Disney is back with a new animated film. After the excellent Raya and the Last Dragon, which was released on Disney+ on June 4, Ron unlocks is the new animated proposal of the studio with big ears. But this time, the feature film is released on the big screens. Ron Unlocks is staged by a trio composed of Jean-Philippe Vine, Sarah Smith and Octavio Rodriguez. On the voice casting side, the film includes Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer and Olivia Colman.
Ron unlocks: Disney tries to take inspiration from Pixar
The story of Ron unlocks is quite simple and tries to anchor itself in a very current dimension. Indeed, the story tells the fate of Barney, a slightly introverted schoolboy, who is the last not to own a Bebot, a little robot that serves as your child's best friend. After pressing heavily with his parents, he finally got his own Bebot. But the latter suffers from unusual malfunctions. 
With this pitch that could just as well stick to a horror movie, Disney is trying to copy the Pixar recipe. Indeed, the studio chose to stage the unprecedented and unique relationship between two species that everything opposes. A fairly classic formula at Pixar that emerges in many of their productions: Wall-E, La Haut, Luca, etc … Thus, this friendship, which is also reminiscent of The Iron Giant, seeks to pull on the emotional chord of the spectators. And strangely, Disney is more sensitive than usual. The entire first part of the feature film is a success in every way: visually and scriptedly. Humor as well as emotion takes place in a first part perfectly mastered. Obviously, the studio also wants to play Black Mirror. Ron Unlocks highlights the dangers of technology, social media and everything connected. The message is simple: beware of technological abuse. However, while the film could have been a warning against our fully connected society, Disney decided to change the subject, preferring to focus its morality on identity, personality, rather than conformism and standardization (of thought as well as character). Via little Ron (the defective Bebot), this morality can be interpreted in a completely different way that could say that: no technology is not dangerous, look how cute and useful this little robot is. Message quite wobbly for children.
A last long act
After a rather endearing and sympathetic beginning, Ron unlocks himself unfortunately in a phone call. The protagonist will thus move away from his environment, take his independence to follow his own choices. However, the film drags on in two last parts that lack pep. The escape of the protagonists into the forest does not bring much to the plot, and is subjected to a heavy treatment centered on a friendship that strengthens. A part that simply allows to develop the secondary characters and to evolve their view of the two heroes. 
Then, Jean-Philippe Vine, Sarah Smith and Octavio Rodriguez lock themselves into a climax long, where Ron and Barney embark on a plot of rebellion against the established system. The opportunity for the protagonists to go to the headquarters of the creators of the Bebot to destroy everything. An approach that is expected and which, unfortunately, drags on. Ron unlocks would have finally bothered to be shortened. Because 1h46 is a bit long for what is necessary to tell. https://youtu.be/uyttPJhbnhM
