Robot Dreams (film)

Robot Dreams is a 2023 animated tragicomedy^[6] film written and directed by Pablo Berger.^[7] A Spanish-French co-production, it is based on the 2007 comic of the same name by Sara Varon.^[8] The film follows an unusual friendship between a dog and a robot in New York City in 1984.^[9] The film does not contain any dialogue.^[10]

Robot Dreams
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pablo Berger
Screenplay by	Pablo Berger
Based on	Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
Produced by	Ibon Cormenzana [ca] Ignasi Estapé Sandra Tapia Díaz [ca] Jérôme Vidal Pablo Berger
Edited by	Fernando Franco
Music by	Alfonso de Vilallonga[1]
Production companies	Arcadia Motion Pictures Noodles Production Les Films du Worso RTVE Movistar Plus+[2]
Distributed by	BTeam Pictures (Spain) Wild Bunch (France)
Release dates	May 21, 2023 (2023-05-21) (Cannes) December 6, 2023 (2023-12-06) (Spain) December 27, 2023 (2023-12-27) (France)
Running time	102 minutes
Countries	Spain France
Budget	€5 million[3]
Box office	$6.1 million[4][5]

Robot Dreams had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023, in the Special Screenings section.^[11] It received critical acclaim and won Best Film in the Contrechamp section of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival as well as Best Independent Animated Feature at the 51st Annie Awards. It also won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film and the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards.^[12][13]

Plot

In 1980s Manhattan, Dog lives alone. After seeing a TV advertisement, Dog decides to order a robot friend, which he assembles upon delivery and then takes out to explore Manhattan. Over the course of the summer, the two become inseparable friends. The song "September" is played over these scenes.

As the summer comes to an end, Dog takes Robot to the beach, where they spend a long day playing in the water and later fall asleep. They wake up after all other visitors have left, and Dog realizes that Robot has been rusted by water and thus cannot move; a disheartened Dog is forced to head home for the night. Dog returns the following day with repairing tools, only to discover that the beach has been closed until 1 June of the following year. After some failed attempts to get inside the beach, Dog relents to wait until he can go and rescue Robot next year, placing a note on his refrigerator as a constant reminder.

Throughout Robot's time on the beach, he dreams of various scenarios where he manages to escape from the beach and return to Dog's apartment, only to eventually return to the reality of him being stuck on the beach. One of Robot's legs is severed by some rabbits, who use a part of it to fill a hole in their sinking boat before discarding the leg. Meanwhile, Dog contemplates about Robot, as he is constantly reminded of Robot and struggles to make new friends.

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 a junk pile, breaking Robot into pieces and causing him to shut off. When 1 June finally arrives, Dog returns to the beach but is only able to find Robot's discarded leg. In his search, he is kicked out for making many large holes in the sand. He spends the night at home laying in bed with Robot's leg.

Later, a raccoon named Rascal visits the junkyard and discovers Robot's head and remaining limbs. He buys the parts and takes them home, rebuilding Robot with a boombox as the new body. Meanwhile, Dog buys a new robot friend named Tin. Over the summer, Robot and Rascal form a close friendship as do Dog and Tin. Dog goes to the beach with Tin and, learning from his past mistakes, coats Tin with oil spray and keeps him out of the water.

As Robot and Rascal have a rooftop lunch, Robot looks out and sees Dog and Tin walking down the sidewalk. Robot races down the street and manages to reunite with Dog, but Rascal suddenly appears, revealing that this reunion was yet another fantasy of Robot's. In reality, Robot decides not to chase after Dog, instead using his boombox body to play the song "September". Dog hears the song and the pair (unbeknownst to Dog) dance together to it for the final time. Dog spots Robot in the corner of his eye, but Robot hides, contemplating whether to reveal himself. As Robot realizes that both he and Dog have found new meaningful relationships following their separation, he chooses against revealing himself to allow Dog to 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's lunch and the two proceed to dance together on the roof.

Production

In 2008, Sara Varon 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.^[14]

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.^[15]

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.^[16] 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.^[17]

Release

Festivals

Robot Dreams had its world premiere on 21 May 2023 in the Special Screenings section of the 76th Cannes Film Festival,^[18] then screened on 12 June 2023 at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival,^[19] on 23 July 2023 at the New Zealand International Film Festival,^[20] and on 14 August 2023 at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival.^[21] It was screened on 7 September 2023 at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival^[22] and in October 2023 at the 56th Sitges Film Festival.^[23]

Theatrical

The film was first released in Spanish theatres on 6 December 2023 by BTeam Pictures.^[24][25] It expanded to the French market on 27 December 2023.^[26] Curzon released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 22 March 2024.^[27] Neon acquired the North American distribution rights and it was released on 31 May 2024.^[28][29][30]

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 135 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "As heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, Robot Dreams is the stuff good animation is made of."^[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[32]

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".^[33] 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".^[34]

Variety put Robot Dreams on its list of the 22 Overlooked Films of 2023.^[35]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on a number of critics' top ten lists of the best Spanish films of 2023:

• 4th — El Periódico de Catalunya (critics)^[36]
• 5th — El Español (Series & Más consensus)^[37]
• 6th — El Cultural (critics)^[38]
• 6th — El Mundo (Luis Martínez)^[39]
• 7th — Mondosonoro (consensus)^[40]

Accolades

Year	Award / Festival	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2023	Annecy International Animation Film Festival	Contrechamp Award - Best Film	Robot Dreams	Won	[41]
	56th Sitges Film Festival	Best Film		Nominated	[42]
		Grand People's Choice Award for Best Feature Film in the SOFC		Won
	Cinekid Festival	Best Children's Film		Nominated	[43] [44]
	Coronado Island Film Festival	Best Animated Feature		Won	[45]
	36th European Film Awards	European Animated Feature Film		Won	[46]
	44th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Animated Film		Runner-up[lower-alpha 1]	[47]
	49th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Film		Runner-up	[48]
	36th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Feature Film		Nominated	[49]
	29th Forqué Awards	Best Animation Film		Won	[50]
	20th St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[51]
	27th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Feature		Won	[52]
	15th Indiana Film Journalists Association	Best Film		Nominated	[53] [54]
		Best Animated Film		Runner-up
		Original Vision		Nominated
	28th San Diego Film Critics Society Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[55]
	28th Florida Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[56]
2024	13th Georgia Film Critics Association Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[57]
	22nd San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[58]
	23rd Nevada Film Critics Society	Best Animated Feature		Won	[59]
	17th Houston Film Critics Society Awards	Best Animated Feature		Nominated	[60]
	27th Online Film Critics Society Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[61]
	11th Feroz Awards	Best Comedy Film		Won	[62]
		Best Original Soundtrack	Alfonso de Vilallonga	Won
		Best Poster	José Luis Ágreda	Won
	3rd Carmen Awards	Best Non-Andalusian Produced Film	Robot Dreams	Nominated	[63] [64]
		Best Editing	Fernando Franco	Nominated
		Best Art Direction	José Luis Ágreda	Nominated
	79th CEC Awards	Best Film	Robot Dreams	Nominated	[65] [66]
		Best Animated Film		Won
		Best Director	Pablo Berger	Nominated
		Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Music	Alfonso de Vilallonga	Won
	16th Gaudí Awards	Best Animated Film	Robot Dreams	Won	[67]
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Pablo Berger	Nominated
		Best Original Score	Alfonso de Vilallonga	Won
	44th London Film Critics' Circle Awards	Animated Film of the Year	Robot Dreams	Nominated	[68]
	38th Goya Awards	Best Animated Film		Won	[69]
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Pablo Berger	Won
		Best Editing	Fernando Franco	Nominated
		Best Original Score	Alfonso de Vilallonga	Nominated
	21st International Cinephile Society Awards	Best Animated Film	Robot Dreams	Runner-up	[70]
	51st Annie Awards	Best Animated Feature - Independent		Won	[71]
		Best Character Design - Feature	Daniel Fernandez Casas	Nominated
		Best Direction - Feature	Pablo Berger, Benoît Feroumont	Nominated
		Best Storyboarding - Feature	Maca Gil	Nominated
		Best Writing - Feature	Pablo Berger	Nominated
	28th Satellite Awards	Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature	Robot Dreams	Nominated	[72]
	17th Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[73]
	96th Academy Awards	Best Animated Feature	Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana [ca], Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz [ca]	Nominated	[74] [13]
	11th Platino Awards	Best Animated Film	Robot Dreams	Won	[75]
		Best Original Score	Alfonso de Vilallonga	Won
	7th Quirino Awards	Best Ibero-American Feature Film	Robot Dreams	Won	[76]
		Best Visual Development	José Luis Ágreda, Daniel Fernández Casas	Nominated
		Best Sound Design and Original Music	Fabiola Ordoyo, Alfonso Vilallonga	Won

Future

In March 2024, during a screening in the Aero Theatre, director Pablo Berger expressed interest in making a sequel "involving Dog and Robot meeting up again for Thanksgiving with their respective partners" or a spin-off of the film:

"I’ve thought about revisiting this world, maybe with a spin-off of some of the characters. A horror film with the bunnies, or Duck goes to Barcelona? But we’re in L.A., so someone could steal my idea." said Berger.^[77]

See also

• List of Spanish films of 2023
• List of French films of 2023
• Minimalist film

Notes

1. Shared with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Peasants.

References

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External links

• Robot Dreams at IMDb
• Official Page
• Official trailer