Robot Dreams (5/10) - featuring @JoshDamn23
"Robot Dreams" is an animated tragicomedy film written and directed by Pablo Berger. It is based on the 2007 comic of the same name by Sara Varon. Featuring a charming art style and a lovely soundtrack, it depicts a friendship between a dog and a robot in New York City back in the year1984.
Dog is lonely and decides to -order- a new robot friend off of the television. He puts the robot together carefully, being very purposeful and treating the whole task as very important to him. The robot wakes up with a smile. Then the two of them head out of dog's apartment together, Dog taking Robot out to explore the big city in this brand new world. The robot, being 'just born' in a way, exhibits that same sort of innocence and naivety that a child that doesn't know any better would exhibit.
(See "Chappie," "The Iron Giant," "Johnny 5," and "Wall E" in a way)
The animation is lovely and smooth. It has a certain beauty in its simplicity. The variety of animal characters keeps things visually interesting with a great diversity. The sound design was also great and I loved the use of "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire as the Dog and Robot's theme song, of sorts.
The film actually explores a very complex subject matter - I was actually rather surprised because the trailer gave no indication that it would deal with anything remotely "heavy" or delicate.
The whole thing is about relationships, how people come into our lives seemingly at random and perhaps leave just as suddenly. People stay with us even after we can't see them or talk to them anymore. People might hurt us, intentionally or unintentionally.
I wonder if you could almost sum the whole film up as "accidents happen."
Those accidents could be even turn out to be a pleasant surprise.
It's definitely a "That's life," kind of film. For better or for worse.
After watching this with my friends, it was a curious thing for the four of us when the film was done - Two of us were much more sympathetic to the plight of the Dog and two of us related more to the Robot. Our group was split right down the middle.
I was one of the two that felt the Robot's fate was much more unfair and unpleasant. So I thought I would talk to one of my friends who sympathized more with Dog to explore why we feel the way we do about the film and its bittersweet storyline.
Everyone say hi to @JoshDamn23!
— Heyo Heyo!
Just gonna throw in the Spoiler warning here before I get into specifics. Hopefully I haven't ruined it already by indicating there isn't a 100% positive "fate" for both Robot and Dog.
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SPOILER WARNING
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So the story goes like this:
Dog builds himself a Robot friend. Dog and Robot hit it off and are close friends immediately, sharing many delightful experiences together. After a lovely day on the beach snoozing till the sun goes down, something terrible happens:
Robot didn't realize a swim in the ocean would rust him over and deplete his oil reserves. He can't move an inch, and is far too heavy for Dog to move him an inch either. Dog has no way to call for help and Robot insists he go home for the evening where it is safe. Dog reluctantly agrees. When he tries to return in the morning, though - the beach is closed for the season and won't be open again till next summer.
Dog tried to sneak in and got caught, landing him in jail briefly. Dog tried to petition the local court to allow him to access the closed beach, and it was denied. Dog certainly tried, I'm not trying to say he didn't.
But I didn't feel like he tried hard enough.
While Robot was lying on the beach with a dead battery, a host of things happened to him, more of them unpleasant than pleasant. Some rabbits were practicing boat rowing and lost one of their oars and managed to get ashore to steal the robot's leg to replace it so they could get right back to their rowing practice.
A homeless monkey snuck onto the closed beach with a metal detector and salvaged various junk - including Robot. He then delivered Robot to a Crocodile father and son who ran a scrap heap, and the father knocked Robot's head right off of his body.
While Robot was left 'dreaming' of reuniting with Dog throughout the entire winter alone, Dog had a relatively normal Halloween passing out candy and a trip to a ski lodge. It felt to me like Dog was just "killing time" while he waited for summer, having moments of enjoying holidays in the meantime. Granted, he had Robot on his mind the whole time, (evidenced by him seeing a kid dressed as a Robot on Halloween and drawing Robot on the frosted bus window on the way home from the ski lodge.)
But it still felt like Robot had the shorter end of the stick in the scenario. My two friends seemed rather dismissive of the damage inflicted on the Robot merely because he was "just a robot," and couldn't feel pain. They didn't have trouble putting him on a level a bit lower than all the animals seeing as he wasn't "human" like them.
During Spring, Robot watched over a family of fledgling chicks as their mother fed them and helped them grow into charming little birds. Dog made a new friend - a Duck - and they had a nice couple days of flying kites and fishing together. Both of those pleasant Spring activities had sad endings, seeing as Robot was left alone after the baby birds flew away and Dog's new friend, Duck, ended up suddenly moving to a different country.
By the time it was Summer again, Dog immediately went to pick up Robot from the beach - only to find that he was nowhere to be found- except for his LEG. Which is almost worse, to be honest. Dog searched and searched, digging through the sand and combing the beach. But no luck. He just couldn’t find him. Robot was torn apart and unconscious in a junkyard. (There I go again, humanizing him.)
By chance, a red Raccoon was shopping for scraps and found the remains of Robot. He took what pieces he could and reassembled Robot in his workshop. Robot needed replacement parts - a new leg from a different robot model and a boombox for a chest.
Dog refused to be lonely any longer and purchased yet another Robot friend named Tin. When Dog and Tin go to the beach for fun, Dog smothered Tin in oil and didn't let him into the water, because he knew well how unsafe the sea is for robots.
Robot and his Raccoon friend have made a lovely life for themselves together, dancing and cooking and living in a penthouse apartment. Dog and Tin are also there for each other and Dog is moving on from the loss of his old friend, Robot.
Robot catches a glimpse of Dog one day from the apartment window high above. He runs down to catch Dog and the two reunite, so happy to see each other again after all this time.
But wait - that was another Robot Dream.
Robot does NOT reach out to Dog even after seeing him walk by with his new robot, Tin.
The two of them continue on with their separate lives, on their separate paths. Possibly to never see each other again - but that doesn't erase the friendship they shared and the time they spent together.
It was a bittersweet film and I understand what it was trying to accomplish, but - I just didn't think Robot and Dog had "equal" struggles. I thought what Robot went through was far more isolating and traumatic. Whereas my friend Josh here empathized much more with the Dog's plight throughout the film.
I've brought him in here today as a Guest Reviewer to give his side of the story as a viewer of the film, seeing as we had such polar opposite responses.
— I’m here to be controversial baby, leave that stove on cuz my takes are comin in hot.
I hate how Robot was torn apart while Dog passed out candy on Halloween and flew a kite with a Duck. I hated how Dog didn't try harder to get him off of the beach. Why didn't he go a mile down the coast and come in along the shore, kind of like the rabbits did? Rent a kayak or go scuba diving? Why didn't he petition the courts again and again and again to let him recover Robot? Be such a bureaucratic nuisance that the Judge HAD to give in. It literally would've taken 10 minutes to grab him and re-lock the gates to the beach after all.
Josh says "the film was trying to tell us there was nothing else Dog could do." But for me, other characters made it to the "locked" beach, why the fuck couldn't Dog? Why can everyone access the beach they're not supposed to access but Dog can't, the one with the greatest motivation to access it??? It nagged me throughout the whole film, where as Josh was able to accept it and move passed it as a viewer.
I empathized most with the one that was left behind and Josh empathized with the one that left and lost his friend.
— Ok, so, the way I see it, Dog did everything that was realistically possible. He tried to physically drag Robot, he petitioned for a permit to go on premises, he even got arrested for sneaking in when he was denied. As mentioned, other people (animals) got onto the beach - but they all did so illegally. And Dog had already been arrested once - you can’t expect him to try ANOTHER illegal thing; the subsequent charges would be much harsher. Like, what if he got jail time? He’d be away from Robot even longer.
I mean sure, maybe another trespassing charge wouldn’t land him in jail - but that’s a big “maybe” for a character who’s already probably pretty distraught/paranoid at the prospect of losing his friend. Not to mention that Dog is a pretty straight-laced character; nothing about his personality really shows us that he’s one for “breaking the law”. So, getting arrested once is already huge. That would be enough for most people, I think, to realize that resources have been exhausted.
Another important note - Robot seems to be perfectly fine with all of this. He encourages Dog to leave him. And, importantly, almost every time we see Robot on that beach, he’s smiling. Almost every time.
Sure, he’ll get sad sometimes, like when he wakes up from a dream where he reunites with Dog, or when those rabbits take his parts (important to note that he feels no pain - he’s just mad at the fact that they’re stealing him. Which, fair, I’d be mad too). But he’s never sad for very long. He never cries, or laments his situation. At worst, he seems “bothered”. I’d even argue that, at some points, he’s having an easier time than Dog.
And the fact that Robot seems content (or at least mostly unbothered) is intentional - it’s to reassure us that Dog is not a villain. The situation is bad for both parties, but it isn’t devastating for either. And I feel that trying to find a villain in one of these characters is perhaps misinterpreting the core conflict of the film - that is, dealing with things you have no way of changing.
I feel like - in the meta sense - the film is trying to establish that no one is really at fault. The film is showing us that Dog has done everything in his power to rectify this situation, but the circumstances of life are keeping him and Robot apart. This is the premise on which the main conflict is built.
It’s a plot point that the audience must accept for the plot to continue - Dog and Robot are separated, they cannot get back together, on with the story. Whether or not this works for you is, of course, going to vary from person to person. But, to me, it made sense; the actions of both characters were reasonable, and watching them deal with it was…well, it was sad, but it was entertaining too. Like you said, a bittersweet story. At least we can agree on that, haha.
You point out how Robot is almost always smiling or at the very least neutral, rather than negative.
But we've already established that Robot is basically as naive and innocent as a child. He hasn't been "alive" long enough to understand that people can be cruel (rabbits stealing his leg) or that bad things can happen (him being sold for scrap.) He doesn't know what he's doing when he encourages dog to leave him behind that first night - he doesn't know the beaches will close like they do every year, he doesn't know what winter is or what it will be like waiting it out frozen in ice all alone for MONTHS. He doesn't know any better.
You're putting a lot of stock in his reactions and responses when he hasn't been around long enough to react properly to these scenarios he finds himself in. (Does he even have the capacity TO CRY?) Also I don't think it means "nothing" that, if he were NOT a robot, I feel like a lot of your points wouldn't hold water. The fact that he can't feel pain is a huge "weight off your shoulders" as a viewer, because otherwise it wouldn't even be a contest between who is having the worst time. But hey, he IS a robot in the film, so perhaps my personification of him is more out of line than you taking him at face value.
The film has many robots and they seem to be bought and sold with much the same nonchalance as someone would purchase a vacuum cleaner. No one is shocked to see a fully functional, self-sustaining automaton out and about in Manhattan like we would be today. The guard at the boardwalk didn't feel remotely swayed to just let Dog in really quick to get his friend - as if Dog had said he accidentally left his toaster there instead. Dog gives up on ever finding Robot again and purchases yet another self sustaining, conscious, unique Robot at the Best Buy down the street.
The way I personify them and empathize with them is perhaps something the film DIDN'T want me to do, but I can't help it.
I'm not trying to say that I think Dog is the villain, that would be absurd, but if the film really wanted me to feel like he had done everything he could do, I think it could have accomplished that better. Having Dog do ONE illegal thing but then not wanting to do MORE than one is kind of funny in itself. I wonder if it would've made me less frustrated if he just - had refused to break the law outright instead of just doing it once and not continuing. He TOOK THE STEP to break the law, but then didn't want to take anymore steps. I feel like breaking the law the FIRST TIME is the biggest one. But what do I know? lol
Multiple other characters get on and off of the beach illegally whereas Dog tries once and is immediately caught and jailed. His perfectly reasonable petition to the court was denied for basically no reason. Perhaps there's some "our justice system is shit" morality in there too somewhere as far as the film's messages and meanings.
I just keep think of how there are almost 183 days in the span of 6 months. That's over 4000 hours of just... lying on your back staring up at the sky. I can't stop thinking about how mind-numbingly painful it would be to just be alone with your thoughts for 4000 hours. Sure, its broken up with a cute bird family and the beauty of seeing a first snowfall, but that doesn't seem like nearly enough. Can Robot sleep? Like really sleep? Does he get 8 hours a night? Can he shut down for days at a time so there aren't soooo many waking moments of empty loneliness? Where he can maybe have some nice dreams?
The fact that he's dreaming about getting to go home and see his friend is what kills me. I'm sure Dog is dreaming many nights too but Robot - Robot literally dreams of another robot REPLACING HIM AS DOG'S FRIEND, and then it ACTUALLY HAPPENS. LIKE. His literal nightmare is not getting to see Dog again and Dog getting another robot friend instead and then he ends up choosing that in the end, instead of inserting himself back into Dog's life suddenly after everything has basically blown over and wrapped up with their new lives and new friends.
It just - Yeah. To reiterate: the film was bittersweet.
It was trying to be realistic in that things in life don't always go according to plan.
People come and go - people you miss, people you wish were still there.
Sometimes you don't get the reunions you've prayed for over and over - perhaps you even CHOSE not to get them, because how could they measure up to your dreams.
You meet people and make new friends without forgetting your old ones - but your new friendships change you.
Dog didn't let Tin go in the ocean because he knew it was dangerous - he KNEW from his past mistake with losing Robot and did NOT want to repeat it again with his new companion. His past with Robot had an influence over his new friendship with Tin.
Robot "wasn't the same Robot he was before" he short-circuited on the beach. The Raccoon helped him "rebuild himself" after his trauma, metaphorically as well as literally. Robot physically has new parts that he didn't have before. He is visually and physically different, and yet still has the same "heart and mind."
I certainly picked up on all of those sweet and painful messages shown in metaphors through the Dog and Robot's friendship. I get what it was trying to say - what it was ACTUALLY saying.
I think I just wanted Dog to try harder to get Robot back, even if the outcome had been exactly the same. (Also I wish Dog and Robot had reunited, even for a moment, just so Dog knew he was okay. It would HAUNT ME FOREVER if my friend just disappeared and I never knew what happened to him.)
I gave it a 5 or 6/10 because the "balance" between what Robot and Dog went through without each other felt imbalanced to me. I felt FRUSTRATED watching Dog hand out candy on Halloween and make a new friend to fly kites with. It didn't feel fair. But maybe that's just more of the "tragicomedy" of life.
And Josh?
Iiiii give it 7/10. Not a typical movie I’d go for, but I liked it enough. Glad I watched it.
Thanks for stopping by!
More reviews to come.
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Hannah if you’re ever stuck on a beach I’m leaving you there btw.
I know, Josh. I know…
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