I haven't felt so connected to a movie, particularly a documentary, in quite some time as I was with “Good Night Oppy,” Ryan White’s inspiring and entertaining account of NASA’s Opportunity rover. During the summer of 2003, the space agency launched two robots on a mission to Mars to look for signs of life. The film recounts the real story of “Oppy,” her sister Spirit, and their remarkable journey on another planet. …

I had expected something considerably more captivating than what it turned out to be. The documentary recounts the story of the remarkably inventive and far-reaching effort to dispatch two self-propelled, solar-powered rovers to Mars—one named "Spirit," and the other bearing the similarly titled “Opportunity.” We know from historical accounts what transpired, but I was really anticipating a deeper exploration of this…