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.
Acting
Barret Oliver's uncanny stillness—robot or just good acting?
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI car chase through actual South Carolina woods
Writing
D.A.R.Y.L. acronym reveal hits harder than it should
Director
Simon Wincer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months after The Terminator, this is the cuddly inverse—what if Skynet's kid was sweet?
Barret Oliver also played Bastian in The NeverEnding Story the same year—peak 1985 child stardom.
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