It was directed by Kenneth Johnson and starred Fisher Stevens as Ben Jahveri, Michael McKean as Fred Ritter, Cynthia Gibb as Sandy Banatoni, and Tim Blaney as the voice of Johnny 5 (the main character – a friendly, naive, self-aware robot).

One robot wanders away from his stand and ends up in the office of Sandy Banatoni, an assistant buyer for Simpsons' toy department.

Ben and Fred hire some workers and move into a derelict warehouse which, unknown to them, is the base of operations for thieves who are tunneling into a bank vault across the street to steal a set of jewels known as the Vanderveer Collection.

The thieves (Saunders and Jones) assault Ben and Fred and destroy their equipment, causing the new workers to flee and preventing them from completing Sandy's order.

Discovering this, Johnny escapes into the city, is taken into police custody, and is placed in the stolen goods warehouse, where he is claimed by Ben.

With time running out before the Vanderveer Collection is moved from the bank, Oscar has Saunders and Jones lock Ben and Fred in the freezer of a Chinese restaurant, while he tricks Johnny into finishing the tunnel leading to the vault.

After the ceremony, when questioned by reporters about his thoughts on becoming the country's first robotic citizen, a gold-plated Johnny leaps into the air and exclaims "I feel alive!"

Short Circuit 2 had initially been developed with original film's director John Badham, but Badham dropped out in order to do Stakeout,[3] and was replaced by Kenneth Johnson, best known as the creator/producer of the 1970s TV series' The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk as well as the science fiction franchise V. Principal photography of the film took place between September 13 and December 1987 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[9] Rita Kempley, for The Washington Post, gave it a mixed review (6/10) saying: "Short Circuit 2 is unabashedly mawkish and sophomoric, and the actors support the technology.

Variety added: "Mild and meek, Short Circuit 2 has an uncomplicated sweetness as a successful follow-up to the original robot kiddie comedy".

Gene Siskel called it "better than the original", said the dialogue made him "laugh out loud" and argued that "the movie works" because he "felt bad" when the robot was being attacked.

Short Circuit 2 was released on August 7, 2001, and re-released on DVD on April 24, 2007,[15] which included a "making-of featurette" on actor Fisher Stevens.