This is one of those sweet movies (with a touch of city toughness) that remains as charming today as it did 25 years ago. Called a rip-off of "Close Encounters", "E.T." and "Cocoon" (did anybody dare call "E.T." a rip-off of "Close Encounters"?, which it lightly emulated),"Batteries Not Included" is a family film with an adult touch that is gripping, intense, charmingly corny and a tribute to the love between old people that time cannot tear apart.

Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy are the two oldest tenants of a small walk-up and run a diner. They are being bullied by real-estate developers, and a money-hungry thug (Michael Carmine) is determined to get them out so he can get a huge cash settlement from the greedy people who have been paying him off. Other tenants break down and sign the relocation agreement, but the stubborn Cronyn refuses. As the threats get worse, Cronyn, Tandy and their fellow tenants get a little help from somewhere in Steven Spielberg's mind. He didn't direct this, but his production company did produce it, and there is the obvious touch of his hand within the special effects.

Tandy's character is suffering from dementia and obviously believes Carmine to be her long dead son. This creates for a touching twist when the film explodes into its dramatic conclusion and gives Carmine some truly multi-dimensional layers to add to his character. The fabulous Doris Belack has an amusing small role, her memory from tons of T.V. soaps (as well as "The Golden Girls" and dozens of movies including "Tootsie" and "She-Devil" embedded in your mind) and the shot at the end is a sign that even in the ruthless corporate world of a metropolis like Manhattan, the meek will inherit the earth and good will ultimately rule over evil.

In Batteries Not Included the remaining tenants of a building a developer is trying to clear just will not go. The remaining tenants are Elizabeth Pena, pregnant with a traveling musician's baby, Dennis Boutsikaris an artist, Frank McRae an ex-boxer and Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy who run a luncheonette on the first floor as well.

After a rough time with Michael Carmine a local tough in charge of getting rid of the tenants all seems hopeless. But then a pair small flying saucers that look like kid's toys. They are some kind of artificial life form and they are most useful at repair and cannibalizing parts from all kinds of places to effect repair.

This is a truly charming fantasy and the long married team of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy who had just scored big time in Cocoon fit perfectly in as the two leads and leaders of the remaining tenants.

There is a truly magical ending to this movie which I won't give the slightest hint but you'll stand up and cheer.

A winner from executive producer Steven Spielberg

I'm guessing that following the success of COCOON, Hollywood producers saw the potential of mixing old-timers with aliens, hence we get BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. Despite the presence of the geriatrics in the cast, it's a children's film through and through, an old-fashioned fable about tenants in a run-down housing block trying to hold out against greedy developers and the little aliens that come to help them.

I don't usually 'do' sentimental films, but I'll make an exception for this one: it's a solid piece of entertainment that quite often reaches magical levels. Certainly the aliens themselves are wonderful creations; little UFOs who whizz around the screen and commit all sorts of mischief. The special effects are exemplary and hold up to this day, even by modern standards.

The cast are faultless; Jessica Tandy is a given, but kudos to the producers for hiring SHADOW OF A DOUBT's Hume Cronyn, who has a kind of crusty charm all his own. The highlight, for me, is Michael Carmine's villainous Carlos, who's given much more characterisation (and who elicits far more sympathy) than you might expect from a Hollywood bad guy.

Yes, BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED is twee, sentimental and silly, and totally unrealistic with it. Needless to say, Spielberg's fingerprints are all over it. Nevertheless, it still works when you watch it, even today, as a touching fable. One of the things I liked most about it is that it has great characterisation for an effects film; all of the people living in the apartment block have their own story arcs. Plus, the inclusion of the dementia sub-plot gives it an adult, bittersweet taste missing from your usual kid's flick.