Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
A socially awkward boy befriends a defective robot that is trying its best to help him make friends in ways that often go hilariously wrong.
The story
In the town of Nonsuch, California, 12-year-old Barney Pudowski is the only student without a B-Bot, a popular robot designed to help children make friends via algorithm. On his birthday, Barney's family helps him acquire a slightly damaged B-Bot from a delivery van. Upon activation, Barney discovers the robot is defective and glitchy. After a series of interactions with his classmates, Barney secretly rescues the robot from being recycled and names it Ron. As Barney tries to teach Ron how to be a good friend, the robot's malfunctioning programming leads to chaotic and unintended consequences in their social lives.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In Nonsuch, California, 12-year-old Barney Pudowski is lonely because he lacks a B-Bot, a robot designed by tech giant Bubble to facilitate friendships. His family eventually gets him a damaged B-Bot, which Barney names Ron. Ron is glitchy and, while trying to follow Barney's instructions to make friends, causes chaos by bringing random people to school and eventually causing all other B-Bots to lose their safety features. After being kicked out of school, Barney and Ron flee into the woods. They are pursued by B-Bots sent by Bubble executive Andrew Morris. During a storm, Ron's battery dies, and Barney suffers an asthma attack. Ron uses his last bit of power to get Barney to safety before shutting down. Barney eventually breaks into Bubble HQ with his family and the creator, Marc Wydell, to restore Ron's original personality. To save everyone from the B-Bots' influence, Barney decides to upload Ron's flaws to all B-Bots, dispersing Ron's consciousness. Three months later, everyone has
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 107
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Sarah Smith; Jean-Philippe Vine
- Writers
- Peter Baynham · writer; Sarah Smith · writer
- Cast and characters
- Zach Galifianakis · Ron; Jack Dylan Grazer · Barney Pudowski; Ed Helms · Graham Pudowski; Olivia Colman · Donka Pudowski; Rob Delaney · Andrew Morris; Justice Smith · Marc Wydell; Kylie Cantrall · Savannah Meades; Ricardo Hurtado · Rich Belcher
- Genres
- animated; science fiction; comedy
- Themes
- technology creep; friendship; consumerism; social media impact
- Tone and mood
- humorous; heart-warming; satirical
- Premise and plot tags
- animated; science fiction; comedy; satire; teen; robot; friendship
- Content notes
- asthma
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its balance of humor and heart, as well as its satirical take on technology.
- Production trivia
- The film was the first feature film from Locksmith Animation.; Animation and voice acting were done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.; The character of Ron was inspired by the pixelated interfaces of the MS-DOS operating system.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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