Robot Dreams (2023)

I read a review that called this a sweetly sorrowful buddy movie, and I would agree. It is a dog and a robot, and sadly the dog does not have a person, and in fact there are no people in this slightly shabby version of New York City, so the robot becomes dog’s best friend. It is also a visual movie, one without dialog, so the action speaks for itself and for me at least that added to the sweetness of it. The audience certainly could be kids with their parents—it is not snarky at all, and at least in our house, there was rapt attention for the action contained within and more than a little of our own dialog added.

The unnamed protagonist Dog, is living a solitary life in the East Village, following a fixed and not terribly exciting routine. Late one night he is inspired by an infomercial to order a build-your-own-robot kit, and the results are life changing. From the moment of assembly, the Robot is the most expressive and attentive companion, forever fixated on his canine owner with a metallic grin and permanently wide-open eyes. It goes suddenly and somewhat predictably wrong and the rest of the story is about how each of them copes.