M3GAN (2022)

Cady (Violet McGraw) is on her way to a ski resort with her parents when a truck crashes headon into them.  Only Cady survives.  Her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) arrives at the hospital to take over as guardian.  Gemma is a designer of high-tech toys.  Her current project is the Model 3 Generative Android, M3GAN for short.  It is an Artificial Intelligence that serves as a playmate.  Gemma finds it difficult to bond with Cady and has the idea of using Cady to test Megan.  This works so well that her boss (Ronny Chieng) declares that Megan will be their new product line and he plans to arrange a demo.  Soon, Cady and Megan are inseparable.  Earlier, Cady had been given limited screen time by her parents but Gemma has no such rule.  Cady can hardly function without Megan.  As for Megan, she is part of the Internet of Things (IoT) and takes her protective directive for Cady very seriously, terminating those who injure or threaten Cady.  Yes, the AI goes bad!

This is something of a cross between Chucky and West World.  Gemma was so eager to get Megan to work that she skipped some steps.  The evolution of Megan's programming is unclear.  That she would kill those who threaten Cady makes sense.  However, when she threatens Cady, that doesn't follow.  The super-genius of 30 seconds earlier has suddenly become an idiot.  Why was the robot designed to be this strong?  How about building in a safe word that will cause a shutdown?

Gemma was a male character that was cast as female.  She has collectibles still in the boxes on her shelf.  She lives alone.  Her house has an Alexa-like device that controls her house lights, etc.  Her job is building and programming androids.  She built a 7' tall robot in college that now sits in a corner of her home office.  She is unable to bond with her niece and tries doling out electronics to keep her occupied.  She has characteristics more suited to a male character.  Maybe she was just poorly-written, becoming a bland and forgettable character.

By contrast, Cady was quite good.  Her growing attachment to the living doll was great.  Her freak out when separated echoed some incidents I have experienced with kids.

Megan was often unnerving but never really reached the level of horror.  The manner of her movement was just off enough to have that uncanny valley feeling; mimicking human movement, but not quite getting it right.  However, it did too much emoting.  Obviously, that was to show its menace.  Meh.

Entertaining while I watched, but increasingly disappointing the more I thought about it.  Skip.