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	$3.6 million [4]

Robot Dreams is a 2023 animated tragicomedy ^[5] film written and directed by Pablo Berger. ^[6] A Spanish-French co-production, it is based on the 2007 comic of the same name by Sara Varon. ^[7] It is about the friendship between a dog and a robot in New York in 1984. ^[8] The film does not contain any dialogue. ^[9]

Robot Dreams had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2023, in the Special Screenings section. ^[10] It received critical acclaim from critics and received the award for Best Film in the Contrechamp section of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the award for Best Independent Animated Feature at the 51st Annie Awards. It won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film and the European Film Award for Best Animated Film and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. ^{[11] [12]}

Plot

In 1980s Manhattan, Dog lives alone. While watching TV, he notices an advertisement for a robot friend and immediately calls to order it. Dog receives Robot in the mail sometime later and assembles him. The two become instant friends as Dog takes Robot out to explore Manhattan. They make their way to Central Park where they involve themselves in a host of activities, notably roller skating to Earth, Wind & Fire's " September". Over the course of the summer, the two become inseparable friends.

Near the end of summer, Dog takes Robot to the beach. After a long day of playing in the water, the pair falls asleep on the beach. Upon waking up well after all the other visitors have left, the pair realize that the water has caused Robot to rust in place. Unable to move Robot, a disheartened Dog is forced to head home for the night. Dog returns to the beach the following day to discover that the beach has been closed until June 1 the following year, with a large barbed wire fence constructed which prevents him from reaching Robot. After being denied access to the beach by the city, Dog tries to illegally break past the fence. However, he is caught by police and is arrested. Afterwards, a disheartened Dog relents to wait until June 1 to go back and rescue Robot, placing a note on his refrigerator as a constant reminder.

Sometime later, a trio of rabbits comes across Robot on the beach. They give him STP oil that fixes him and allows him to leave the beach. He returns to Dog's apartment only for it to be revealed that this was all a fantasy of Robot's. In reality, the rabbits chop off one of Robot's legs and remove one of its toes to fix their broken boat. They discard the leg and leave Robot alone on the beach once again. Meanwhile, Dog spends Halloween alone.

Winter arrives as snow begins to fall across the city and the beach. After having a dream of escaping the snow and returning home to find Dog having replaced him with a new robot, Robot becomes frozen in ice. Meanwhile, Dog goes to the Catskills to meet new friends after seeing a newspaper advertisement. This only leads to him breaking his arm in a sledding accident following a conflict with a pair of anteaters. As winter continues, Robot has another dream of returning home through a world inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Dog meets a magical snowman who leads him to a bowling alley. Dog bowls poorly but finds a new friend in the snowman; only for this to be revealed as a dream.

Following the end of winter, Robot befriends a bird who winds up building a nest next to his arm. The bird lays three eggs that hatch, the youngest child instantly bonding with Robot. The bird's three children grow over a period of time with the youngest remaining the most attached to Robot. When the time comes for the birds to leave, the youngest is the most hesitant to leave Robot; but they ultimately relent and follow after their family following encouragement from Robot. Dog, meanwhile, finds a new friend in Duck during a kite outing and the pair go fishing sometime later. Duck suddenly moves to Europe afterwards, leaving Dog alone yet again.

A monkey sneaks onto the beach and happens upon a buried Robot with help from his metal detector. The monkey takes Robot to a junkyard to sell him. The alligator owner and his son promptly chuck Robot into the pile, where he is promptly broken into different pieces and shuts off. When June 1 finally arrives soon after, Dog returns to the beach but is only able to find Robot's discarded severed leg. He is kicked off the beach after spending the whole day digging. A saddened Dog spends the night laying in bed with Robot's leg.

A raccoon named Rascal visits the junkyard sometime later and discovers Robot's head and remaining limbs. He takes the parts home and, following his interest in building robots on his own, rebuilds Robot with a giant radio as a new body. Robot turns back on, seemingly with no memory of his time with Dog. Meanwhile, Dog goes to a robot store and buys a new robot named Tin. Over the course of the summer, Robot and Rascal form a close friendship as do Dog and Tin. Dog and Tin go to the beach and, learning from his past mistakes, Dog coats Tin with oil spray and keeps him out of the water.

Later, while getting ketchup for a rooftop lunch with Rascal, Robot looks out and sees Dog and Tin walking down the sidewalk. Robot regains all his memories of his time with Dog. Racing out of the building and down the street, Robot manages to catch Dog and reunite with him. The sudden appearance of Rascal reveals that the reunion was yet another fantasy of Robot's. Instead of chasing after Dog, Robot uses his radio body to play "September". Dog hears the song echo down and the pair (unbeknownst to Dog) dance together to the song for the final time. Dog sees a reflection of Robot in a window and Robot promptly hides from view. Robot contemplates revealing himself. However, realizing that he and Dog have found meaningful new relationships following their separation, Robot continues to hide and lets Dog continue on with Tin. Tin notices Dog's sadness and promptly cheers him up as the two danced down the street side by side. Robot then happily returns to Rascal and the two proceed to dance together on the roof.

Production

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. ^[13]

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. ^[14]

Release

Festivals

Robot Dreams had its world premiere on May 21, 2023, in the Special Screenings section of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, ^[15] then screened on 12 June 2023, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, ^[16] on 23 July 2023, at the New Zealand International Film Festival ^[17] and on 14 August 2023, at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival. ^[18] It was screened on September 7, 2023, at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival ^[19] and in October 2023 at the 56th Sitges Film Festival. ^[20]

Theatrical

The film was first released in Spanish theatres on 6 December 2023 by BTeam Pictures. ^{[21] [22]} It expanded to the French market on 27 December 2023. ^[23] Curzon released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 22 March 2024. ^[24] Neon acquired the North American distribution rights and it is set to release on May 31, 2024. ^{[25] [26] [27]}

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 65 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "As heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, Robot Dreams is the stuff good animation is made of". ^[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim" reviews. ^[29]

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". ^[30] 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." ^[31] Wendy Ide of The Guardian awarded the movie five stars out of five, calling it one of the best animations in years. ^[32] Helen O'Hara of Empire deemed the film to be "visual storytelling at its finest". ^[33]

Variety put Robot Dreams on their list of the 22 Overlooked Films of 2023. ^[34]

Top ten lists

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

Accolades

See also

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

Notes

References

External links

• Robot Dreams at IMDb
• Official Page
• Official trailer