Ron's Gone Wrong

LIKES:

Great Pace: Animated movies always fluctuate with balance issues and their gimmicks, often executing well and sometimes tipping one way over the other. Ron's Gone Wrong starts with a good pace that moves to be fun and engaging for younger audiences, but not so much to skip the deeper messages lying in wait. The movie handles transitions between the acts very well, each one having a decent amount of time, sticking to a realistic timeline, and still moving to never get lost in any gimmicks. It's a major source of the fun for me, and should be able to hold the fleeting attention of the modern generation.

Animation: It's not realistic, it's not groundbreaking, and it's not the most unique pallet to paint on, however Ron's group is certainly fun, cute, and animated well to bring the story to life. Ron's tale has a lot of dynamic movement between the robots that plague the world and the humans who use them and both elements are done extraordinarily well. Younger audiences should welcome the bubbly, rounded features of the world, and even the "darker" aspects are shaded to be less imposing for more sensitive viewers. Nevertheless, the dynamic stunts and adventures are gorgeous and filled with emotion as the more intense moments hit.

The Voice Acting: Nothing that hits the Oscar category, but certainly well done nonetheless to get the characters alive and past the simple digital representation. Jack Dylan Grazer hits the vulnerable teen well, a mixture of confusion and hurt that gradually evolves into a more mature role as the movie moves on past the simple adventure. Ed Helms is still excelling at the antagonistic role, and works well in the enunciation and mannerisms that seem to match the character on screen making for a simplistic character to throw a wrench in the gears. The star is Galifianakis though, whose voice of Ron is sensationally casted for the quirky robot struggling to boot up and perform his coding. Ron's style takes the ridiculousness of the actor, but manages to curb it into something tolerable and PG rated that works to be humorous. Even better, he also lends to more emotional moments, managing to never lose the robotic tone and delivery, and yet somehow instilling emotion to the level.

The Presentation: The movie is wonderful for helping to really deliver the powerful punches that the movie is trying to execute. The first two acts manage to be focused on the buildup, giving you the hurt and sting of the protagonist and the family's attempts to help him adapt into the new world. It's balanced between fun and drama, keeping a pace that is inviting to the attention of all ages. Then the third act starts to really dive into the fun, never dropping the drama or suspense, but focusing on the subtle moral lessons while keeping the fun. Then it's the final two acts that start to play around with the balance, never eliminating one or the other, but adding the tweaks to again get that presentation going. I loved the designs and close ups of those key moments, while utilizing other things like sound, music, and simple change of perspective to capture all of the moments needed.

The Comedy: Not the cleverest, and really not the most spread, but something about Ron's charm manages to make elements of the movie very funny for adults. Sure there is kid humor, all about using slap stick and quotable lines to have your little ones giggling in delight. Ron's lines in particular are reminiscent of technology gone wrong, mixed with childlike innocence and wonder, and mixed with just enough sarcasm and blunt humor to be very entertaining. Slapstick moments arise decently, and other elements integrated into the mix with other characters will touch other comedy moments lightly. It works well with the theme, being a staple without overcoming the other elements and I enjoyed it even if I was not on the floor laughing the whole time.

The Story/Morals: This is probably the strongest thing I latched onto in this movie, the story and the lessons tied with it. Barney's tale is relevant to this reviewer, not only in personal experiences, but in approaches to the modern trends and way of life that the last 7 years has brought. Feeling the social life being lost to the technology life is tough, and Barney's caught in between both that are combatting for the dominance in the world. Upon Ron's emergence, this tale really tries to highlight things that I think are important and what I try to do, which touches a lot of my heart strings and brought the fun out of the movie. As the relationship between the two protagonists evolves, the directors and animators try to up the game and in many senses I think hit the check boxes for that emotional punch we all need in these movies. Especially the ending where the climactic collision of all the stories works together to really deliver the finale we have been looking forward to all this time.

DISLIKES:

Predictable: I never expected this to be the case of a surprise, but you always hope for something to blow your mind with these movies. In this case, the movie is very linear and predictable, taking suspense away because of how much I knew was coming. For most, this won't be an issue if they are having fun, but as a reviewer there is a little bit of tweaking to help get the story to engage to older audiences past the target audience age. Some plot holes also can get in the way of things at times, primarily when logic and security tend to be easily subverted to get the job done.

The Character Usage: I'm mixed on this because in truth they did do a nice job keeping many characters in the film, it's just that some of them really get dropped despite the hints they do in one scene. The climax suggested there would be a lot more involvement with some of the other kids and their talents, but that did not happen, and they were mostly used for some political moments rather than ingraining them into the tale. They are used quite powerfully, but I can't say that there is room for improvement to assist with the better development with some of the group.

Ron can be a bit annoying: This is a small tweak definitely, but the I have to admit that there are times when Ron's antics are a little too much. Primarily at the beginning when Barney is trying to get him set up, the writers tended to stray into the realm of a few jokes too far. It gets mitigated much more down the line, but there are a few times of going down the kid avenue over the adult humor.

The Comedy: Not perfect, but Ron's Gone Wrong could have used a little more adult humor to bring the adults in further. Again, it does not mean it has to go down the levels of derogatory humor, but 90's television and Shrek has proven you can be a little bolder with comedy and hide it from the kids. I would have liked that very much for helping break some things up instead.

The Politics: Yes, there is unfortunately some political preachiness in this film, and to the point of being a little in your face. However, I have to say it's not promoting the usual manners and was more acceptable than some of the other films I've seen in the past (looking at you Charlie's Angels 2019). But, the messages in Ron's about friendship vs. Technology may rub people the wrong way depending on which way you swing in the era of Social Media vs Social Networking with people. I think Ron does a nice job mitigating it if you stick with it, but it can be hard given some of the in your face symbolism and lines. This may be the part that will drive more people away, primarily due to the challenges of change and taking steps back from technology that can get in the way of fun.

The VERDICT: Ron's Gone Wrong may not be the movie of the year for Academy Awards compared to movies like Soul. Yet this movie should not be ignored or destroyed because it does not go down the "progressive" or unique edge in terms of what Disney can do. However, the movie has a lot of heart to it, really exploring avenues that socially awkward people like myself can learn, take comfort in, and hopefully get some lessons to others for surviving in this world. I loved the buddy comedy, had a blast with the pacing and design, and really felt some great moments in the story piece of the film. True, there are plot gaps and predictability, and the character usage is a bit lacking, leaning towards woke symbolism and hyperbole than true integration. In addition, there are also some heavy handed preaching components that my generation and onward may be turned off on given the approach to life we take. Yet, Ron's journey is a lot of fun, and really does a nice job of walking a balanced line of fun, story, and lessons that I really think is not being represented in the advertising and reviews. Thus, this movie I encourage people to take a look at and potentially be surprised and entertained like I was. My scores for this film are:

Animated/Adventure/Comedy: 8.0 Movie Overall: 7.0.