Even its observations of the impact of social media on self-worth and insecurity, or creating what a world where social media has legs could look like, are strictly surface-level. There is much room for cutesy comedy and commentary in the premise but Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith’s writing does not reach for specificity, and fails to rise above strictly functional. Even the core idea of a lonely misfit unable to connect with those around him who finds an unlikely friend was explored with far more depth in the deeply affecting How To Train Your Dragon.
Ron’s Gone Wrong does not have the exhilarating action, spectacle, or scale of Big Hero 6 (similarly about a boy’s touching connection with his robot) or the specificity and zany hilarity of The Mitchells Vs The Machines (one of the best films of this year) or the beating heart of Pixar’s Wall-E. The film hardly breaks new ground, and is let down by the fact that we have seen this story and these ideas numerous times before, and done better in other animated films. But it is also far too generic and familiar to be particularly remarkable. Delightfully disruptive, and wonderfully weird, Ron (voiced by Zack Galifianakis), is by far the best thing about the movie.ĭirectors Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine’s sweet saga, about what true friendship means in the age of social media, is a harmless, playful adventure with its head and heart in the right place. He is not connected to the Bubble network which thrives on algorithms and personal data to keep kids glued, and hence is able to forge a ‘true friendship’ with Barney. Enter Ron.Īn adorable anomaly that is quite literally cracked, Ron is a defective piece that is not like the others.
Luckily, on his birthday, his dad comes through, and manages to get a slightly damaged one at a cheaper price. Barney is also the only person at his school who does not have a B Bot so of course, he feels left out and craves his very own digital BFF. Our hero is Barney, an awkward, lonely middle-schooler who has no friends. So naturally, the film aims to be a lighthearted, Black-Mirror-for-kids satire on our rocky relationship with technology at the expense of genuine human interaction. Like a walking, talking Instagram algorithm, the B Bot downloads everything there is to know about you, and uses that to become your new best friend.
Bubble’s latest invention aimed at using algorithms to get adolescents addicted is the B Bot, a cute, droid-like robot companion that is essentially designed to become your phone, friends, and pet all rolled into one. What if your phone came to life?, asks Hollywood’s latest animated comedy Ron’s Gone Wrong. Here, the world is run by a Facebook-like personal data harvesting tech behemoth called Bubble (founded by someone who is also curiously called Mark).
0 kommentar(er)
