Robot Dreams: Proof some stories don’t need to be told in words
This movie, nominated as best animated feature at the 2024 Oscars, is also a love letter to New York City. It will bring a tear to many an eye.
The animated movie Robot Dreams is a beautiful example of how some stories don’t need to be told in words.
This dialogue-free film, written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger, is about a dog and a robot who fall in love.
It’s the 1980s and Dog lives in New York’s East Village. He watches television and lives on macaroni and cheese TV dinners and TAB, that now discontinued rival to Coca-Cola.
He is lonely. When a commercial comes on for a robot companion, he picks up the phone and places an order. The robot is delivered in a flat pack, he assembles it and they become friends.
All the characters are anthropomorphised animals and the director has fun with this. A octopus subway busker is a dab hand at the drums. A no-nonsense cop is a gorilla. Dog’s bedtime reading is Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.
The anthropomorphism, the uncomplicated animation and the bittersweet story is reminiscent of the adults-only BoJack Horseman (2014-2020), one of the best TV series I have seen.
The music helps tell the tale, with the 1978 song September, by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire, central. It is “their” song, the one Dog and robot consider their own.
They start out as buddies but their relationship becomes deeper. This tender movie, based on the 2007 graphic novel by American writer and illustrator Sara Varon, is a moving exploration of the love of close friendships.
Disaster strikes when Dog and robot go to the beach at Coney Island. Robot’s batteries short. He is too heavy to carry home. The beach is shut down and the gorilla cop is on the prowl. The dreams of the title – ones that show kindness and cruelty, love, loss and hope – are had by Dog and robot alike.
This movie, nominated as best animated feature at the 2024 Oscars (the award went to the remarkable The Boy and the Heron), is also a love letter to New York City. A scene where robot looks out the window and sees the twin towers, and the one he loves, will bring a tear to many an eye.
Robot Dreams (PG)
102 minutes
In cinemas
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