There’s something about robots that appeals to the inner-child within me. It could be because Transformers was at the tail-end of its first popularity run when I was younger, or the immense popularity that surrounded Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, but I’ve never been able to shake off the inherent awesomeness that are robots. Japanese pop culture is full of mecha anime and robot movies; American pop culture is somewhat the same, albeit not on the same level, both in terms of emotional and production quality.
With Pacific Rim set to release this week, I feel that Guillermo del Toro’s take on the robot/mecha film is the perfect breed of American production quality with Japanese aesthetic quality. To commemorate its release, I’ve compiled a list of my Top 10 Robot Movies. I’ve taken a few liberties by including cyborgs and androids, which technically aren’t robots, but that’s another subject in and of itself. I’m interested not just in really cool robot designs, but in the conflict of humanity in the face of a world where advanced robotics are the norm. From the emotional to the awesome, here are my Top 10 Robot Movies (in no particular order).