Ron's Gone Wrong

Voices of: Jack Dylan Grazer, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Olivia Colman, Rob Delaney, Justice Smith, Kylie Cantrall, Ricardo Hurtado
Directed by: Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine, Octavio E. Rodriguez
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A lonely middle school student (Jack Dylan Grazer) is excited when he gets his very own B-bot, but it proves to be flawed, which creates a series of headaches for him.

Review:

Tim: Ron's Gone Wrong is a perfectly fine movie, I suppose. I might be a bit generous calling it "decent", but it's harmless entertainment and it has somewhat of a good message. My kids enjoyed it. It's not a film you'll get too excited about, but there are a few things to like. I do find it interesting that this is a 20th Century Production, previously Fox. So, we watched it on Disney+, even though it doesn't feel like a Disney movie. It definitely feels like the production of second tier animation studio. I wouldn't say I was very excited about it, but it worked more than it didn't.

The film's biggest plus is the depiction of his protagonist as a lonely, uncool kid. It's heartbreaking to consider how many kids around the world will identify closely with Barney. Maybe their family isn't the most together, or their finances don't compare to their classmates. Kids struggle with so many things and for so many reasons, and other kids can be so effortlessly cruel. I liked that this film took the "uncool" kid and made him the hero of the story. I hope kids see themselves in him and think about their situations differently. I also hope kids who are closer to the "cool" kids in this film reexamine their actions. If parents actually talk to their kids about this movie, it can do some good.

While that's the most powerful part of the film, it competes for this weird commentary on technology and social media. I guess it somewhat works? In the film, it's not cellphones that drive this behavior, it's these cute little B-bots. Anyone can see they are stand-ins for the ubiquitous phones that are causing a lot of damage to society, families, and kids. Social media and tech companies are the villains here. Ron's Gone Wrong explores these in clumsy ways. I suppose any effort to get kids and parents talking about the role of technology in their lives is good, but I wish the film had been smarter about it. I'm not sure what the intent behind the tech company were, but the villain reminded me a lot of Tim Cook. I also think it's weird to have a young tech character named "Mark". I'm not sure how anyone could consider this character and not think of Zuckerberg. The idea that "tech Mark" is a hero here felt bizarre and unnecessary. Come up with a different name. This part of the film felt poorly handled. I wish there was a better exploration of tech companies and leaders as villains who are harming society. But, the film tried, so there's that.

I thought Zach Galifianakis did a good job voicing Ron. I was never much of a fan of Ron or Barney as characters, but their friendship was at least somewhat worthwhile. The rest of the characters felt too forgettable to me. Galifinakis does bring energy to his character and he creates some humorous moments with Ron. I wouldn't call the film especially funny, although my kids did laugh on occasion (I'm not sure I did at all).

Ron's Gone Wrong feels like a substandard, second tier animated movie. There's so many good ones coming out these days, it's always disappointing when you see one like this. There's definitely worse ones, too. So, the film clocks in somewhere in the middle. You can do far worse, but this would never be the go-to film for you or your kids. My kids (7 and 3) mostly enjoyed it, but I don't see them asking to revisit the film, either. There's just far better movies out there.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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