Buddy comedy? Check. Cute Robots? Check. A damning critique of how our incessant use of technology is affecting children? Check. Ron’s Gone Wrong definitely has a lot to offer, but does it deliver on what it promises.
Written by Niamh Brook
Ron’s Gone Wrong takes place in a world not too dissimilar to our own, a world where technology has become an absolute necessity in most of our daily lives. Every child in this world has a B-Bot; a robot friend that uses your social media to help you connect. Every child except for our lead Barney, a socially awkward boy from a low income family who doesn’t have the means to connect physically or virtually. Enter Ron, a broken B-Bot that takes Barney on a wild array of wacky adventures and in doing so teaches Barney the importance of connection and friendship.
Through the use of it’s B-bots and their parent company ‘Bubble’ (an obvious Apple rip off) the film questions how our technology is affecting our children or as Bo Burnham would put it what does it mean to have “everything and anything all of the time”. In doing so, it does produce some rather cringe inducing dialogue but due to the nature of the film there is no real way around this. Although finding some lines cringe worthy, I appreciate the questions it raises for a younger audience, inviting them to take the time away from their screens, something we all need to be reminded from time to time.
Whilst I am a constant advocate that animation is for all ages, the narrative, themes and jokes of Ron’s Gone Wrong are definitely aimed at a younger audience and personally at times, I felt far too old for the film. Just shy of two hours, Ron’s Gone Wrong also has some issues with it’s pacing, feeling as though it was about 20 minutes too long with a climax tacked onto the end just for some last minute action.
Ron’s Gone Wrong is a nice little film and a great way to spend a rainy afternoon but isn’t an animation that will change your life. It raises some interesting, thought provoking points and you’ll definitely have fun while watching but there is a fear that Ron’s Gone Wrong is a film that you will have already forgotten about by the time you next take a seat in your local cinema.