4 stars out of 5
This film should not be confused with the 1984 flick Electric Dreams starring Virginia Madsen and Maxwell Caulfield, nor with the 1968 Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, basis for the 1982 movie Blade Runner. However, it does involve animals, robots, dreams, and the 1980s.
Robot Dreams is animated (a 2024 best animated feature Oscar nominee, in fact). It is also a silent film, except for ambient noise, music, and occasional grunts and shouts of “hey!” In a world of animals, we meet Dog, who is lonely in mid-1980s New York City. So he orders and assembles a Robot, soon his BFF.
Because stories need conflict, Dog and Robot become separated. At this point, I wasn’t really (no pun intended:) drawn in emotionally, though I was impressed with the level of detail in the animation. (I noticed a couple of English words on signs accidentally written in French; turns out this was a joint Spanish/French production.)
However, as the conflict became a bit more complex, I noticed the characters and their predicaments were growing on me. And I was completely sold when Dog meets a cool female downtown Duck, they hop on her motorcycle, and the background music is “Let’s Go” by my beloved Feelies. (We see that Dog is really hung up on Duck when in his apartment, you notice he’s bought the Feelies’ The Good Earth and Talking Heads’ Remain in Light.)
Robot Dreams is a sweet, simple story that covers some grown-up emotions. It seems appropriate for either adults or children, or when it’s streaming, leave it on for the dog when you’re not home.
being underrated is overrated
Jack Silbert, curator