Do you remember, the twenty-first night of September?

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2024

#6 :  Robot Dreams

Based on Sara Varon’s wordless 2007 graphic novel, Pablo Berger’s virtuosic 2D animation Robot Dreams is so much more than the robot-and-his-dog buddy comedy audiences may have been expecting. Set in an anthropomorphised early ‘80s New York, Berger’s simply (but never simplistically) drawn movie introduces us to a lonely dog whose search for friendship leads him to order and build himself an ‘Amica 2000’ robot companion. But whilst a delightful Earth, Wind & Fire soundtracked montage revels in showing our inseparable bot-and-barker duo venturing out into the world together, tragedy strikes when a trip to Coney Island leaves a rusting Robot stranded on the beach. It’s from here that the film transcends itself, with Robot and Dog’s heartfelt yearning to be reunited — episodically chronicled in a series of gorgeously imaginative flights of fancy — augmenting a soulful exploration of the fragile beauty of our connections and the lasting, transformative power of love.

I'd never even heard of this but it feels like it might be the sort of thing I like - and I'm very intrigued as to how they're going to adapt a wordless graphic novel into a film.

Well, they do it pretty well with an awful lot of emotion conveyed through facial expressions (limited in the case of Robot, but surprisingly effective) and also ear and tail movements (but only in the case of Dog). I don't really need to give you any more information than Empire has given you above - it's a reasonably straightforward tale which manages to tug at the heartstrings as we explore the the beauty of friendship and the power of imagination. It also surprised me by not ending the way I was expecting it to, but it's a heartwarming conclusion that stays with you.

As Empire says, it is simple animation but it's well thought out with lots of nice deft touches in the background to engage you. I'd be interested to read the book - I imagine it also cleverly conveys the story which is a testament both to the original author and the animation adapters.

This is a charming and heartwarming film done well - I'm not entirely sure it does quite enough to make it to #6 in a year-end list, but it's very watchable and I certainly don't begrudge it some recognition. And that's pretty much all I've got to say on the matter really. I imagine some people would be annoyed by the lack of words, but it's interesting that it's only the second film on the list that I'd describe as family-friendly - after Hundreds of Beavers which was also wordless. If you fancy a lovely and interesting watch then it's available to stream on MUBI (does anyone actually pay for that?) or to rent in all the usual locations.

#7 - Two thirds of a good film
#5 - Worth checking out, but maybe not as great as all that