Robot Dreams (2024) Review: Pablo Berger's Oscar Nominated Animated Film is Effortlessly Sweet and Effective

Robot Dreams is Directed by Pablo Berger

Review: Suitable for children while also extremely relatable for adults, Robot Dreams is one of the most uncomplicatedly pleasant experiences I’ve had with a movie in 2024. It’s nice to relive an animation style that once was the norm, while also seeing it adapted in prescient and timely ways. Robot Dreams, while small scale and innocent, feels like the much needed break from convention.

robot dreams 2024 movie — Dog and Robot in Robot Dreams (2024), directed by Pablo Berger

Robot Dreams Review

Effortlessly sweet and effective, Pablo Berger‘s Robot Dreams excels in the details and its own subtlety. Taking place in 1980s New York City (and rebuilding that setting in great detail with beautiful 2D animation), the movie follows the close friendship between Dog and Robot, two buds that spend nearly every moment together until Dog is forced to leave Robot at the beach when it closes down for the season.

And despite such a simple premise that feels like only a young child could gleam much from, Robot Dreams is a universally relatable film that stands among the best animated movies of 2024. It’s more emotionally intelligent than most live action films, while also being more beautifully animated than most animated films.

After a point, you forget that Robot Dreams has no spoken dialogue. It’s quippy enough to hold a child’s attention while still containing moments with enough specificity that’ll break through for adults. The movie is never taking itself too seriously, but always has the right handle on the material. It captures the fleeting moments of friendship, while also showing our capabilities to move on and live in the moment (even when cyphered through a furry creature like Dog).

There are enough creative decisions here to suggest Robot Dreams is more than just a movie for the kids, like the fragmented dreamlike vignettes that take place over the four seasons (the best being a surreal The Wizard of Oz reimagining with hundreds of dazed out Sunflowers). Berger and co. keep you on your toes with the way time works here, where a few moments can speak for months on end as Dog experiences a whole year without his robotic companion.

Robot Dreams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture at the 96th Oscars ceremony in 2024, and while not winning due to a category of heavy hitters headlined by The Boy and the Heron and Across the Spider-Verse, in a normal year, it feels like the indie darling that would wind up competing with the likes of Disney and Pixar. It’s just sweet and unique enough to capture your attention, and vivid enough to keep you entertained.

Suitable for children while also extremely relatable for adults, Robot Dreams is one of the most uncomplicatedly pleasant experiences I’ve had with a movie this year. The animated genre has evolved over the last few decades, and the stranglehold that 3D animation has on the industry is clear and obvious. Sometimes, it’s nice to relive an animation style that once was the norm, while also seeing it adapted in prescient and timely ways. Robot Dreams, while small scale and innocent, feels like the much needed break from convention.

Score: 8/10

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction

Watch Robot Dreams (2024) on VOD

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