Ron's Gone Wrong

Ron's Gone Wrong Story: When a socially distant boy, Barney Pudowski, gets a popular tech companion on his birthday, he quickly realises it isn’t what he wished for.

Ron's Gone Wrong Review: Barney (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer) isn’t having the best birthday. He wants to invite his schoolmates to a party at his place, with a lot of food prepared by his grandma Donka (voiced by Olivia Colman). But his former friends barely notice him anymore. They’re distracted by their B-bots, robotic buddies who connect them to social networks, while constantly documenting all the trivial details in their lives. Barney’s dad Graham (voiced by Ed Helms) struggles with an online novelty item business and can only manage to gift his son a rock hammer set. But when Graham somehow manages to get his hands on a tarnished B-bot, Barney quickly realises the damage is beneath its surface.

The star-studded voice cast isn’t easily recognisable. Olivia Colman completely disappears behind the affable grandmother Donka to make her one of the standout characters. Zach Galifianakis is distinctive with Ron’s voice as the actor fully embraces the film’s quirkiness to make the little bot endearing. Jack Dylan Grazer delivers an earnest portrayal as the socially awkward and introvertish Barney Pudowski. Combined, Barney and Ron’s quirky relationship is charming and engaging, which significantly improves the film.

The film’s humour is clearly aimed at keeping younger audiences engaged. Although the high octane and constantly energetic presentation could be exhausting for mature viewers. Additionally, the toilet humour goes a bit overboard, mainly since an entire subplot is dedicated to a character behind it. Despite that, this animated film has its heart in the right place. Since other animated movies have already touched on the evils of modern technology, ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’ isn’t unique in that regard. Still, its outlook on the perils of excessive social media consumption, paired with constant digs at tech companies harvesting data, is as timely as ever. It looks at the erosion of childhood in a tech-dependant environment and reminds us of the joys of friendship in the real world. Just like the ‘defective’ robot buddy, ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’ is an oddball family entertainer with an undeniably relevant message.