There's plenty here for an adult - "dotty grandma" isn't a completely comic character here. She's not just a tragic figure of senility, either, though she's some of both. Mostly, she's just making her way through each day the best she can, and better than people seem willing to believe. Most of the other characters are similarly on the edge but muddling by well enough, with a little help from their friends.

I honestly can't call this a science fiction movie, despite its SF elements. It's sweet (almost sappy) and funny, the poor-but-honest folk win out over the thugs and evil corporations, and they all live happily ever after. Well, for now, at least.

If there's ever a list of "most under-rated movies", this one gets my vote. I like it.


A sentimental little beauty from Spielberg   December 24, 2003
 33 out of 34 found this review helpful

This 1987 little sentimental ditty was utterly irresistible to the public, even as critics panned it as too schmaltzy. It concerns a squadron of little UFOs who arrive on the room of a NY apartment building, one which is about to be razed as soon as the owners can manage to evict the quirky bunch of tenants. The tenants include Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy (always and forever a winning pair) as well as a guy who plays a mentally (or emotionally - or maybe both) disabled man who speaks only in set phrases from commercials or TV jingles or product tags, such as that of the title: Batteries Not Included. As the tenants band together to save the lives of the little aliens, including a spine-tingling scene in which one gives birth, the aliens come to the rescue of the folks in danger of eviction - and the tenants, previously a disparate bunch, come together to form a community.
Heartwarming. Great family entertainment


We love this movie!   November 18, 2004
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I have begun looking at some of the movies I loved as a kid and trying to share them with my kids. We had family movie night and I had to drag them in kicking and screaming. Twenty minutes into the movie, I tried to pause the movie while I went potty, and got a rebellion. My three daughters were hooked. My nine year old talked about the cute little robots for months and wanted to know if there were any more of the movies. My oldest (sixteen) was right in on all of the conversations. Even the too cool for the rest of us 15 year old loved it....although we were never allowed to speak of it in public.
Since then they ask me if I know of any other cool movies from when I was a kid. I have a long list, although this one is on the short list for Christmas presents this year.


Another Blockbuster for Hume and Jessica   June 5, 2000
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy have been in many movies together, one reason because they are married in real life (until she died a few years ago) and they were so great together. This movie was heart-wrenching in the fact that Jessica's character had lost her mind since the death of her son in a car accident. It was sweet and memorable and funny with the little spaceships helping them out in their time of need. The little guys brought her back to her senses, and even kept the bad guys from tearing down the building where the people lived.

This is a great show and should be viewed by everyone. If you liked ET, you would love Batteries Not Included. Any movie that has me laughing and crying in the same movie, has got to be great.


A Masterpiece for Children and the Young at Heart   May 21, 2003
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Spielberg's movies are typically epic in proportion - in contrast to his other movies this special effects masterpiece is aimed at children and the young at heart perfectly targeting its audience with its almost perfect execution, its intimate scale and proportion. Folks this is a miniature and like most miniatures its a jewel. Faberge meets children's science fiction. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy are delightful, playing themselves in the sunset of their life in love in a condemned tenement in New York. A modern updating of the fairy tale about the impoverished cobbler who is rescued by fairies (miniature flying saucers) - charming, touching, lovely.