Buddy Bot: short scifi film (video: in full).
Ever wondered what would happen if you could hack into your babysitter and reprogram them for “fun?” Well, teenager Adam Stephanson finds out the hard way in Joey Jordan’s entertaining sci-fi short, “Buddy Bot.”
Picture it: The year is 2036. Self-driving cars? Check. Virtual reality? Yawn, old news. Robotic babysitters? Ding ding! Enter Buddy Bot, a seemingly innocent chunk of metal and circuits designed to keep youngsters out of mischief. But when Adam, a teen whose rap sheet of mischievous deeds is longer than a CVS receipt, decides that his cyber-nanny could use an upgrade in the ‘fun department,’ he sparks off a comedy of errors that would make Shakespeare trade his quill for a keyboard.
Matthew Moore shines as Buddy Bot, serving up a blend of humour and unexpected rebellion that’ll have you questioning your relationship with your Roomba. Brady Jacob gives a spot-on performance as Adam, a teen who quickly learns that “to hack or not to hack” is a question best left unanswered. And let’s not forget Tanya Raisa, who perfectly embodies Hope, the single mom whose well-intentioned act of employing robotic supervision spirals into a laugh-out-loud cautionary tale.
Directed by Joey Jordan and sprinkled with visual effects so crisp they make your grandma’s homemade apple pie look soggy, “Buddy Bot” serves up a slice of future life that’s as humorous as it is thought-provoking. Producer Angela Vaynshteyn and VFX Supervisor Cody Stoltz round out a creative team that reminds us: be careful when trying to outsmart your smarter home.
