{"id":9457,"date":"2024-11-30T12:24:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T17:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9457"},"modified":"2024-11-30T12:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T17:24:22","slug":"rons-gone-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/30\/rons-gone-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th<\/sup> Century\/Sci-Fi-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 106 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (some rude material, thematic elements, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Henry Jackman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Peers and Hayley White\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 22, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, Ed Helms, Justice Smith, Rob Delaney, Kylie Cantrall, Ricardo Hurtado, Cullen McCarthy, Ava Morse, Marcus Scribner, Thomas Barbusca.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $23M (US)\/$60.7M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I know, the computer-animated comedy Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong <\/strong>is meant for children and tweens, but I actually enjoyed it. Why? It reminds me of a movie I love, the underappreciated Electric Dreams, a light-hearted comedy from 1984 about a man and his oddball personal computer. I\u2019ll never understand why it crashed at the box office: I thought it was absolutely delightful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> tells a sort-of-similar story about a middle schooler and his \u201cB-bot\u201d, a robotic Internet-connected device that\u2019s kind of cross between FaceBook and Alexa. It\u2019s the latest fad in technology and every kid at Nonsuch Middle School has one. Everyone, that is, except Barney (Grazer, It), a socially awkward loner who lives in a constant state of anxiety. Recess is a daily reminder that he has no friends, human or otherwise. At home, his well-meaning novelty item salesman dad (Helms, The Hangover) is completely oblivious to his misery while his Eastern European grandmother Donka (Colman, The Favourite) acts like she never left the old country (Bulgaria, I think). Naturally, he\u2019s embarrassed by them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a belated birthday present, Dad and Donka go to buy Barney a B-bot only to learn there\u2019s a three-month waiting list. Fortunately, they happen upon a delivery driver selling a slightly defective one out of the back of his truck. Initially elated about finally having his own B-bot, Barney is frustrated upon learning it doesn\u2019t work right. A run-in with a playground bully and his flunkies reveals to the powers-that-be at Bubble (the tech giant behind the bots) that something is wrong with \u201cRon\u201d (Galifianakis, The Hangover). The young, idealistic inventor Marc (Smith, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is amazed that it\u2019s becoming self-aware while the profit-minded CEO (Delaney, Deadpool 2) worries about bad publicity. He orders it destroyed, but Barney isn\u2019t about to let that happen so he rescues Ron and hides him in his shed with the intention of teaching him how to be a friend. It goes without saying that Ron will teach his human a lesson about friendship as well.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It also goes without saying that Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> contains messages about the pros and cons of technology and social media. We\u2019ve heard it all before, but maybe the kids in the audience need to hear it. Like all social media platforms, B-bots were created with the best of intentions. They were designed to bring people with similar interests together. They do that, but at the expense of personal interaction. These kids are so addicted to their electronic devices; they don\u2019t actually talk to each other IRL. They\u2019re preoccupied with getting likes on their TikTok videos. The nature of social media is fickle though. It\u2019s scary to think how quickly somebody can go from TikTok celebrity to target of ridicule. It only takes seconds. This is what happens to one of Barney\u2019s classmates, a secretly sad popular girl who gets hit with the moniker \u201cPoop Girl\u201d after a humiliating incident with a giant B-bot thing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> isn\u2019t shy about showing the evils of social media (e.g. on-line bullying) and insidiousness of the big companies behind the platforms. With every click and LIKE, users give up more of their privacy until Big Brother knows every single thing about us. Why? So they can sell us stuff and make more money. It\u2019s always the big corporations, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u00a0At the same time, Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> is a delightful story of friendship with Barney and Ron connecting with each other even though the B-bot has a tendency to take things literally. This is where the humor lies. In one funny sequence, Ron rolls around town handing out \u201cfriend requests\u201d (written in crayon on Post-It notes) to random people and ends up causing mayhem on the schoolyard.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine from a script by Smith and Peter Baynham, Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> is a breezy, humorous piece that borrows freely from the likes of E.T. and Big Hero 6. It\u2019s surprisingly pointed for a kid\u2019s movie. It can\u2019t decide which side it\u2019s on, but it\u2019s nice to see both sides of the social media debate. The animation is colorful and vibrant. It moves at a sprightly pace. Ron is a great creation. The design, a smooth white body with a smiley face, is simple but irresistible. He\u2019s like an innocent child with a mischievous streak. Galifianakis is the perfect choice to provide the voice. In fact, all of the voice talents do a fine job. I got a real kick out of Colman\u2019s character. I\u2019ve met my wife\u2019s family in Romania and Donka is right on the nose!<\/p>\n

\u00a0In short, kids should like Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong<\/strong> and parents might enjoy it too even if it\u2019s old hat to them. Is it worth a trip to the movies? Yes, if you see a bargain matinee and bring your own treats. It\u2019s fun, but hardly earth-shaking.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ron\u2019s Gone Wrong (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century\/Sci-Fi-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 106 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (some rude material, thematic elements, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Henry Jackman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Peers and Hayley White\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 22, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, Ed Helms, Justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Rons-Gone-Wrong-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9457"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9685,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457\/revisions\/9685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}