A 10-year old boy builds a robot, none other than Robbie the Robot (the studio spent a fortune building it for "Forbidden Planet" and wanted to use the robot again), who, at the boy's request, turns him invisible. The boy at first uses his powers for silly pranks, but later must use his power of invisibility to defeat a supercomputer gone bad (Skynet anyone?). "The Invisible Boy" is clearly aimed a children and is diverting enough of escapist fun, but getting to see Robbie the Robot is the real highlight of the film.

Loose follow-up to "Forbidden Planet" sees the return of Robby the Robot in the present(1957) as he befriends a ten-year old boy named Timmy(played by Richard Eyer) whose father(played by Philip Abbott) is a Pentagon scientist who has built a super computer. It was designed to help humanity, but instead gets ideas of world conquest, as it reprograms Robby to do its bidding, which includes threatening to kill little Timmy if the authorities don't give in to its demands. Can Robby and Timmy save the Day? Exceedingly silly and unbelievable film is a total waste of time, good only for kids. Still, the unexplored subplot of Robby being taken from the future by a time-traveling scientist is more interesting than anything else in the film!

In my judgment, this is an extremely underrated film. One of the other reviewers said that a lot of the respondents just didn't get the movie, and this is absolutely correct.The Invisible Boy is not typical science-fiction fare. And I think this is the cause of the complaints. After all, a high percentage of those who would watch this film would, no doubt, be science-fiction fans who expect a work that follows the typical sci-fi program. And that's not what they get from TIB.The film is interesting because it's so different. The first half is basically a child fantasy story that you could call "Beaver Meets Lost in Space Robot." It features an endearing little boy with a genius-scientist father. And while they seem to have a pretty good relationship — contrary to what some have indicated here — the father is frustrated with his son's inability to live up to the family's scientific pedigree. For the boy's part, he doesn't seem to care much; he's a typical young lad who just wants to have fun, and this is partially what causes him to become imperiled. But he never knows he's imperiled; he's just a Beaver type whose biggest concern is getting punished by his parents.And, I must say, I think the boy put on a stellar performance. His character, "Timmie," is bored with his white-picket-fence life and yearns for adventure, yet he largely is resigned to his plight. He also seems a bit cynical about things to which other kids might look forward, such as growing up. This attitude is endlessly amusing, and much of the dialogue between father and son — and boy and robot — is hilarious. It is masterful, dry humor and is the strength of the film.At the halfway point, the movie transitions into a more serious sci-fi story. But this change is seamless enough, and Timmie remains the naive child, oblivious to danger. And his childlike concerns are especially endearing when contrasted with the serious concerns of the adults who are worried about his fate — and that of the world.As some have said, parts of the film are far-fetched, but, well...did I say this was fiction? This isn't Schindler's List; it, again, is fantasy. It is a child's dream; it is an adult's nightmare. It's a fun movie, and perfect for what it is.If you're a sci-fi purist and expect The Invisible Man or The Day the Earth Stood Still, skip TIB. You'll be disappointed. But if you have a sense of whimsy and like Leave it to Beaver, if you want to see Mayfield go sci-fi, this film is for you.

This film was charming to review and gives us some of the 50's thoughts and fears. It is charming because it shows us a nuclear family with precocious son of a government rocket scientist. The son's casting is another of Hollywood's predilection with red haired and freckle-faced son/ actors mid-America types that goes to Ron 'Opie Taylor' Howard, today. Another gem of this film is the appearance of 'Robby the Robot' an icon of 50's sci-fi films. This robot's first appearance was in the epic 'Forbidden Planet'. However in this film Robby has a more sinister role by being the unwilling agent of the super computer. The large cast of important roles does a nice job in building the suspense. The super computer trying to taking over worldwide humanity is a well-used film theme with the best redo in "Colossus, the Forbin Project", "2001", and a few more. The ending of the film taking place aboard the spaceship is somewhat unsatisfactory and hard to accept. But then the film's ending is also vintage 50's family sitcom's 'happy ending'.