Adventure about the meaning of friendship struggles to stand out from the animated crowd.
“Ron’s Gone Wrong” dots its primer on friendship with chase scenes and warnings about Big Tech, with only mixed success.
Friendless young Barney sort of appreciates how hard his dad works but feels his life would be so much better if he had his own awesome robot companion, as all his classmates do. The iPhone/Jordans/Pet Rock/whatever of this generation is the Bubble Bot, or B*Bot, programmed to be your “best friend out of the box.” When struggling Dad gets Barney a damaged B*Bot named Ron , the robot forges an actual friendship with the boy rather than follow the product’s algorithm to simulate friendship.
There’s a bit of table-thumping about how these Big Tech companies might not have your best interests at heart when taking all your data and putting cameras and microphones in your hands and home ; in the Steve Wozniak-Steve Jobs dynamic of Bubble Corp., the Jobs figure is all evil, all the time. But that’s a side thing when the film’s real aim is a lesson on how “friendship is a two-way street” and imperfection is part of the deal.
At least one hopes they’re not that impressionable. Otherwise, they might come away from “Ron” thinking that trying to escape cars down busy streets or running away into the cold, wet woods with no protection from the elements are awesome things to do. There are quite a few questionable messages in the film, such as when Barney realizes he likes Ron after all.
But arguably the film’s greatest comic asset — Galifianakis — is squandered by a one-note delivery that’s level-less by design. Ron is equally happy to narrate good times and bad. The skilled Galifianakis does a good job of approximating a voice constructed by individually recorded words; perhaps too good a job.
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