Synopsis
In a soon to be demolished block of apartments, the residents resist the criminal methods used to force them to leave so a greedy tycoon can build his new skyscraper. When tiny mechanical aliens land for a recharge, they decide to stay and help out.
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Cast
- Hume CronynFrank Riley
- Jessica TandyFaye Riley
- Frank McRaeHarry Noble
- Elizabeth PeñaMarisa Esteval
- Michael CarmineCarlos
- Dennis BoutsikarisMason Baylor
- Tom AldredgeSid Hogenson
- Jane HoffmanMuriel Hogenson
- John DiSantiGus
- John PankowKovacs
Recommendations
- 90
Los Angeles Times
Not surprisingly, considering that it is a Spielberg production, Batteries Not Included is a handsome film, impeccably (and ingeniously) designed by Ted Haworth and enriched by a superb James Horner score that brings a melancholy tinge to its brassy big band sound. Batteries Not Included is in the best Hollywood tradition of raising serious questions in a thoroughly entertaining way. - 80
Chicago Reader
Matthew Robbins acquits himself honorably as cowriter and director of this gentle 1987 fantasy about miniature spaceships that land on a tenement in Manhattan's Lower East Side and save the tenants from imminent expulsion and disaster at the hands of greedy real estate developers. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Cronyn and Tandy rescue the movie from looking altogether like a retread, and the saucers do their part, too. Designed by Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects wizards, the saucers swoop and vibrate and blink and purr and even have children, which they assemble out of old toasters and other househood appliances. "Batteries Not Included" is a sweet, cheerful and funny family entertainment. - 70
Variety
Batteries Not Included could have used more imaginative juices to distinguish it from other, more enchanting Spielbergian pics where lovable mechanical things solve earthly human dilemmas. Still, it’s suitable entertainment for kids. - 60
The New York Times
Children may enjoy this, but their adult escorts will have a harder time...It's been well made and, especially in Miss Tandy's case, acted with a sense of fun. But the time for this brand of fantasy may have come and gone. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
The performances are passable: Tandy and Cronyn are talented enough to avoid looking foolish. The special effects team has created some truly convincing sequences that give the saucers more personality than the human characters. - 50
Chicago Tribune
This film is so harmless it`s boring. - 40
Empire
You end up with this perky but pointless rehash of the cute alien format that became embedded in the late ‘80s.
