Pablo Berger

Robot Dreams

Edition 2023

Kidsproof

102' - 2023 - Drama - Dialogue: no dialogue

Director: Pablo Berger Composer: Alfonso de Vilallonga

Without words and with a hint of melancholy, Pablo Berger takes us to 1980s New York for a bittersweet animated film about a dog and his robot, their friendship and their vulnerability.

What do you do when you're lonely in a metropolis like New York? In the case of Dog - a gentle canine in 1980s Manhattan - you order a DIY kit to build your own robot companion. After some tinkering, Dog finally has a friend. But when the two are separated during a fatal day at the beach on Long Island, they find themselves alone once again. Set to the rhythm of its melancholic characters, '80s music, and the atmosphere of NYC, Pablo Berger's first animated film - based on the graphic novel of the same name - blends the existential themes of BoJack Horseman with the anthropomorphic adventures of Zootropolis. With a clean drawing style reminiscent of Hergé's comics, the Spanish director reveals to us the fragility of friendship and urban life. Friends often don't need words, and this film manages to convey it all without them.

"Pablo Berger's heartwarming animation is a beautiful tale of friendship and love in the hand-drawn streets of New York. Robot Dreams is bound to strike a chord with audiences willing to be coddled with something both innocent and grown-up, that defies the bloat of present-day Disney." - The Wrap