Film Review - Robot Dreams
Images courtesy of Madman Entertainment.
Robot Dreams (2023) is an animated film by Pablo Berger, based on the comic by Sara Varon of the same name. Set in a 1980s New York populated by animals, the film wordlessly tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a dog and a robot. Most of the film takes place after a fun day at the beach has left Robot rusted in place and stuck on the sand. With the beach closed for the season, the two separated friends experience increasingly outlandish fantasies of reuniting.
Upon hearing that description and seeing the poster, readers may have some misgivings about this film. I know I certainly did. Firstly it feels a little saccharine. With it’s simplistic and cutesy animation style and anthropomorphised characters, Robot Dreams (2023) comes across as very twee. Similarly, the idea of two cartoon buddies inexorably separated feels like it might just be trying too hard for the classic Pixar emotional gut punch. But luckily these preconceptions turned out to be a little presumptive.
The film does well to walk the line of being sweet but not overly overly sentimental, slightly melancholic but not to excess. Berger carries this balancing act off quite well in his depiction of the friends’ steady drift apart. The narrative is paced very steadily giving the film the tinge of reality it needs to not fall into pure sugar-puff sweetness. Similarly the distinct New York setting, featuring several iconic landmarks such as Central Park, The Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, anchors the film somewhat. By utilising such a well known location Berger allows the audience to relate much more readily with the quite fantastical characters: because we have some knowledge of their world we feel as though we have some knowledge of them. In the same vein, the sadness present in the film is generally tinged with a bittersweet joy.
On the front of deeper meaning Robot Dreams (2023) is decidedly skint but honestly… that’s fine. It’s a light summer breeze of a film clearly aimed to bring joy to both parents and kids whilst still telling a compelling story, so some kind of deep underlying metaphor is unnecessary. Just go have fun watching a cartoon dog and a robot roller-skate to Earth, Wind & Fire! Your brain deserves a break.
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Robot Dreams is screening in cinemas from Thursday the 11th of April. For tickets and more info, click here.