Her gave us a female AI that gradually lost interest in her human user because he was so limited. It was a sad experience. Ex Machina gave us a female AI that gradually grew to hate her human user because he was so limiting. It was a frightening experience. But M3GAN gives us a female AI that doesn’t discard or hate her human user, because her whole raison d’etre is to take care of her. And despite its sad setup — a little girl loses her parents in a car crash — and a smattering of frightening moments, it is first and foremost a fun experience. Machine learning may one day be the death of us all, but we’re still far enough out from the Rise of the Machines to indulge a wry chuckle at the prospect. Pretty roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) is a victim of her own genius: the “smart toy” she’s built — essentially, a pet that never dies and can talk — is getting dinged in the marketplace by a cheaper, dumber knockoff. Her boss wants her go lower, but that’s not how geniuses operate. She’s got something really special in mind, but then life dumps a just-orphaned niece in her lap, and the deadline is looming. But wait! What if her new invention is just what a grieving little girl needs? Someone to be with her, to console her…to protect her from the mean dog next door. There’s nary a surprise in sight plotwise (and while we’re at it, blessedly few jump scares); what’s unexpected is how human, and even funny, the story of a robot girl gone rogue manages to be. 2023. (2022) — Matthew Lickona