Robot Dreams (2023) review

Dog, who lives by himself in New York City, purchases a Robot (specifically the Amica 2000) to be his companion and the two have fun together but his buddy malfunctions on the beach, he's too heavy to haul back to his apartment and the amusement park closes down for the fall and winter months, so Dog carries on with his life, skiing in the Catskills and briefly dating outdoorsy Duck (who teaches him how to fly a kite) ... while trapped Robot has "dreams" about reuniting with his owner.  The animation style is cute (it's based on the children's book by Sara Varon) and the absence of actual dialogue gives it a universal appeal (director Berger is Spanish) but the story is quite lacking - a thirty minute episode of a cartoon has just as much (if not more) going on in comparison.  Eventually, Dog replaces Robot with a different model, Robot is saved by a raccoon (who installs a boombox as his torso) and both seem to be "happy" (but haven't forgotten the past entirely) - personally, I feel Dog could have tried to be creative in trying to rescue his pal instead of letting him rot in the sand, but others might not be so judgmental.  Adult viewers: don't blink or else you'll miss a lovely homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat (it is set in the 1980's after all)....