It’s pretty hard to think of much to say about Robot Dreams, but I am going to try anyway. Sometimes I get going and it all becomes easier as I write. Sometimes I struggle and struggle, staring at the screen for the better part of an hour as I limp from one word to the next. I hope that’s not the case here, especially when the film itself brought me so much joy.
The plot is very simple. Dog is lonely. He buys himself a robot friend, which he then takes out and about. The two of them have a wonderful time, and it feels like the good times may go on forever. Unfortunately, a day at the beach leads to Robot becoming rusted and stuck. When Dog goes to find a solution, he returns to find the beach closed. The two are separated, but is it just for a season or two, or will it be a permanent split?
I had heard a lot of praise for Robot Dreams over the past year, and one or two people encouraged me to schedule it for this month of animated movie viewings, but I really didn’t know what to expect from something that seemed to have such a slight premise, but also still had a full feature runtime of just over 100 minutes.
Writer-director Pablo Berger adapts a graphic novel by Sara Varon, and all I can tell you is that I am keen to see a lot more from either of those two individuals. I don’t think I have encountered their work, in any form, before this, which is particularly frustrating when I realized that Berger also helmed Blancanieves (a film I have owned for about a decade now, but never got around to watching).
With animation that is clean and beautifully detailed, and with a few central characters who are well-realized and easy to empathize with (despite being anthropomorphic robots and animals, with no main humans to be seen), Robot Dreams is a real treat for the eyes. Despite very little (if any) spoken dialogue, it’s also pleasing to the ears, with the full soundscape of the world being played out around the characters, punctuated occasionally by a brilliantly uplifting disco song.
Last, but certainly not least, Robot Dreams is a genuine treat for the heart. It looks at how people deal with loneliness, what is gained from true friendship, and how to process pain and loss. Both Dog and Robot change one another, and those changes will be part of the rest of their lives forever, whether they manage to reunite or not.
Genuinely tense at times, because most viewers will be willing Dog on as events seem to conspire to thwart him getting back to his friend, genuinely heartwarming and smile-inducing, and genuinely beautiful and wonderful, Robot Dreams is odd, cute, and sweet, without being overly sugary. It is, in fact, a genuine modern classic.
10/10
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