“It’s really about making a movie for ourselves that we want to watch with our families,” co-writer and co-director Sarah Smith tells us about her latest animated feature, Ron’s Gone Wrong, about an unlikely friendship between a young boy, Barney, and an AI robot named Ron. “I think more than anything else my ambition is to make movies for kids that are not trying to be too emotional or ‘messagy’. A movie that is full of action, adventure, comedy, jokes and rich characters. That I go away thinking about what it means afterward.”
“Primarily we wanted to have fun,” agrees co-writer Peter Baynham. “We just want to have a laugh. Sarah originally came to me and she decided to do this boy and he gets this bot and it’s not working properly and I just said: ‘Well, can we make it an idiot? Because I’m quite good at co-writing idiots!’”.
However, before Ron and Barney were even a tiny computer glitch in Smith and Baynham’s minds, Smith had another idea – to create a CG feature animation studio. Which she has, alongside film producer Julie Lockhart and in partnership with entrepreneur and philanthropist Elisabeth Murdoch.
Named Locksmith Animation and founded back in 2014, the idea actually came to her a few years earlier in 2011 after she had finished directing the animated Christmas comedy Arthur Christmas (which she also co-wrote with Baynham).
“After Pete and I finished Arthur Christmas, I came back to London and my ambition was to make high-end animated movies here in London,” she explains. “I wanted to make films based on me as an inadequate parent worrying about my kid being obsessed with the iPad and coming home from school and talking about friendship issues,” she laughs.
Well, Ron’s Gone Wrong certainly fulfills that criteria. The movie centres around young Barney (played by Jack Dylan Grazer) a rock collection-obsessed loner who wants nothing more than to have a B-Bot – the latest cool robot gadget all the kids have. Described as your ‘best friend out of the box’, the B-Bots scans your digital footprint to become your best bud. It can keep you company, cart you around and even connect you with potential real-life pals based on their digital footprint.
When struggling single dad Graham (Ed Helms) sources a B-Bot – named Ron – via a dodgy back alley deal for Barney’s birthday, Barney goes on a journey with his malfunctioning new robot friend to discover the real meaning of friendship.
“The idea about what true friendship was our baseline,” explains co-director Octavio Rodriguez. “It was something that you could connect with the human condition, or how we interact with each other socially. That attracted me a lot because that was the point of bringing Ron and Barney together as a buddy comedy.”
“The contemporary sci-fi element of it was also really appealing,” adds fellow co-director Jean-Phillipe Vine. “I love art and production design and that was something to immerse myself super deeply in – the idea of this incredible world of robots but with one broken clown robot who essentially behaves like a broken Gameboy!”
Indeed, apart from all the cool things that B-Bots can do, its looks are also incredibly appealing, with sleek, curved bodies (that can be changed to any digital skin you want) that looks a little like Wall-E’s Eve but with the heart and humanity of Wall-E himself. It’s no wonder that Barney is desperate for one and we wouldn’t be surprised if the kids watching the movie will want one too…
“We wanted to create something that was incredibly desirable,” Vine affirms. “There are a lot of robots out there that are designed by various tech companies that look cool and/or terrifying. Sometimes they try and make them seem like they appeal to kids and it just doesn’t quite work.
“So we wanted it to be incredibly appealing – as if you took the best designers out of Apple – and we put that with our own animation twist on it. Because it’s a 360-degree screen as well, it meant that we could design all these animated personalities that you could download onto the bot. So it was a hell of a lot of work to design, but we had a great time, and also we’ve all got our own favourite bot skins that we would love for our own bots!” he laughs.
Unfortunately/fortunately for Barney, his new B-Bot can’t change his skin. In fact, he can’t even remember Ron’s name. Voiced by Zach Galifianakis, Ron isn’t your average super-intelligent AI robot. A glitch has meant Ron is unable to download the B-Bot algorithm, so instead of super trendy digital skins, Rob elects to wear an old beanie hat and instead of scanning Barney’s digital history to establish a friendship, they do it the old-fashioned way – by getting to know each other.
“Ron’s not connected to the internet, he’s only got 4% of his download so he doesn’t know anything about Barney when he’s supposed to have downloaded his profile,” Baynham adds. “But that made him a blank canvas and that was such a beautiful opportunity to tell a story in which Barney has to tell Ron.”
“It’s super weird and wacky; the two best friends come from the most unlikely situation!” says Jack Dylan Grazer, who voices Barney.
“The perfect B-Bot is just handed to you like ‘okay I already know everything about you. I love everything,’” Grazer continues. “It’s not a genuine connection, and you would never expect a genuine connection from a robot and a human or kid.”
Going back to Smith’s original aim back in 2014, Ron’s Gone Wrong goes beyond the buddy comedy to also focus on deeper issues like privacy controls for children when it comes to technology and making meaningful connections.
“This movie is so cool because Ron is almost like a vessel for conveying the message that social media isn’t everything, it’s not true connection,” Grazer says.
“I don’t think Barney really wants a B-Bot, it’s more like he just wants it because he wants to make friends. He wants to have something that he can talk about with his friends because he can’t assimilate with them. He likes rocks and he’s ashamed of it because everybody makes fun of him for it which is not cool.
“There’s a fine line/freaky-figure-out-moment in your childhood when you’re like ‘yeah, I want to have friends really bad, so I guess I’m going to try to be like this even though I would still want to be myself.’ It’s a freaky thing. I remember always thinking I wasn’t that different from him in that I always wanted to be embraced, but also be myself.”
With a serious message alongside comedy and capers, the movie’s creators hope that audiences have a fun time while also realising how important it is to be yourself and create real relationships.
“I love hearing that kids have laughed all the way through,” Smith tells us. “I was really touched to hear that a 12-year-old boy cried at the end because 12-year-old boys are a really tough nut to crack!
“But also I’d love to hear that parents have been talking to kids about feeling isolated at school, or about social media interactions.”
“Also, if a kid who might be more like Barney realises that the popular kid, or even the bully, are also having moments of feeling vulnerable and alone,” Baynham explains on what he wants audiences to take away from the film. “Because everyone feels like that in real life, obviously, even when you’re an adult… especially when you’re an adult.
“Mostly I hope that they say ‘what a great film’,” he laughs.
We’re sure they will! You can catch Barney and Ron in Ron’s Gone Wrong in cinemas from 15 October. Read our review here.