew Robbins, with whom he had worked on The Sugarland Express, to rewrite the script with Brad Bird. The final shooting script was reworked by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock.

Reception

Batteries Not Included debuted at #4 at the US box office. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 55%, based on 20 reviews. Variety wrote that it "could have used more imaginative juices to distinguish it from other, more enchanting Spielbergian pics where lovable mechanical things solve earthly human dilemmas" but that it was "suitable entertainment for kids". Roger Ebert gave it three out of four, writing that it was "sweet, cheerful and funny family entertainment".

In the Chicago Reader, Harry Sheenan gave Batteries Not Included three stars and wrote that it was a "corrosive portrait of middle-American selfishness and greed, exclusion and racism ... either the most ingenuous or the most subversive film of the year". He observed that the villain, Carlos, is revealed as a victim of capitalism, and that the final image "in one sense a triumph of happiness, is also a perfect criticism of materialism, an image of property looming over the human landscape, dominating and controlling it".

See also

• Self-replicating machine
• List of films featuring extraterrestrials

References

• Disney's Fairy-tale Season At The Box Office, Chicago Tribune, 1988-01-28, 2010-12-26, Anne, Thompson, 2012-07-09, live
• 30 June 2025, Batteries Not Included, — about the movie, Amblin
• Clarke, Frederick S., December 1987, Batteries Not Included, Cinefantastique, Fourth Castle Micromedia, July 11, 2025
• Eddie Murphy's 'Raw' Is No. 1 at Box Office, The New York Times, 1987-12-24, 2010-12-08, 2011-05-17, live
• Laughing Their Way to Bank Hollywood Accounts Swell From 'Baby' and 'Momma', Los Angeles Times, 1988-01-06, 2010-12-08, Jack, Mathews, 2012-07-01, live
• Batteries Not Included, 2026-01-07, Rotten Tomatoes, en
• 1986-12-31, Batteries Not Included, live, 2012-11-07, 2010-12-08, Variety
• Ebert, Roger, Roger Ebert, December 18, 1987, Batteries Not Included, movie review (1987), 2025-06-30, RogerEbert.com, en-US
• Sheehan, Henry, 1988-01-07, Class Encounters, 2025-06-30, Chicago Reader, en-US

External links