''Robot Dreams'' () is a 2023

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...

film written and directed by

Pablo Berger Pablo Berger Uranga (born 1963) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing and writing the silent drama film '' Blancanieves'' (2012), the black comedy films '' Torremolinos 73'' (2003) and ''Abracadabra'' (2017), a ...

. A Spanish-French co-production, it is based on the 2007 comic of the same name by

Sara Varon Sara Varon is an American graphic novelist, writer, and illustrator best known for her work in children's literature. Her best known work is the comic ''Robot Dreams'' which was later adapted into an animated film of the same name directed by Pa ...

. The film follows an unusual friendship between a dog and a robot in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1984. The film has no dialogue. ''Robot Dreams'' had its world premiere at the

76th Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film ''Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, Justine Triet became ...

on 21 May 2023, in the Special Screenings section. It received critical acclaim and won Best Film in the Contrechamp section of the

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

as well as Best Independent Animated Feature at the 51st Annie Awards. It also won the

Goya Award for Best Animated Film The Goya Award for Best Animated Film (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Premio Goya a la mejor película animada'') is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. The category was first presented at the 4th Goya Awards, fourth edit ...

and the

European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film has been awarded annually since 2009 by the European Film Academy. Winners and nominees 2009 2010s 2020s Directors with multiple nominations *Tomm Moore - 3 (one win) *Ari Folman - 2 (one wi ...

, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the

96th Academy Awards The 96th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonl ...

Plot

In 1984

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

lives alone. After seeing a TV advertisement, Dog decides to order a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

friend, which he assembles upon delivery and then takes out to explore Manhattan, such as rollerskating in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

to the song "

September September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. September in the Northern Hemisphere and March in the Southern Hemisphere are seasonally equivalent. In the Northern hemisphere, the b ...

" by

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

. Over the course of the summer, the two become inseparable friends. 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 A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. A metal detector consists of a control box, an adjustable shaft, and ...

. 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 lying in bed with Robot's leg. Later, a

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

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 A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape players/recorders and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid-1990s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered thro ...

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 Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

. This project never materialized. 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. Initially, Berger wanted to work with

Cartoon Saloon Cartoon Saloon is an Irish animation film, short film and television studio based in Kilkenny which provides film TV and short film services. The studio is best known for its animated feature films ''The Secret of Kells'', ''Song of the Sea'', ' ...

to animate the film, but abandoned plans in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Eventually, Berger helped set up various animation studios across Spain to help to get the film made. The animation process began in mid-June 2021 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and later on Iruñea studios opened as well in Pamplona, working parallel to the Madrid team. Ivan Labanda provides vocals for both Dog and Robot.

Release

Festivals

''Robot Dreams'' had its world premiere on 21 May 2023 in the Special Screenings section of the

, then screened on 12 June 2023 at the

, on 23 July 2023 at the

New Zealand International Film Festival The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) () is a film festival held annually across New Zealand. The festival is operated by the New Zealand Film Festival Trust. It programmes international and New Zealand films. History The festiva ...

, and on 14 August 2023 at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival. It was screened on 7 September 2023 at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival and in October 2023 at the

56th Sitges Film Festival The 56th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia took place from 5 October to 15, 2023, in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. The supernatural horror film '' Sister Death'', directed by Paco Plaza, opened the festival. Argentine horror f ...

Theatrical

The film was first released in Spanish theatres on 6 December 2023 by BTeam Pictures. It expanded to the French market on 27 December 2023.

Curzon Curzon may refer to: People Americans * Aria Curzon (born 1987), American actress * Walter de Curzon Poultney (1845–1929), one of Baltimore, Maryland's most colorful and flamboyant high-society members Britons * Christopher Curzon (born 1958), ...

released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 22 March 2024.

Neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

acquired the North American distribution rights and it was released on 31 May 2024.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States by Decal Releasing on October 8, 2024.

Reception

Critical reception

of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, deeming " he relationship betweenDog and Robot to be the most amazing and beautiful friendship of the year".

Robbie Collin Robbie Collin is a British film critic. Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''. Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The ...

of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' 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". ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' put ''Robot Dreams'' on its list of the 22 Overlooked Films of 2023. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' put the film at #14 on their list for the best films of 2024.

Top ten lists

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

Accolades

Future

In March 2024, during a screening in the Aero Theatre, director

expressed interest in making a sequel "involving Dog and Robot meeting up again for

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

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 Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

? But we’re in L.A., so someone could steal my idea." said Berger.

Notes

References

External links

*
Official Page

Official trailer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robot Dreams (film) 2020s Spanish films 2020s French animated films 2023 animated films 2023 comedy-drama films 2023 films 2023 science fiction films Animated films about dogs Animated films about friendship Animated films about raccoons Animated films about robots Animated films based on American comics Animated films set in Manhattan Animated films set in the 1980s Animated films set on beaches Animated films without speech Annecy Cristal–winning films Annie Award for Best Animated Feature – Independent winners Arcadia Motion Pictures films Best Animated Film Goya Award winners European Film Awards winners (films) Films set in 1984 Films set on the New York City Subway French adult animated films French animated feature films French films set in New York City French science fiction comedy-drama films Independent animated films Neon (company) films Spanish adult animated films Spanish animated feature films Spanish films set in New York City Spanish science fiction comedy-drama films Tragicomedy films