ROBOT DREAMS is ambitious – on the surface, it tells the story of a dog who befriends a robot but ends up being a meditation on the nature of love, friendship, loneliness, and independence. I can’t say I’ve seen very many feature-length films without dialogue and even fewer that are animated, but Pablo Berger’s ROBOT DREAMS pulls off this intriguing and complex story in a unique format.
This is technically a Spanish-French film but is set in a very real New York City. Unlike many animated stories about anthropomorphic animals, there are surprisingly few zoological puns or jokes, which sets a more grounded and realistic tone for the film. ROBOTS DREAMS is more similar to LA LA LAND or (500) DAYS OF SUMMER than ZOOTOPIA or WALL-E.
ROBOT DREAMS is bittersweet and poignant and imbues enough drama and tension that the 1 hour and 42-minute movie flies by. We often see short films utilize an animated dialogue-free style to illustrate serious topics; so I loved seeing a full-length film set a new standard for storytelling.
ROBOT DREAMS is coming soon to Apple TV+.
