This short movie is about sacrifice. One of the main characters (a robot) sacrifices himself literally by giving away parts of his (its?) body to repair the other, female robot he loves. A cute story with a wonderful message. It's low-budget, true. The heads of the robots are dirty like old computers from the 90s you would find on a junkyard. The word of the future doesn't differ much from today, except there are retro-style robots everywhere doing menial jobs. Still, this kind of "low-budget"- ness feels cool in its own way. I even think that if such a movie would be done as a 1.5-hour film with celebrity actors and a big budget, it would probably turn out not as good as it's now. This is definitely a piece of art and well worth the watch!

(www.plasticpals.com) Spike Jonze is a talented director cut from the same technicolor dreamcloth as Michel Gondry, directing music videos before making the leap to feature films such as Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, and Where The Wild Things Are (incidentally, the young star of Where The Wild Things Are recently starred in another robot short called Blinky).Jonze's films and videos definitely have a specific feel that is bizarre but heartfelt, and as in Where The Wild Things Are, I'm Here makes excellent use of costumes married seamlessly with CGI.There's no question that I'm Here is very well made from a technical standpoint, but like Blinky I feel that the whole robot premise is hampered by foggy planning. When people are in a terrible accident or fall deathly ill, their loved ones often wish they could take their place. That is sort of the main idea behind the short, and it works well within the context of modular robot body parts that can be swapped from one robot to another. The robots are presented as 2nd class citizens, prohibited from driving vehicles and possessing limited personal wealth. It is, therefore, something of a sacrifice for the main character to give up his body parts to repair his lover. There's no indication that she'll be able to buy replacement parts for him any time soon, but the film leaves us with the impression that she'll do whatever is necessary to fix him up.It's cute, and even a little touching. But it doesn't make much sense if you think a little harder about the premise. For example, why should the robots be assigned typical human gender roles? Even in animated films starring living creatures doing so seems natural, but it breaks down when dealing with artificial life. Here, there need be no genders at all – and besides, an artificial intelligence may reproduce itself asexually anyway through file copying or self replication. Perhaps the robots actually possess human brains or digital copies of once-human minds, but this isn't really explained, nor is the source of the female robot's creativity. Is she displaying an unusual level of artistic inspiration for a robot, or is she simply a more sophisticated A.I. than her male counterpart? We know he works a simple job at a library (probably better handled by an on-site cart robot), but her job is never seen – perhaps she was designed to create artwork, in which case her creativity may not be that unique at all.If they are artificially intelligent and not cyborgs with human brains, shouldn't the information that makes up their memories and knowledge be backed up in the cloud, or in a safe database? If so, losing your body in an accident would carry significantly diminished consequences, since your consciousness would have a life of its own outside the material body. You might even be able to download your mind into another body, share the same body as another robot simultaneously (or in turns), and so on. So in conclusion, I guess you could say I enjoyed the film and it got me thinking, which tends to be my undoing.

The latest short film from director Spike Jonze, I'm Here gives an interesting look at an alternative world, where robotic humanoids live and work alongside the regular population.Sheldon, such a robot, lives a life of frugal urban mundanity, trapped in an existence devoid of particular discernible meaning. Working as a librarian, he goes about his daily routine, shy and timid, yet yearning for more in his simplistic, ritualistic and empty life. Seeing Francesca, a fembot, whilst waiting for a bus one day, he admires her spirit and liveliness. Befriending her gradually, the two slowly come to fall in love.I'm Here rapidly and effectively establishes the life of Sheldon: vacuous, monotonous, and incomplete. The simple emptiness of his apartment combines with the austerity of his surroundings to paint an intimate portrait of isolation and loneliness in a world bigger than he; his eyes containing the key faint glimmer of hope of escape from this prison of perfunctory tasks. With staggering special effects, this world is brought perfectly to life, the robots' existence seeming entirely conceivable and their intermingling with society appearing completely normal. The limited facial expressions of the electrical characters often achieve a great deal more than their mammalian counterparts, demonstrating the wonder of the animation. Francesca gives the quintessential antithesis to Sheldon, showing us all he is not though the boldness and fun loving nature of her character. Their pairing is a wonderful one, the effect they have on each other seen immediately and splendidly, the individual characteristics of each impacting upon the other. Sheldon's development is the film's centrepiece, his evolution from the banal emptiness of his previous life to the fulfilling and stimulating one with his new friend accomplished masterfully. Without the advantage of physical intercourse, Jonze is restricted in his realisation of this relationship, yet manages in thirty minutes to give us what most directors can only hope to achieve in three times that. His story is both simple and engaging, moving and uplifting despite its lack of complication, showing us the transcendent power of love.A miniature gem, I'm Here is involving, engaging, thrilling and uplifting. Jonze once again proves his cinematic brilliance, giving us a fantastic viewing experience, and one which promises to remain in mind for a long time.

Spike Jonze is a director known for over-the-top high concept music videos and yet his films are always so emotional and subtle.Many scenes in this film moved me yet I can't put my finger on why. It captures the loneliness of a big city, but how just a few friends and a sweetheart can cure that empty feeling. Everything is kept so simple as to be universal.The look of the robots is very retro and ironic. They look older than the computer I am writing this on by maintaining the boxy gray look of a computer from the late 90s. In many ways this short seems to take place in LA during the 90s. Everything seems dated.I won't say much about the relationship at the center of the story but I do wonder if it is meant to be dysfunctional or not. Let's just say it reaches a very one-sided place in terms of giving more than you get in a relationship. The ending is moving but also a bit creepy when you consider the reality of what has been sacrificed to save a casual lover.