agmtw logo
search
Robot Dreams (2023)

Robot Dreams (2023)

Don’t be fooled by its cuteness, this animated movie about life and loneliness will have you bawling in no time

The Very Best

8.8

Movie

France, Spain
No language
Animation, Comedy, Drama, Family
2023
PABLO BERGER
Graciela Molina, Ivan Labanda, José García Tos
102 min

TLDR

It’s like BoJack Horseman if you gave its tone a 180-degree switch.

What it's about

In 1980s New York, Dog decides to purchase a companion, Robot, to address his loneliness. All goes well until Robot’s joints rust up after a swim, forcing Dog to make a hard decision about where to leave his friend.

The take

The first few minutes of Robot Dreams are so deceptively simple and pleasant that it’s hard to think of a conflict that could keep the film moving. But something does happen—life happens, which sounds annoyingly vague, but it’s true. Life happens, and the rest of the film is about how Dog and Robot survive the specific pain of living. It’s at once poignant and delightful, filled with surprising moments that shouldn’t work, but do. It feels incredibly human even though there are no people in sight. It says a lot about the crisis of loneliness and the importance of moving on even though it’s a silent movie. And then there’s that one scene that breaks the fourth wall most adorably, proving that Robot Dreams is anything but the straightforward film it seemed to be in the beginning. Consistently, however, it is a touching movie. Whether it ends up breaking or warming your heart is just something you have to look out for.

What stands out

That ending, which sent me into a crying spell for a good minute.

Comments

Add a comment

Your name

Your comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

More like this in

Once Were Warriors (1994)

A Maori family survives in an alienating Auckland in this raw, tragic drama

8.0

Silenced (2011)

A brutal and harrowing exposé of the schoolwide abuse case that sparked outrage in Korea

9.0

My Old Ass (2024)

A pleasant mix of comedy and coming-of-age that may or may not leave you in tears

8.0

My King (2015)

A lover heals her knee and her heart in this contemplative drama about co-dependency

7.0

Last Film Show (2022)

A boy spends a summer on movies in this stunning semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama

7.8

Being Julia (2004)

A middle age crisis leads to a star finding her spark in this insightful comedy

7.1

Look Back (2024)

Art connects people through time and space in this short and sweet drama

9.0

His Three Daughters (2024)

Three sisters deal with life and death in this moving family portrait

8.2

Forgotten Love (2023)

The stunning third take of the classic Polish pre-war melodrama

7.7

The Commitments (1991)

Before Sing Street, there was The Commitments, an Irish band of young hopefuls escaping grim reality with the joy and promise of music

8.6

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.