Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Daryl is a normal 10-year-old boy in many ways. However, unbeknown to his foster parents and friends, Daryl is actually a government-created robot with superhuman reflexes and mental abilities. Even his name has a hidden meaning -- it's actually an acronym for Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form. When the organization that created him deems the "super soldier" experiment a failure and schedules Daryl to be disassembled, it is up to a few rogue scientists to help him escape.
D.A.R.Y.L. is a solid mid-80s family sci-fi entry that blends the Spielbergian suburban-kid-with-a-secret formula competently. The plot is serviceable but leans heavily on familiar tropes of the era — government experiment, foster family bonding, chase to freedom. Acting is warm and earnest, particularly the child lead, though nothing transcends the material. Cinematography is functional and unremarkable, typical of mid-budget 80s genre fare. Novelty is modest — the robot-boy concept had been explored elsewhere, but the film has a distinctive gentleness and the acronym-soldier angle gives it a slightly unique flavor. The ending manages some emotional weight with the near-death and rescue sequence, landing reasonably satisfying without being truly memorable.