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Mechas
David
Played by: Haley Joel Osment
The protagonist of the film. A prototype robot child given to Henry and Monica Swinton since their son Martin is in suspended animation and needs to be cured. Monica is initially afraid of him, but she warms up to him and activates his imprinting protocol, causing him to love her the same way a human child loves their mother. Things go smoothly until Martin is cured and after a disastrous incident at a pool party, Monica is forced to drive David to the woods and leave him with Teddy. David is then inspired by the story of Pinocchio to find the Blue Fairy so she can make him into a real boy so he can return to Monica.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Unlike older mechas, he's able to beg for mercy if he's threatened, which happens twice in the film (once was a mistake when Martin wanted to 'test' his safety protocols with a knife, the other in the Flesh Fair when he's about to be executed). This is not a normal trait for robots, as while they can run away from harm they are not programmed to make requests on how they are used or treated.
- And I Must Scream: He ends up being locked in ice for thousands of years, staring and praying at a statue that can never grant him what he wants. Yikes. On the other hand, he is a mecha and is probably not bothered by the passage of time like humans are. Also, when he is found, he is not moving or talking, and has evidently been dormant (or at least out of power) for quite some time and thus not conscious for the majority of his time in the ice.
- Artificial Human: He has the full emotions of a human, but is unfortunately not loved as such.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Implied in the pool scene. "Then let's see what you can't pee with."
- Become a Real Boy: After he's left in the woods with Teddy, his goal is this.
- Break the Cutie: Boy howdy does he get hit hard with this, first being frightened when Martin's friends try poking him with a knife, then being left in the woods by a regretful Monica whom he formed a strong bond with, then getting captured and nearly destroyed at a Flesh Fair, then realizing he's just one of many David mechas, then trying to plead to what he thinks is the Blue Fairy only to get trapped and frozen in stasis for 2000 years and even when he finally gets to enjoy a day with a revived Monica, she permanently vanishes at the end of the day.
- Creepy Child: David's ultra realistic appearance rubs people up the wrong way, especially Monica, at least before she activates his imprinting protocol. The fact that he never blinks doesn't help.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Teddy is a much older robot who sticks with a recent mecha like David for most of the movie.
- Rage Breaking Point: He hits this when he meets another David android and goes absolutely ballistic.
- Replacement Goldfish: He's this to the the Swintons while Martin is in suspended animation. He's also this to Prof. Hobby, as he is a robotic replica of Hobby's deceased son.
Teddy
Voiced by: Jack Angel
A robotic teddy bear originally owned by the Swinton family who quickly becomes David's faithful companion.
- And I Must Scream: Like David, he gets locked up in ice for thousands of years, watching as David fruitlessly prays at a statue unable to grant David's wish. Though, he, too, is a robot and supposedly unfazed by the passage of time, unlike humans. He is also, like David, not moving or talking when found and clearly has been dormant (or at least unpowered) for quite some time and therefore unconscious for most of his time in the ice.
- Beary Friendly: He is a robot teddy bear who is always close to David.
- Deuteragonist: He's the second most important character in the film overall, being left with David in the woods and aiding him in his journey.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Teddy is a much older robot who sticks with a recent mecha like David for most of the movie.
- Living Toy: He is explicitly stated to be an advanced toy.
- Loyal Animal Companion: While he is a toy bear instead of a real bear, he still fills a role like this for David.
- Robot Buddy: While he and David are technically this to each other, Teddy provides a better example.
- Undying Loyalty: He remains by David's side at all times.
- Vocal Dissonance: Who would expect a teddy bear to have such an old and weary voice? Though it could be from having to deal with Martin.
- Voice of the Legion: It's subtle, but his voice has this effect if you listen closely enough.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What happens to him after the clone of Monica ceases to exist and David closes his eyes for the last time is unknown. He is last seen getting up on the bed David and Monica begin to sleep on and sitting down.
Gigolo Joe
- The Casanova: He has sex with multiple women because it's his job. Otherwise, he doesn't seem to understand them on a genuine level. Unlike David, who wants to have an emotional relationship with his mother, Gigolo Joe just has sex with his clients before moving on to the next. While he is surprised to see one of his clients killed by her envious husband, he doesn't really grieve for her.
- The Charmer: His opening scene is convincing a woman to have sex with him by making her feel comfortable and calling her a goddess. He even believes he can charm the Blue Fairy David is looking for.
- Frame-Up: He is forced to go on the run when a jilted husband murders one of his clients and pins the crime on Joe.
- Foil: To David. While David is an innocent young robot boy who wants to be genuinely loved, Gigolo Joe is an adult robot who has a very different idea of loving people by charming them and treating them with sexual pleasure.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his rather basal function as a robot, he has a very keen understanding of the nature of humanity and their relationship to Mechas. He predicts the entire epilogue well in advance and also warns David that he may not like what he will find at the edge of the world.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: A rare Gender-Inverted Trope. He is a male robot sex worker who ends up helping David on his journey.
- In-Universe Soundtrack: Being a mecha, he can play romantic music automatically to set the mood for some love time.
- Sexbot: He was built to provide sexual pleasure to human clients.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He is a tall mecha who wears dark clothing and is just as charming to the ladies as he is handsome.
Gigolo Jane
Played by: Ashley Scott
A prostitute mecha and Gigolo Joe's female counterpart.
- Fanservice Extra: She has no importance to the narrative whatsoever, but she stands out for her being a sexy female counterpart to Gigolo Joe.
- Lady Not-Appearing-in-this-Film: She was featured in much of the film's promotional material and even on one of the main posters, but in the final film, she barely appears for even 3 seconds which is just enough time for her to spout her single line of dialogue.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's designed to resemble an attractive young woman in a shiny, tight-fitting catsuit.
- Robot Girl: Just look at her.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: She's a gynoid with a purple bob.
- Sensual Spandex: Her outfit is tight and very form fitting.
- Sexbot: Like her male counterpart, Gigolo Joe. It is hinted that they have slightly different programming because of their clientele, with Joe being more The Charmer and Jane being more of a straight-up Lust Object.
- Spear Carrier: Passes by Gigolo Joe, both have a brief exchange at each other, and never shows up again.
Nanny Mecha
Played by: Clara Bellar
A comforting mecha who is one of many captured to be torn apart in the Flesh Fair.- An Arm and a Leg: She is missing one of her arms, which is meant to show how worn down she is.
- Friend to All Children: Since she's programmed to take care of children, this makes sense. She's immediately kind to David and even tries to comfort him with a lullaby as they're being taken to the Flesh Fair (not that it does much good).
- Girlish Pigtails: What little hair she has left (given that the structure of her head has in large part collapsed) sticks up in two individual strands, selling the illusion of pigtails.
- Go Out with a Smile: The last thing she does before getting acid poured all over her is smile at David.
Specialists
Voiced by: Ben Kingsley
- The Blank: They have no faces. Just screens.
- Deus ex Machina: Almost literally. They are the newest and most sophisticated mechas seen in the movie, who show up towards the end and give David what he wants.
- The Faceless: These mechas have what appear to be screens where their faces should be.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: In a way. The Specialists first reach out to David via a hologram of the Blue Fairy.
- It Only Works Once: For all that they are ultra sophisticated mecha, the Specialists do have some limitations; They can recreate a person long-dead with their memories intact, all from a small DNA sample. The catch is that these recreations only ever last one day.
- Noodle People: They are all long and lean, apparently made of silicon, and look not too dissimilar to The Greys.
- Walking Spoiler: Their existence spoils the Time Skip in the movie and what David does to get his happy (or bittersweet) ending.
Humans
Swinton Family
Monica Swinton
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Monica is at first understandably dismissive of David due to not wanting to replace her biological son Martin for a mecha. Over time however, her maternal instincts take over and she starts treating David as if he were a real boy.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Her clone gives one to David before she "falls asleep".Monica: I love you, David. I do love you. I have always loved you.
- Passed in Their Sleep: Her clone dies when she goes to sleep at night and doesn't wake up. David is implied to have done the same.
Henry Swinton
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Henry is a researcher at a robotics facility, yet the only thing he apparently bothered to look into was David's Imprinting Protocol. He somehow thinks nothing of dumping a prototype mecha child on his wife with little to no supervision on his end, and also let the kids at Martin's birthday party interact with David unsupervised despite the fact that he caught him holding a pair of scissors over Monica's face while she slept. In fact, he doesn't even seem curious as to where (or indeed, who) David might have got that idea from, given that most mechas are programmed to obey orders.
- Did Not Think This Through: The whole reason he agreed to bring David home with him was to give Monica some reprieve over their son being placed in suspended animation. He genuinely didn't expect her to get attached to the freakishly realistic mecha child.
- Green-Eyed Monster: To a lesser extent than Martin, but it's still there. Henry grows uneasy when Monica gets attached to David.
Martin Swinton
- Ailment-Induced Cruelty: It's a possibility. Martin is being treated for an unspecified disease that has had him in a coma for a long enough time that his leg muscles have atrophied, requiring the use of mobility aids. His psychological bullying and frame up of David does make one wonder whether Martin is acting out due to bitterness at the knowledge that he won't live long, not helped by the fact that David is a mecha and technically can't die. Otherwise, it really doesn't paint Henry and Monica's parenting in a good light.
- Big Brother Bully: Technically speaking, Martin is David's older brother, and engages in some light bullying and manipulation to make David look bad.
- Green-Eyed Monster: The root cause of his mistreatment of David is jealousy over the latter stealing away his mother's attention.
- Kids Are Cruel: Martin sees David as little more than an ultra-realistic dolly his parents bought to replace him, and delights in reminding him that he isn't a real person.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Not quite a Karma Houdini since Martin's treatment of David almost gets him drowned.
- Spoiled Brat: Martin's callous treatment of Teddy, who he disparages as "old and stupid" and seizes by the ear, solidly places him in this category.
Flesh Fair
Lord Johnson-Johnson
Played by: Brendan Gleeson
- Repulsive Ringmaster: Johnson-Johnson runs the Flesh Fair, which is to mechas what the Roman Colosseum was to the Christians, and is a rather unpleasant individual.
The Biker Hounds
- Badass Biker: While their work is morally questionable due to how sentient mechas can be viewed, they do seem pretty cool, chasing mechas through the narrow confines of a hobo camp at high speed without crashing and wearing intimidating outfits. They also seem to be relatively well-known as Mr. Williamson tells Gigolo Joe to show off his operating license when he's done at the Shangri-La Hotel, warning him that the 'Hounds are out hunting for strays as mentioned in Early-Bird Cameo below.
- Breath Weapon: Not in the most literal sense, but the ornamental dragons' heads on their bikes fire mecha-immobilizing magnets from their mouths.
- Chainsaw Good: The light-blue Biker Hound destroys a mecha at the Flesh Fair with a chainsaw.
- Co-Dragons: To Lord Johnson-Johnson. Coincidentally, their bikes are designed to resemble literal dragons.
- Color-Coded Characters: They wear outfits that are each a different color, light-blue, red, and dark-blue.
- Cool Bike: They ride dirt bikes that are designed to resemble dragons and equipped with several weapons for immobilizing mechas like magnets and a snare net.
- Cool Helmet: They each wear menacing helmets that have fins on them and look like skulls in some scenes.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Before they appear physically for the first time, they're mentioned when the Shangri-La Hotel bellman Mr. Williamson warns Gigolo Joe that the 'Hounds are out hunting for strays.
- Evil Wears Black: Their outfits, apart from the Tron Lines, are colored black and they have no qualms with mercilessly chasing down, capturing, and destroying helpless stray mechas.
- Flaw Exploitation: Since all mechas are made from metal, the Biker Hounds can immobilize them with magnets.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The red Biker Hound.
- Series Continuity Error: A minor example. When they chase David and other stray mechas through a hobo camp, a magnet is clearly shown being fired from the dark blue Biker Hound's bike, but the very next shot makes the magnet look like it came from the light blue Biker Hound's bike.
- Terrible Trio: From the mechas' point of view since they round them up to be publicly destroyed.
- Tron Lines: Their outfits have these.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What happens to them when the Flesh Fair crowd begins rioting is unknown.
Other Humans
Professor Allen Hobby
The roboticist who designed David.
- A God Am I: Somewhat. He compares his creation of David to that of God and Adam, and in a way David does represent an attempt at the resurrection of a deceased loved one.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He is in mourning for his son, who died at age eleven.
- We Can Rebuild Him: Hobby, a grieving father, designed his latest invention in the image of his dead son.
Others
Dr. Know
- Einstein Hair: Given who he's very obviously based on, this makes sense.
- Meaningful Name: He knows quite literally everything.
- Non-Standard Character Design: He is an artificial intelligence who takes the form of a cartoony scientist caricature with floating hands.
- Plucky Comic Relief: In a movie that can get very dark and depressing, his exaggerated accent and cartoony characteristics lighten up the movie for a bit.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Only shows up once, but is an important source of information for David's trip to become a real boy.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He is an incredible advanced A.I. wearing glasses.
