Robot Dreams – Snapshot
Robot Dreams, told with no dialog, no human characters, and in simple 2D animation, weaves a series of seemingly unrelated, but visually interesting, vignettes into a story about relationships. I’m not sure it works as well as they wanted it to. (3.5*)
Where to Watch:
Stream: (Nowhere)
Rent: Apple/Prime/Google/YouTube/Fandango ($6)
(With no sex, profanity, violence, or substances, there is nothing possibly wrong with kids seeing this movie. Whether they enjoy it or not, is another question.)
Robot Dreams – The Oscar Buzz
Oscar Nominations (1) / Oscar Wins (0) :
Animated Feature
Robot Dreams is a joint production of the French and Spanish film industries. It is also a movie with absolutely no dialog between the characters, so it doesn’t have any credited actors providing voices. Because of those two circumstances, this movie really has no Oscar connections. Among the small crew of people working on the movie, I couldn’t find any instance of an Oscar-nominated film among their career histories. Truly the movie rose to Oscar-level recognition pretty much on its own merits.
The film was directed and written by a Pablo Berger, a Spanish filmmaker producing, directing and writing movies only since 2003. He has assembled a small team of people, including the film editor and composer who worked with him on Blancanieves, a black & white, silent take on a the Snow White story. That is the only film I found that connects the Robot Dreams team to an earlier movie. Robot Dreams is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Sara Varon.
Robot Dreams – Related Movies
Blancanieves (12) (Direction, Script, Film Editing, Musical Score)
Robot Dreams – What Others Think
Robot Dreams is generally liked by the viewing public. My audience rating scales place this film second out of all five animated features (behind Spider-Man: Across the Universe) and in the top half of all 38 nominated films. One viewer summarized it as “Cute, Bittersweet, Emotional and Great Portrait of Friendship, Life and Loss”. Another called it “An animated children’s film for adults!”. And a third succinctly put it “Very cute, very human”.
Critics were even more enthusiastic. They also thought it was the second best animated film (behind The Boy and the Heron), and rated it fourth out of all 38 films, tied with The Zone of Interest. Brian Tallerico (RogerEbert) wrote “Truly lyrical, a creative exploration of relatable emotion that transports viewers to a world where robots dream…”. Nick Allen (also RogerEbert) added “Robot Dreams is practically made to be a break for adults from heavier storylines…” Alex Dudok de Wit (of Sight&Sound) added about the lack of dialog “…the effect is to make the relationship between the protagonists, who already lack the particulars of human appearance even more universal.” Rolling Stone’s David Fear said “This is a nine-Kleenex-box movie…”. And New York Times critic Amy Nicholson gave the film a Critics Pick saying “this animated film is a silent wonder that says everything about love.” In short, the effusive praise of Robot Dreams by critics is nearly universal!
Overall, Robot Dreams ranks second in the animated feature film rankings (behind Spider-Man) and a surprising sixth out of all 38 Oscar-nominated movies this year. That is a pretty good showing for a movie with no dialog or actors and coming from a relatively obscure Spanish production team.
Robot Dreams – Special Mention
September (by Earth Wind & Fire) – Although this song was released six years before the film’s setting, it plays a major role in Robot Dreams. The song, in various versions, occurs multiple times in the movie and is used to symbolize the relationship between Dog and Robot. In 2018, the Library of Congress listed it in their National Recording Registry and three years later Rolling Stone listed the song at #65 in their list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song has been certified “Platinum” in at least nine countries. If you don’t know this song by name, you’ll recognize it when you hear it in the movie. The sound is definitely of the 1970s disco era, although it comes at the end of that craze.
Why this song was chosen as such an important theme in this movie, isn’t really clear. But I suspect it might have something to do with the lines in the song having to do with “do you remember … dancin’ in September…never was a cloudy day”. Look for clues in the film when Robot and Dog are roller dancing in Central Park just before their fateful trip to Ocean Beach! (Around the 15 minute mark). That moment was special for them and recurs throughout the movie whenever you hear this song!
Robot Dreams – Michael’s Moments
Robot Dreams, without dialog and no human figures, manages to capture and evoke strong feelings of the happiness of connection with someone and the sadness of its loss. It manages those emotions while presenting several little mini-stories that are clever uses of animation and intriguing story lines.
The main story is set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York right about 1984. I can be very precise about the setting because I lived in New York in the early 80s and knew the neighborhoods of the city, the subway life, and the exhilarating attractions like the twin towers and Central Park. I was there during that time when there was no internet, and mobile phones were just starting to be a technological glimmer on the horizon. (Try to find a rotary pay phone nowadays!). The nostalgic take on a metropolitan life that was seemingly so complex then and yet now seems simple by comparison is really right on. (Director and Writer Pablo Berger did spend time in the city although it was a few years later. Sara Varon, who originated Robot Dreams as a graphic novel in 2007 also got a MFA degree in New York although her time there too was a couple of decades later.)
Berger’s terrific portrait of New York urban life, is just one of the little world’s he evokes in Robot Dreams. The story develops around a dog known simply as “Dog” who is lonely. As a rather unusual solution – at least at the time – he orders a robot as his companion and their relationship grows. (There is never any suggestion of anything sexual between them or, really, between any of the characters, so the feelings of intimacy are of simple and genuine friendship!). As in real life, stuff happens and they are forced to grow apart. But first Robot, and then in one case, Dog, reflect on their changing relationship through dreams. These dreams are where the bursts of creativity in animation appear. In one, a snowman removes his head and uses it to bowl and we see the world through the snowman’s eyes as the ball rolls down the alley. In another one (about 43 minute mark), the movie screen shrinks and the robot falls out of the image to the bottom of your TV and proceeds to explore the edges of your TV screen. then he turns the image around and we are cast into a version of a classic old time movie!
Robot Dreams is loaded with clever tricks like this which are delightful little nuggets. And the dream sequences are all to suggest the deep but endangered connection between Robot and Dog. I understand why everybody enjoyed this film. With no dialog and a style of animation that is strictly two-dimensional and painted with flat colors, the movie has a simple appeal. Indeed several critics compared it to another Oscar nominee, Past Lives, for its simplicity and emotional overtones from moving on from a relationship.
Still there were sufficient disconnects for me to believe that maybe Berger, and possibly Varon before him, got a little too caught up in the cuteness of some of their animation without providing a distinct link back to the main story. You see, for example, that Robot and Dog watch the classic movie The Wizard of Oz at one point, and so I can get that Robot might have a dream referring back to that. But what, really, was the significance of the kaleidoscopic, 1930’s dancing style of the flowers? The image was cute, but not really attached. In another vignette, that I don’t think was a dream, Dog goes sledding in the Catskills, supposedly trying to meet people. But it doesn’t work out that way and turns into a disappointment. What, really, does that have to do with anything? In short, Robot Dreams is populated with a series of creative and visually interesting sequences which seem to exist just because they can, not because they contribute to the ongoing story.
In a good movie everything is connected and everything serves a real purpose towards communicating the emotions of the story. But in this case many of the side stories are simply vehicles for creative expression. See it for some of the visual stunts and, yes, have a box of Kleenex with you. But aside from the ear worm “September” (by Earth Wind & Fire), not a whole lot will stay with you. (3.5*)
