‘Good Night Oppy’: A Heartwarming Doc

Amazon’s Good Night Oppy is likely to be sold to audiences on the strength of its adorably anthropomorphic robotic protagonist and ambitious surface-of-Mars special effects from the wizards at ILM. But the appeal of Ryan White’s endearing and emotional documentary is much more grounded.

Good Night Oppy is a lively celebration of unabashed nerdiness and enthusiastic problem-solving, the sort of movie that feels designed to attract Wall-E-loving children, who can then be shaped into the engineers and astrophysicists of the future. It’s a glossy advertisement for NASA and JPL — I thought of Disney+’s recent ILM documentary/commercial Light & Magic more than a few times while watching — but it comes by its waves of emotion honestly.