Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong written by the Ent on December 21st, 2021. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before You Watch
Movie: Ron’s Gone Wrong
Rating: PG
Genre: Childrens, Sci-fi, Adventure, Comedy
Length: 1 hr. 47 mins
Age suggested: 6 and up
Release Date: October 22nd, 2021 (Theatrical)
Streaming Service: Disney+ (Since December 15th, 2021)
Warnings: A lot of discussion of loneliness, Death of a parent in the past, Mild cartoon violence
Quick Ron’s Gone Wrong Summary
In the not so distant future, instead of smartphones, every kid has a B-bot. Everyone except for Barney, a kid who just can’t seem to have or keep any friends at school. On his birthday, he is given a B-bot, but not everything is as it seems. Something is wrong with the coding of Ron who is reliant on Barney to teach him what it truly means to be a friend.
Ron’s Gone Wrong Review: (May Contain Spoilers)
-Is Ron’s Gone Wrong appropriate?-
The biggest factor in determing if Ron’s Gone Wrong is appropriate for your little one is their likelihood in copying character’s actions without thinking. There is quite a bit of cartoon violence and inappropriate behavior from Ron, the other robots, and other characters. If this can be talked through, then there isn’t anything too violent that should cause them to be unable to watch this movie.
On the darker side of the movie, Barney deals consistently with loneliness and feeling that no one wants to be his friend. There is also a subplot of his mother passing away when he was younger. Even though he was too young to remember her, his sadness and the sadness of his father is still felt throughout the film. Overall, Ron’s Gone Wrong does provide a relatively innocent, fun view, as long as you ensure your kids can handle the previously mentioned topics.
–Why Watch Ron’s Gone Wrong–
Ron’s Gone Wrong felt a bit of a movie of two halves. The first half felt a bit reductive and copy and paste from other movies. Ron’s character comes off as Baymax from Big Hero 6 and the starting plot seemed very similar to Mitchells vs. the Machines. Despite these things, Ron’s Gone Wrong does come into itself after a very climactic event happens at Barney’s school. This is where the heart of the movie really shines. Barney becomes very blunt and raw with Ron, which makes him realize some personal things about himself that he hadn’t noticed before.
Ultimately, Ron’s Gone Wrong does provide a fun watch with some great lessons about today’s technologies. The characters provide some very fun moments and quotes, especially is Ron becomes a friend-in-training. The other characters can come off as a bit one dimensional at first, but at the climax of the movie, we learn that this is intentional. Once the big reveal about loneliness occurs, the tone changes and there is a lot of hope for Barney’s future.
Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong
Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong #1 –
We Need to Review Our Own Technology Use Before Judging Others
In many times during the movie, many characters are harsh towards how others use their B-bots or other technologies, without realizing their hypocrisy. The most blatant example of this is when Barney’s Dad is arguing against getting Barney a B-bot because of how reliant and addicted he may become to them. He says this while constantly getting distracted by his work phone, even while saying that sentence.
Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong #2 –
What We See on Social Media isn’t Real Life
During the most emotional portion of the movie, Barney realizes that all of peers are presenting a life online that doesn’t reflect their actual life. Most of them were very lonely or desperate to simply get a few views. This leads to the culmination of Barney and his newly found friends.
Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong #3 –
Friendship is a Two Way Street
When Ron is trying to process all of the friendship instructions from Barney, he realizes that Barney has not been recipricating these rules. This leads him to take the digital sticky note that stated “Friendship is a Two Way Street” and place it into the recycling bin. This intense action causes Barney to realize how many times the words “Me” and “My” appear in his rules.
Ron’s Gone Wrong Discussion Questions
Themes to Discuss: Friendship, technology, loneliness, communication
- What are the similarities between B-bots and smartphones?
- If you were to have a B-bot, what would you teach it about yourself?
- Ultimately, what did Barney learn about friendship from Ron?
- What are ways that we can make changes in our life to live more like Ron and less like social media robots?
Thanks for reading our Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong. Before you go, check out these other posts:
-Family Friendy Disney+ Streaming Suggestions
–Mitchells vs the Machines Review
Down The Hobbit Hole Blog and Lessons from Rons Gone Wrong use affiliate links. We only link products we think you’ll like and you are never charged extra for them. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. We also use cookies to gather analytics and present advertisements. This allows us to keep writing discussion questions and telling ridiculous dad jokes. Find our other reviews with discussion questions here. Our posts about faith here. And our posts about family stuff here.