10 Best Robot Buddies In Movies

By Joe Sippy /

4. Robot - Robot & Frank

Advancing dementia and cat burgling are rarely the main themes of a sci-fi picture (also with €œrobot€ in the title!), but Robot & Frank makes it work. Frank Langella plays the mentally declining Frank character who receives a robotic companion (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) from his son as a sort of live-in nurse. The Robot is tasked with making sure Frank eats well and lives a generally more-healthy life-style than he is accustomed to. This of course infuriates the old curmudgeon; that is until he realizes that the robot has no qualms with helping him plan a robbery. Once Frank and Robot become a criminally inclined duo their relationship vastly improves. It even seems (as Robot had intended) that the comprehensive planning of the capers is good for Frank€™s failing mind. The most beautiful scene in their companionship comes right near the end of the film (beware: spoilers), when Robot demands that Frank wipe his memory so his hard-drive can€™t be used as evidence in a trial. It€™s a touching bit of heartbreak that exemplifies just how €œemotional€ a human-machine relationship can be.