Review of The Adventures of the Electronic

I grew up watching this movie. It was on TV every summer when there was no school. I must have seen it at least a dozen times, so the following review is riddled with SPOILERS. Here's the story. Professor Gromov builds a robot named Electronic (El) who looks like a kid (Sergey) whose photo was in the paper. Not too excited about life in the lab among books, El rebels against the professor and escapes to explore the real world. He soon runs into his human double. The two become friends. Except the bratty kid decides to use his new cyber friend to his advantage. Like doing his homework and house chores or having the robot stand in for him in PE. Skipping school and having your double fill in for you? Every kid's dream, right? Where can I get me one of those robots? :) Soon the teachers and Sergey's family notice that something isn't right. El realizes that he's being exploited for his abilities and he'll never be accepted as one of the humans, which is his life-long dream. This part is a little reminiscent of Pinoccio. Sergey decides it's time for him to live his own life. That's when the bad guys kidnap El to use him to break into an art museum and steal expensive works of art. They trick him into thinking he's doing something good for the humanity. Luckily the school kids come to the rescue. The bad guys are defeated, El finds friends and his place in the world, and the professor is happy and doesn't try to drag him back to the lab. Happy end of the school year and the film. Good story, decent acting, and lots of catchy tunes that you'll find yourself humming days after. Pure childhood fun.