Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
Directed by Sarah Smith
In a world where walking, talking, digitally connected bots have become children's best friends, an 11-year-old finds that his robot buddy doesn't quite work the same as the others do.
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4 films that influenced Ron's Gone Wrong
What critics say influenced Ron's Gone Wrong
The references come thick and fast – from E.T. to Short Circuit , with Big Hero 6 providing some particularly obvious inspiration and The Mitchells Vs The Machines exploring similar territory earlier this year.
Additionally, “Ron’s Gone Wrong” borrows from myriad other movies in telling the story of a lonely boy and his adorable but imperfect droid pal, from “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Big Hero 6” to “Her” and even that forgotten ‘80s comedy “Electric Dreams.”
Like Big Hero 6, Smith and Co. take the time to develop their relationship, with Ron attempting to learn about Barney while figuring out how to become his friend.
The first feature from London-based high-end digital animation studio Locksmith Animation, Ron’s Gone Wrong t ranscends the familiarity of the story (there’s a thematic an overlap with Big Hero 6 and How To Train Your Dragon , to name just two) with deft writing, appealing animation and a big heart crammed into a small malfunctioning robot.
The design and mission of the B-Bots makes them appear to be a mix between EVE from WALL-E and Baymax from Big Hero 6 .
But it’s no Big Hero 6 or Wall-E.
The first feature from London-based high-end digital animation studio Locksmith Animation, Ron’s Gone Wrong t ranscends the familiarity of the story (there’s a thematic an overlap with Big Hero 6 and How To Train Your Dragon , to name just two) with deft writing, appealing animation and a big heart crammed into a small malfunctioning robot.
Locksmith was founded by Arthur Christmas director Sarah Smith and Shaun The Sheep producer Julie Lockhart with the aim of matching the quality and the commercial heft of the output of the top US animation studios.
But the script by Smith and Peter Baynham, who were also behind the positively delightful Arthur Christmas , is maddeningly unfocused, and its central themes are frustratingly unclear.
Directors Sarah Smith (“Arthur Christmas”) and Jean-Philippe Vine (whose credits include the “Shaun the Sheep” TV series) create a lot of impressive sight gags.
Co-director Sarah Smith was the writer of the mighty Arthur Christmas – a film I’ll never get tired of watching – but her script here lacks focus.
It's written by Smith and her Arthur Christmas co-writer and fellow Brit Peter Baynham (most famous for penning stuff for Borat and Alan Partridge, and who was Oscar-nominated for the former's 'moviefilms'); although set in America, it has an idiosyncratic, distinctly British flavour and sometimes pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable in a children's film ('It's Mad Max meets Sesame Street !' balks a tech bod at one point).
It has been ten years since the screenwriting partnership of Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham gave us their last animated feature, the delightfully crackpot Arthur Christmas.
The story is a sentimental mash-up of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Short Circuit,” “E.T.” and “Wall-E” centered around a middle school lad with no friends surrounded by kids with robot friends, the latest innovation from an Apple knockoff called Bubble.