Sweetly, deceptively simple, this affecting all-ages animated film speaks to the boon of friendship without saying a word. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Sweetly, deceptively simple, this affecting all-ages animated film speaks to the boon of friendship without saying a word. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Sweetly, deceptively simple, this affecting all-ages animated film speaks to the boon of friendship without saying a word.
Dialogue-free but not silent, grooves to the soundtrack of a big city. Its old-school hand-drawn cartooning is clear and straightforward but packed with little details. The layered narrative shades from goofy fun to yearning bittersweetness.
Kids will pick up more on the gentle humour, while grown-ups might get a bit teary about the film’s understated evocations of time and change, memory and loss. Adapted from a 2007 graphic novel by Sara Varon, the story starts with a lonely dog living in the East Village in 1980s New York City. After another stay-at-home evening featuring a cheerless microwave dinner and late-night infomercials, Dog sends away for an “Amica 2000” and builds a robot friend.
Soon Dog and Robot are getting out there and doing fun stuff together, which is relayed in an exuberantly silly and blessedly unhurried montage. The friends boat in Central Park. They roller-skate to an Earth, Wind & Fire song.
They go to the top of the Empire Sta.