Movie Review: Robot Dreams

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Wdc5lJ0Ill2gHHGbLhjll?si=wzoTVR6HS0STDqKd_aq_Rg

So a little background on Robot Dreams, I had two opportunities to see it in the last almost year and passed on both. I skipped seeing it at the Hamptons International Film Festival in favor of seeing Fancy Dance and then earlier this year before the Oscars a local performing arts center but I couldn't fit it into my schedule (and travel would have been time consuming) so I held off until it's wide theatrical release. That was supposed to be in May yet here we are in mid-July that it is finally playing at a reasonably large theater about 50 miles out from New York City so whatever I guess.

Anyway, Robot Dreams follows a lonely dog (named Dog) who buys a robot (named Robot) in 1980s New York to be his friend. The two hit it off immediately and are instant best friends until Dog is forced to abandon Robot at the beach after a malfunction and can't come back to him until the beach reopens in June when they can hopefully reunite.

At an hour and forty-five minutes, the movie can be a bit of a slog since it is basically a slice of life movie once Dog and Robot separate and not all of what is shown is interesting. The film could have basically been a short (on the long-side, maybe around 40 minutes but still an Academy Award qualifying short film) and flowed a lot better, especially since a lot of what happens in the middle of the movie regarding Dog and Robot's separate endeavors.

Even if the visual aesthetic is fantastic and the use of sound is astounding, the overlong runtime makes the whole experience drag enough that I'd say this is a wait for streaming movie. It's definitely worth watching at home and even worth renting digital or getting a streaming service you don't have just to watch this one movie, but it is a wait for streaming entry nonetheless.

★★★