Robot Dreams is a 2023
animatedtragicomedy[5] film written and directed by
Pablo Berger.[6] A Spanish-French co-production, it is based on the 2007 comic of the same name by
Sara Varon.[7] It is about the friendship between a dog and a robot in
New York in 1984.[8] The film does not contain any dialogue.[9]
In 1980s
Manhattan, Dog lives alone. He sees a TV advertisement for a robot friend and immediately calls to order it. Dog receives Robot in the mail and assembles him. Dog takes Robot out to explore Manhattan and over the course of the summer the two become inseparable friends.
Near the end of summer, Dog takes Robot to the beach. After a long day of playing in the water, the pair fall asleep. Upon waking up well after all the other visitors have left, Dog realizes that the water has caused Robot to rust in place. Unable to move Robot, a disheartened Dog is forced to head home for the night. Dog returns to the beach the following day to discover that the beach has been closed until June 1st the following year and a large barbed wire fence prevents him from reaching Robot. After being denied access to the beach by the city, Dog tries to break past the fence illegally. However, he is caught by police and is arrested. Afterwards, a disheartened Dog relents to wait until he can go and rescue Robot, placing a note on his refrigerator as a constant reminder.
Sometime later, a trio of rabbits comes across Robot on the beach. They give him
STP oil that fixes him and allows him to leave the beach. He returns to Dog's apartment only for it to be revealed that this was all a fantasy of Robot's. In reality, the rabbits chop off one of Robot's legs and remove one of its toes to fix their broken boat. They discard the leg and leave Robot alone on the beach once again. Meanwhile, Dog spends Halloween alone.
Winter arrives as snow begins to fall across the city and the beach. After having a dream of escaping the snow and returning home to find Dog having replaced him with a new robot, Robot becomes frozen in ice. Meanwhile, Dog goes to
the Catskills to meet new friends after seeing a newspaper advertisement. This only leads to him breaking his arm in a sledding accident following a conflict with a pair of anteaters. As winter continues, Robot has another dream of returning home through a world inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Dog meets a magical snowman who leads him to a bowling alley. Dog bowls poorly but finds a new friend in the snowman, only for this also to be revealed as a dream.
Following the end of winter, Robot befriends a bird who winds up building a nest next to his arm. The bird lays three eggs that hatch, the youngest child
instantly bonds with Robot. The bird's three children grow over a period of time with the youngest remaining the most attached to Robot. When the time comes for the birds to leave, the youngest is the most hesitant but ultimately relents following encouragement from Robot. Dog, meanwhile, finds a new friend in Duck during a kite outing and the pair also go fishing. Duck then suddenly moves to Europe, leaving Dog alone yet again.
A monkey sneaks onto the beach and finds a buried Robot with his metal detector. The monkey takes Robot to a junkyard to sell him. The alligator owner and his son promptly chuck Robot into the pile, where he breaks into pieces and shuts off. When June 1st finally arrives, Dog returns to the beach but is only able to find Robot's discarded severed leg. He is kicked off the beach after spending the whole day digging. A saddened Dog spends the night laying in bed with Robot's leg.
A raccoon named Rascal visits the junkyard and discovers Robot's head and remaining limbs. He buys the parts and takes them home. He rebuilds Robot with a
boombox as a new body. Meanwhile, Dog buys a new robot named Tin. Over the course of the summer, Robot and Rascal form a close friendship as do Dog and Tin. Dog and Tin go to the beach and, learning from his past mistakes, Dog coats Tin with oil spray and keeps him out of the water.
Later, while getting ketchup for a rooftop lunch with Rascal, Robot looks out and sees Dog and Tin walking down the sidewalk. Racing out of the building and down the street, Robot manages to catch Dog and reunites with him. The sudden appearance of Rascal reveals that the reunion was yet another fantasy of Robot's. Instead of chasing after Dog, Robot uses his tape deck body to play
"September". Dog hears the song and the pair (unbeknownst to Dog) dance together to it for the final time. Robot contemplates revealing himself. However, realizing that he and Dog have found meaningful new relationships following their separation, Robot continues to hide and lets Dog continue on with Tin. Tin notices Dog's sadness and promptly cheers him up as the two dance down the street side by side. Robot then happily returns to Rascal and the two proceed to dance together on the roof.
Production
In 2008, Sara Veron was approached by an unspecified animation studio to produce a film adaptation of Robot Dreams, which would have been done entirely using
computer animation. This project never materialized.[13]
Berger first read Varon's graphic novel in about 2010 and was affected by it. After making his first two films, he went back to Robot Dreams and began visualizing how to make it into an animated film.[14]
Initially, Berger wanted to work with
Cartoon Saloon to animate the film, but abandoned plans in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually, Berger helped set up various animation studios across Spain to help to get the film made.[15] The animation process began in mid-June 2021 in
Madrid,
Spain, and later on
Iruñea studios opened as well in Pamplona, working parallel to the Madrid team.[16]
The film was first released in Spanish theatres on 6 December 2023 by BTeam Pictures.[23][24] It expanded to the French market on 27 December 2023.[25]Curzon released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 22 March 2024.[26]Neon acquired the North American distribution rights and it was released on 31 May 2024.[27][28][29]
Reception
Critical reception
On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 107 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "As heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, Robot Dreams is the stuff good animation is made of".[30]Metacritic, which uses a
weighted average, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim" reviews and earning the "Must-See" label.[31]
Paula Arantzazu Ruiz [
es] of Cinemanía rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, deeming "[the relationship between] Dog and Robot to be the most amazing and beautiful friendship of the year".[32]Robbie Collin of The Telegraph awarded the movie five stars out of five, writing that "this wonderful tale of friendship will enchant and amuse children – and leave grown-ups in tears".[33]
Variety put Robot Dreams on its list of the 22 Overlooked Films of 2023.[34]
Top ten lists
The film appeared on a number of critics' top ten lists of the best Spanish films of 2023: