em M3gan /em 's Real Villain Isn't the Killer Dancing Robot Doll

If you grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, the opening of M3gan is like a Proustian madeleine in TV-commercial form, a gaudy, blaring 30-second spot for children's toys that promise unending hours of fun. And what follows next will be just as familiar: the sharp feeling of disappointment. The ad for "Purrpetual Pets" promises fuzzy computerized companions that will be tireless playmates for as long as you can keep them charged. The one we see 8-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) playing with in the back seat, as her quarreling parents navigate a mountain road in a whiteout blizzard, mostly seems to make fart noises while prompting her to feed it simulated treats. Although M3gan eventually becomes a movie about a technology so successful that it surpasses both its creator's dreams and her control, it starts off as a reminder that, in the vast majority of cases, the promises that code could take on the functions of humans have either ended in failure or, just as often, a scaling-down of expectations.