13-year-old Ben Cooper, played by Ryan Merriman,
promises to become the one to protect the family after the passing of his
mother. Ben’s younger sister Angie (Katie Volding) really hopes that their
father Nick (Kevin Kilner) begins dating so that she’ll have a new mom.
However, Ben thinks of a plan to prevent this: winning a smart house which will
take care of everything around the house.
As you can predict, Ben wins the contest and the Cooper
family moves into their new smart home. When they arrive there, the Coopers
meet the house PAT (Katy Sagal) and the creator Sara Barnes (Jessica Steen).
Kevin and Sara begin dating shortly afterwards, which really upsets Ben.
However, Ben reprograms PAT to turn into a motherly AI by showing it clips of
mothers from 50s television shows like “Leave it to Beaver.” Sadly, when doing
so, PAT becomes emotional.
On face value, “Smart House” is a typical 90s set up.
There’s the rebellious teenager, annoying younger sibling, lame dance party,
and teen romance.
Moe said in his review, ““Smart House” succeeds
through its emotive qualities and forward-thinking presentation of technology.
A gut-wrenching scene shows Ben watching home videos of his deceased mother,
with a haunting reprise of “Hush little baby.” His determination to care for
Angie and his father, sacrificing basketball so as to tutor his younger sister,
paint a heartbreaking portrait. But for each moving moment, there’s a
ridiculous teen party. Thankfully, “Smart House” doesn’t quite hit “Teen
Witch,” level ridiculous though it’s still replete with an eclectic range of
emotions.”
Still, the film really comes through with the tech
focus. LeVar Burton is the director, so it’s no surprise when the smart house
acts like the Holodeck. In the beginning, Sara speaks to PAT to what looks like
speaking to Siri, Cortana, and Alexa, when looking at today’s work. “PAT, what’s
the current temperature?” Barns asks. “Climate control on target at 72.5
degrees,” is PAT’s nice response.
Moe notes, “Further, even the marketing and questions
from the general public mimic responses to smart home tech and AI. Sara touts
PAT as “user-friendly,” while reporters wonder how PAT gets to know its new
occupants. Barnes reveals that it’s through increased familiarity and learning
their habits, essentially a crude explanation for machine learning. As a smart
house, PAT concentrates on home control and automation, the foundation for
present-day smart home technology. Just as “Brainstorm” hinted at where virtual
reality would thrive, so too does “Smart House” suggest the future of smart
homes.”
As you could guess, the third act is where PAT goes
ballistic. Here, “Smart House” almost goes in the horror genre with a virtual
projection of PAT haunting the Coopers and Sara. There’s a nice “2001: A Space
Odyssey” reference when Nick orders “Open the door PAT,” and she replies, “I’m
sorry, I can’t do that Nick.” Moe notes, “While the average Amazon Echo might
not become sentient and spawn a virtual projection, malfunctions regularly
occur. Case in point: during a brief intermission to grab a carton of vegan
chocolate ice cream while watching “Smart House,” my smart bulbs failed to
function properly. “Why don’t you just flip the switch?” Melissa (who
introduced me to this DCOM gem) wondered aloud. I took the faulty lights as
foreshadowing to PAT’s malfunction in the third act.”
In the end, “Smart House” is a nice, lovingly
futuristic Disney Channel Original Movie. This film gave a surprisingly
futuristic look at the future of AI machine learning and smart house work.
Also, the subplots gave an emotional narrative. These elements put together make
“Smart House” a surprisingly enjoyable film.
I will say that I won’t be seeing this film again
after one time. I like the idea behind it, but there are some silly teen
moments in here that I could see happening, and it’s not something I like. I
know they were targeting the age demographic, so they would enjoy it, but I
think adults will find things that they will love, just not as much as
children. See it if you want to know for sure.
I’m about to head out and see the new Ghostbusters
movie with some friends, so stay tuned later tonight to see what I thought.
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