You’re almost certainly not prepared for Robot Dreams. Even after it getting the Best Animated Feature nomination at the Academy Awards, most of you who see the film are going to be walking in cold. That’s good, too, as it will be similar to how I approached the movie. Do it that we and this beautiful bit of emotional animation will wash over you in a very special way. Robot Dreams is one of my favorite works of late, easily representing some of 2024’s best cinematic bits (yes, I’m mostly counting it for this year).

Robot Dreams takes a very simple premise and executes it magnificently. Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure, it’s a tribute to the power of emotions, the need to be close to others, and how a true connection is not impacted by time. The movie is timeless and universal in its themes, while also being hyper specific in its style, as well as choice of characters. For me, it basically all worked.

Set in a version of 1980s New York City with anthropomorphized animals, we’re introduced to Dog, who lives alone in Manhattan. He’s clearly lonely and one day, while watching television, sees an ad for a robot friend. Ordering it and building it, he suddenly has a companion in Robot. An inseparable friendship blossoms, as they galavant all around the city. Towards the end of the summer, they go to the beach in Coney Island. There, a moment in the water, followed by sleeping in the sand, will change them both forever.

When Dog discovers that Robot has rusted and is unable to move it, he has to head home that night, planning to return in the morning with tools. Unfortunately, that plan does not work, so Robot has more or less been abandoned. Without hope, at least until the beach reopens next season, Dog goes about his life, trying to fill the void. While he’s attempting to make new connections, Robot dreams about being reunited, as well as what could be happening in those scenarios. Will they ever meet again? Plus, if they even can, will they still have what was so special to them once before?

While this film has no dialogue, the emotions speak volumes. Whether it’s the joy of the opening section, the sadness of the middle, or the mix of hope and melancholy that dominates the back end, we don’t need to hear Dog or Robot to completely understand them. That’s incredibly rare and one of the big triumphs of Robot Dreams.

Filmmaker Pablo Berger executes his vision with aplomb. The beginning is about as adorable and fun as anything you’ll see this year, while his ending ranks up there with La La Land (in more ways than one). Berger knows exactly how to make Robot Dreams never boring, always beautiful, and constantly compelling. It’s a home run.

Robot Dreams is worth the wait. Whether you heard about it before its Oscar run, during the awards season, or just here in 2024, you’re in for a treat. It’s one of the best films of the year so far, animated or otherwise, and demands your attention!

SCORE: ★★★1/2

Related

Robot Dreams, 2023.

Directed by Pablo Berger.
Featuring the voice talents of Ivan Labanda, Graciela Molina, José Mediavilla, José García Tos, Esther Solans, Tito Trifol, and Rafa Calvo.

SYNOPSIS:

Adapted from Sara Varon’s graphic novel, Robot Dreams tells the story of Dog, a lonely soul who decides to buy himself a new companion in the shape of Robot, delivered in parts for home assembly but soon lovingly transformed into a fully functioning friend. 

Set in an alt-world ’70s New York where humans have been replaced by anthropomorphised-animals, yet birds are still birds, it’s little wonder that Dog is having a loneliness enforced existential crisis. Whether he catches a glimpse of the loving cross-breed couple across from him watching a movie in each others arms, or his own sad reflection as he turns off a television dominated by representations of companionship and love, nothing is making this puppy’s tail wag.

That is until he orders a mail-order robot, who looks a little like Futurama‘s Bender, but comes without the attitude. In fact, his presets are perfect for Dog, as the two form a montage-heavy friendship of hand-holding and happiness.

As with all great stories of love, for that’s what this is, their Earth, Wind & Fire accompanied friendship rusts to a standstill when a trip to the beach triggers a forced separation that brings a level of anxiety and longing usually reserved for Oscar nominated dramas.

As you can probably tell, Robot Dreams isn’t your run-of-the-mill animated buddy-movie for the sprogs. Largely dialogue-free, littered with deadpan comedy, and with a funk soundtrack that’ll have you humming ‘September’ as you bask in the same kind of melancholy glow brought on by Celine Song’s similarly themed Past Lives, Pablo Berger’s friendship-fable doesn’t shy away from the hard truths of loneliness, and being a grown up navigating the trials of life.

That’s not to say that this is a depressing tale, it’s quite the opposite. Robot Dreams offers up a message of hope. Sadness acts as a comma to a lot of what befalls Robot and Dog, but the full stop is a note of optimism. Robot’s locked-in months spent trapped on a beach in isolation are bleak, but his relationship with a family of nesting birds is joyous, if fleeting.

And therein lies the film’s overriding message about on the brevity of life and living for the now, which Pablo Berger wraps in a beautifully realised world of animation that feels creatively fresh in a saturated genre.

Never showy, it’s the small touches that charm; Robot’s pencil line mouth, Dog’s wagging tail, or the moment he uses a towel on the beach to remove his swim shorts. As well as addressing the grander themes, it also perfectly captures the minutiae of life.

At 104 mins it is slightly too long, especially considering the vignette-style structure, which can’t help but make things feel repetitive by about the half way mark, but it ends in a way that’ll double the size of your heart and make you feel great about life….for a short while at least.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

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