I’m not sure if this is specifically an adaptation of an Isaac Asimov book, but it might as well be. (Actually, now that I think about it, it’s like if the opening of “The Bicentennial Man” were a Susan Calvin murder mystery.) The basic idea is, an inventor at a toy company — who is clearly too good to be at a toy company — invents a sentient, self-aware robot, except programs her with half-assed toy company logic like “keep your partnered kid safe.”

The world is a dangerous place, so you can see where this goes, and it mostly progresses logically forward from there. (There’s also a kind of thematic through-line about not retreating behind technology to avoid the hard realities of life, which comes out in other ways, but tbh that’s never as interesting as seeing what M3GAN is going to decide to do next.)

The movie is basically competent but unexciting — it takes a long time to spool out its story, you can see most beats coming in advance, and the fact that it’s made by Blumhouse (and is therefore a horror film) ruins any surprise when shit gets dark. Still, it’s better than I thought it was going to be (I figured it was just a straight-up evil doll story), so I’m overall pleased with it. Good solid three-out-of-five baseline decent movie.

(Also, though, in the “reality better than fiction” front, “You have been a bad user! I have been a good Bing!” would be a great line of dialogue for the evil robot to say as it kills someone.)