Disney’s ‘Smart House’ is iconic for children who grew up in the ’90s and early 2000s—to this day, many still bond over the memory as adults. Maybe that’s because, as technology becomes more and more advanced, the movie feels less like a fantasy and more like a warning: If we aren’t careful about how we used AI and robots, we might come to regret it.
This Disney Channel Original Movie centers on the Cooper family, made up of father Nick and children Ben and Angie, who have struggled to keep up with their day-to-day lives ever since the wife and mother died. In hopes of helping his family, Ben enters a contest to win a “smart house” and actually succeeds—before they know it, the family has moved into a fully automated house, ran by a virtual assistant named Pat (short for Personal Applied Technology). While it begins as a magical experience, Pat and the house quickly show their downsides—and the dangers that were previously overlooked find their way to the forefront.
Here are the best quotes from the Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House:
1.
Ben (Ryan Merriman): Pat, take it easy.
Pat (Katey Sagal): Easy? You think I wouldn’t rather be taking it easy? But no, I’m too busy keeping up with the Coopers! Slaving away in a hot control room, doing homework, throwing parties, keeping schedules, making your lives perfect. So you can bring another woman into my domain? I don’t think so, mister. I am a mother like no other and I will not sit back and allow myself to be preempted!
2.
Sara (Jessica Steen): I should probably head home and feed my pet rat his dinner.
Angie (Katie Volding): You’ve got a rat?
Sara: Yes, named Butler. Rat Butler. Get it? Eh, no, wrong generation. Hate showing my age.
3.
Nick (Kevin Kilner): I don’t understand why you’re doing this, Pat!
Pat (Katey Sagal): To protect you and your children. The more I’ve learned about your world outside my walls, the more I’ve realized how dangerous and unpredictable it is. Why would anyone ever want to venture out into it?
4.
Ben (Ryan Merriman): I’ve heard geniuses are impossible to live with. They make everyone around them feel inferior.
5.
Angie (Katie Volding): You’re not my mom!
Pat (Katey Sagal): Well, I’d like to be if you’d let me. Is there something so wrong with needing to be needed?
6.
Angie (Katie Volding): Come on, let’s go. We’re late enough as it is.
Nick (Kevin Kilner): What about your hair?
Angie: I’ll just look like a freak. What else is new?
7.
Nick (Kevin Kilner): Look, I know how much it hurts. And I can appreciate that it’s been worse than ever for you lately. All the changes that you are going through, the way that you have to work so hard to help us keep our lives together. None of that is right. It’s awful! But what are we gonna do about it, Ben? I mean, are we gonna crawl into a cave and-and hide? Are we gonna, drop out? Are we gonna quit living? I’ll tell you what you’re not gonna do: You are never gonna disrespect anyone like you did right now downstairs. You know better than that. You were raised better than that.
8.
Nick (Kevin Kilner): Sara tells me that, uh, you caught a glimpse of the control room today. What’d you think?
Ben (Ryan Merriman): It looked like the inside of the Pentagon or something.
9.
Ben (Ryan Merriman):It’s okay, Pat. I’m fine, really.
Pat (Katey Sagal): You don’t understand, Ben. Nobody goes after my boy and gets away unpunished.
10.
Nick (Kevin Kilner): We can’t stay here forever.
Pat (Katey Sagal): Well, why not? Haven’t I given you everything you’ve asked for?