Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker has returned for yet another animated movie adventure, and after two Rundowns, we are finally doing our first full review of an animated movie for the 2024 season, and man, today’s movie is very special indeed as we are going to explore the one remaining movie from this year’s Oscars for Best Animated Feature I had yet to cover thus far (and one that I covered in my Non-Mainstream and Foreign CG Animated Movies I wanted to See this year), Robot Dreams!
Directed by Pablo Berger in his animated movie debut and based on a graphic novel of the same name by Sara Varon, it is a (mostly) silent and dialogue-less animated movie set in 1980s New York City, about a dog and his robot companion as the dog discovers what he was actually missing. Actually, that is all I need to say about Robot Dreams because the premise is quite simple.
Having been in the animation community for a while, I had forged friendships with other like-mind animation fans who are also passionate about the craft itself, including animators. Thanks to them, I was able to get a copy of Robot Dreams, which is useful especially since it has not been released here in Singapore yet. Now that I had seen it for myself, is Robot Dreams worth the hype and critical praise?
Only one way to find out. Let’s head to New York City for one special animated movie adventure!
Key Information
- Director: Pablo Berger
- Animation Studios: Arcadia Motion Pictures and Lokiz Films
- Country of Origin: Spain
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 6 December 2023 (in Spain)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
For the past few years, animated movies in general are getting bigger and grander in terms of what they want to achieve in this movie, such as big adventures for instance. Therefore, it is rare that the movie’s story is rather plain and simple, which is what the plot of Robot Dreams looks set to be. However, despite being a simple premise, it still surprised me in a completely different way.
One unique aspect of this movie is that Robot Dreams has no dialogue whatsoever in this movie, focusing more on a “show, don’t tell” approach, which can be very risky to pull off. However, director Pablo Berger, who has dealt with non-dialogue movies before, knew what he was doing when working on this movie. The script he and his scriptwriting team pulled off is brilliant in that the movie does not need any dialogue at all and instead relying on the simple actions Dog and his robot companion did throughout the movie’s runtime as “dialogue”. Leaving it to the audience’s imagination on what they are feeling throughout the movie is a stroke of genius as it leaves them engaged throughout the movie’s runtime.
It is not just the excellent approach in its storytelling that makes Robot Dreams a uniquely engaging film, but also its lack of predictability. In fact, Robot Dreams is a deceptively simple animated movie that turns a simple story on its head brilliantly, so much so that if I were to talk about it further, I will spoil this movie. Yes, spoiler alert, you need to see this movie to find out why that movie is a brilliant masterpiece.
In terms of the characters, Dog and Robot are two deceptively simple characters that blossomed so well as the movie progresses, especially once Dog has to abandon Robot through unforeseen circumstances (yes, this was something that was pointed out on its Letterboxd page, so technically, it is not a spoiler). Their character arcs are beyond well-developed and went to their different, yet wonderfully crafted paths. In fact, Dog and Robot have so much character development that the audience can also resonate with them as the movie progresses from start to finish.
Honestly, there are virtually no weaknesses in the movie’s writing, but quite little to explain about the movie’s plot here because it is that brilliant. It goes to show that you do not need complex world-building to produce a well-realised script that fits the movie so well.
Animation
In terms of Spanish animated movies, while their CG animated movies are not too great unfortunately (you can check out my review of last year’s Mummies for reference), it is their non-CG animated movies where they started to shine. I am fortunate to see a lot of great animation from this country, such as Another Day of Life, Klaus and Unicorn Wars. Robot Dreams is now part of my favourite Spanish non-CG animated movies list and might be at the very top of that list too.
The animation style, which was based on the aforementioned graphic novel, breathes new life into the designs seen in the said novel, but still managed to be a simplistic animated movie that is full of life. While some animated movies have complex animation designs that are so poorly executed that it ended up having that low-quality finish (case in point, Warrior King this year), Robot Dreams excels in bringing a simple animation style that is visually pleasing. In fact, it felt refreshing that rather than dealing with visual noise in some animated movies that was trying way too hard, I am enjoying such a simple animated movie with great choice of colours and backgrounds, as well as a wide variety of characters that fit the 1980s New York City setting perfectly.
That said, the animators at Robot Dreams also enjoy changing up a bit of the animation style to keep it as fresh as possible, while still keeping the same aesthetic, which makes it a joy to rewatch certain scenes of Robot Dreams repeatedly. This style has also resulted in fantastic visual storytelling, as the subtle actions from certain characters made a difference.
For an animated movie made on only about US$6 million and produced at a pop-up animation studio during the COVID-19 pandemic, Robot Dreams showcase that even with restrictions, you can produce stunning animation on a very small budget through innovative ways not seen in other animation studios before. That was what fascinated me with its animation style.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
With a simple animated movie set in the 1980s, the music focused more on songs of the 1980s, which fit very well into the movie’s setting. However, it is the usage of Earth Wind & Fire’s September that floored me, not just because it is a song encapsulating the 1980s, but it is a song that perfectly describes the mood Robot Dreams is giving me. Even if I was born in the 1990s, it is apparent that the movie’s soundtrack and various needle drops are not trying too hard and instead focus on setting the tone nicely.
I also need to talk about them marketing of this movie for a moment as the trailers and posters deceptively make it as if Robot Dreams is a fairly simple movie. While it is, it did not reveal anything about what was going to happen, especially after the first 30 minutes of the movie, so well done to the team at NEON for not revealing too much about this movie.
As for my level of enjoyment, I am honestly excited to see this movie, but even with my level of excitement, I did not realise how moving this movie was from start to finish. I was expressing a spectrum of emotions throughout the movie’s runtime that by the movie’s ending, I was tired but satisfied from being this blown away by how much this movie feels to me. In fact, Robot Dreams, while family-friendly, is very mature in both its concept and execution, and I am so happy to see a well-executed non-mainstream animated movie that cuts through the richness from the same old mainstream animated movies over and over again.
Conclusion
I have nothing negative to say about this movie whatsoever and I really meant it. Robot Dreams is as perfect as it should be.
Even by non-mainstream animated movie standards, Robot Dreams is a uniquely wholesome animated movie you do not see very often in today’s animation, focusing on the joys of simple actions that moviegoers can relate to, as well as becoming an emotional rollercoaster that made the audience feel something emotional, especially if they had been in a relationship now or before. This is on top of simple looking but amazing animation that proves that you do not need complex looking animation to stand out.
While this is far from being the first silent or non-dialogue animated movie I had watched, Robot Dreams is not just my most favourite silent or non-dialogue animated movie, but probably my most favourite silent or non-dialogue movie of all time.
Thank you so much for joining me on this emotional adventure. Tune in next time as we are heading far east into Asia for another adventure with a certain panda Kung Fu “master”. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
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