Video Fridays: Robot Dreams

This movie was playing at my local “art” theater (The Beverly Theater) and it looked pretty interesting. I had no idea what to expect except that it was animated and featured a dog and his robot. Set in 1980s Manhattan NYC populated by animals instead of humans, our protagonist, Dog, is tired of being alone so he buys a robot who quickly becomes his best friend. This Oscar nominated film has no actual dialogue, but perfectly communicates its poignant story about loneliness, friendship and difficult choices through the characters’ gestures, expressions, sounds and the musical soundtrack. I found it interesting that a film with no dialogue, set in 1980s Manhattan was produced by a Spanish/French studio. It really is a beautiful and charming tale with no world destroying catastrophes, arch-villains, or explosions… just one character’s awkward quest for connection.

The film that got the 2024 Oscar for Best Animated Feature was The Boy and the Heron, which I felt was one of Miyazaki’s lesser films because of its truncated ending. Given that I didn’t even get a chance to see Robot Dreams until well after the Oscars (or any of the other nominated animation features, besides The Boy and the Heron), it felt a bit like Boy won because it might likely to be Miyazaki’s last animated feature. If Robot Dreams shows up in your neighborhood theater, don’t hesitate to see it. If you’re an old person, like me, it’ll remind you of a world that was but also wasn’t. And young people can marvel at how weird things were but weren’t in the 1980s. Enjoy.

[Movie viewed on 2024-07-31]

No North American DVD/Blu-ray release date was posted and Apple TV shows “coming soon” on its streaming site.

Click HERE to return to My 2024 List of Movies I Watched in the Theaters

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