Electric Dreams (1984)

“But Moles, they rhyme!” – Edgar

Number of Times Seen – Twice (Theater in ’84 and 25 Sep 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A geologist buys a new home computer that begins to slowly take over his life after an accident causes it to grow a personality.

My Take on it – This is a film that I recall seeing as a kid in the theater.

Despite it being 35 years since I last saw it, I still recalled the overall premise of things.

The concept of this story is great but it just isn’t presented very well.

It has a very loud 80’s vibe to the story and that actually hurts things because it seems too dated in order to be enjoyed properly in today’s world.

The way that technology has advanced over the past 35 years has been astronomical and this also hurts things because the average person today knows much more about home computers and technology than the average person did back then.

This actually makes it so much clearer that there are lots of plot holes just based on that fact.

The story itself gets a bit too silly along the way and that makes it even more difficult to take the way things are presented seriously or even care about what will happen to the characters as the story moves along.

Great seeing Virginia Madsen in this film before she was a recognizable actress and she stands out among the entire cast.

Bottom Line – Great concept that isn’t presented so well. The film has a very 80’s vibe to it which hurts its chances of being seen as something that one could enjoy today. The advancement of technology in the 35 years since this film was made is also a bit detrimental to things because the average person in 1984 knew a whole lot less about computers than the average person of today. The story gets a bit silly along the way and it’s quite hard taking thing serious enough to really care about what will happen to the characters along the way.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In the dream musical sequence, Edgar the computer dreams of electric sheep jumping an electric fence, whilst Miles dozes off to sleep. The scene is quite likely inspired by author Philip K. Dick’s (1968) science fiction novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Dick’s stories typically focus on the fragile nature of what is real and the construction of personal identity. This is borne out by Miles’, “I’m not what I seem to be”. (From IMDB)

Rating BAFTA Worthy (5/10)