Ron's Gone Wrong review: ET meets Free Guy with a dash of Big Hero 6

3/5

Ron's Gone Wrong is about Barney, an awkward middle-schooler who makes friends with Ron, his new walking, talking and digitally-connected device. But the film deals with Ron's malfunctions which are set against the backdrop of the social media age. It launches Barney and his B-bot on a journey to learn about true friendship.

Is technology enough for us to have as a companion to survive in this mean world? Have humans got into a worse situation that they cannot function without technology? Ron's Gone Wrong is an animated film based on teenage kids who get their hands on a B-bot their companion created to make friends with similar interests. But just like any adverse effect of technology, B-bot's whole purpose is lost.

Barney Pudowski voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer comes from a humble background where his single father Graham Pudowski (Ed Helms) tries very hard to meet the needs by selling novelties online. Barney's adorable grandmother Donka (Olivia Colman) also lives with them, and they are one happy family. However, the kid is left with no friends after B-Bot comes into existence. On his birthday, Barney expects a B-Bot as a gift from his family. But he faces a major disappointment.

In the meanwhile, the B-Bot pushed by Barney on a truck in haste is the one that is given to him by his family after they realise he has no friends left in school. Here comes Ron (Zach Galifianakis), Barney's malfunctioning B-bot who doesn't have his system updated.

Soon after Ron leads the way without any protocols and fights for Barney to be his friend. But there comes another catch, he is not an ordinary B-bot. Just like Ryan Reynolds acted in Free Guy as a non-playing character (NPC) with feelings, Ron also has it and he leaves no stone unturned in becoming the centre of attention.

Some sequences are not new while many have even gone over-the-top. Let's even say that the runtime seemed too long for an animated movie thus not making it edgier as it could have been.

There are moments in the second half that are nothing but a drag and don't add any twist to the screenplay. The whole 'into the woods' sequence seemed to have been just created to get the film an ET-sort of climax.

Moreover, it also reminded me of the 2019 Malayalam film Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 which was also inspired by the 2012 Hollywood film Robot & Frank.

Ron's Gone Wrong is entertainment with preaching, as it shows the cons of technology and social media. If you're an influencer and one mishap, it stays forever on the Internet and changes your life instantly. All the incidents happening after Ron's presence catches the headquarters of the creator who fears it might affect their sales.

Here comes another Free Guy reference with a big boss Andrew Morris (Rob Delaney), the COO of the Bubble Company who is just like Taika Waititi's character Antwan Hovachelik in the Reynolds starrer film. He is selfish, mean and makes sure to cash on the defective B-bot by invading the privacy of the netizens in every way.

The drawback of Ron's Gone Wrong is the characterisation of many which are similar to what one may have seen in many sci-fi or animated films. The film is indeed a newer version of Big Hero 6 which was released in 2014.

Directors Jean-Philippe Vine and Sarah Smith along with the writer Peter Baynham have tried hard to create a magic of computer animation and science-fiction with Ron's Gone Wrong.

But apart from the visual delight and amazing work by the voiceover artists, the film hardly has anything new to offer. The film questions technology and will also make you realise that especially during the COVID-19 lockdown, the whole world increasingly got dependent on technology every step of their day. Although they connected the world virtually, the physical presence of each other has been affected badly.

Jack Dylan Grazer as Barney Pudowski has done a fab job and one could just resonate with the way he dealt with every situation from being a loner middle-school boy to hitting a jackpot by making a friend with a defected B-bot.

Zach Galifianakis as Ron made the cute B-bot look cuter with voicing that makes it thunderbolt like Pikachu.

Olivia Colman as Donka deserves a standing ovation for voicing the ageing grandmother in the most adorable way. The creation onscreen blended with her magical voice was nothing less than fireworks. So did Ed Helms who did a decent job in voicing Graham, Barney's dad.

Ron's Gone Wrong is a decent watch with beautiful visuals, but the runtime might test your patience.

Ron's Gone Wrong is a newer version of Big Hero 6 with mild references from Free Guy and ET.