Mai is an angry girl. Very angry. Kick things angry. Mad at inanimate objects angry. Mad at objects that ought to be inanimate angry. She’s been that way since dad left years ago. Unfortunately, Mai’s futureworld includes so many things to be mad at. Every last door hinge, blade of grass, and bubble gum wrapper is an engineering feat of positivity, an animated dynamo of cheer – it’s enough to put anybody on edge.
Mai and Mai Mom (Mom Mai? Mom Mai, dearest?) are at a housebot launch party. Mai oh Mai is Mai ever bored. Having no love for Q-Bots –or Q-Bert, for that matter- she sneaks off to check out the new soccer field next door. It really disturbs me that soccer is still “enjoyed” by future generations; this clearly is a dystopia. The self-guided minor tour is disallowed by this frighteningly Big Brother-ish society. Several back doors later, she finds a secret lab where she –what’s the opposite of “befriend?”- be-enemies the most advanced robot ever, Project 7723 (voice of John Krasinski). Against all odds, logic, protocol, or robot sense, 7723 immediately attaches itself to Mai, insisting that its job is to make her life better. She sure doesn’t treat the thing well; maybe it’s a case of “you break it, you ‘bot’ it.” Anyhoo, shortly thereafter a freeway gets destroyed in the process of 7723 proving said loyalty.
So how does 7723 win over Mai (Charlyne Yi)? By blowing up shit, starting with Mai’s overeager toothbrush. At this point, the film is like a violent Big Hero 6. Mai shows up places and 7723 shoots, cleaves, and generally annihilates the annoyances in her life. Isn’t that sweet? Oh, but there’s a problem – when the freeway blew up, 7723 lost his memory stick or whatever. Bottom line is RocketMan here only has a set capacity on memories and has to destroy several each night to function properly.
Can I admit this made me a little jealous? Oh, the things I’d gladly delete from my memory. Times of needless depression or personal overreactions … I think I’d start with the entirety of Jr. High. *poof* like I wasn’t even there. It’s satisfying just thinking about it. Everything in the past two years of politics would certainly get a run for its money. Imagine being able to delete everything Trump from your memory. Ach, were it not so important to learn from and never repeat, I’d do it in a heartbeat and encourage everyone else to do the same.
The extraordinary part is 7723 seems a fairly gentle soul. It is violent because Mai is violent – there’s a deep thought for you. 7723 has, however, the capacity to question Mai’s decisions and stops itself from executing the worst of her orders. It’s hard to know what to do with this exactly: 7723 was built to destroy things. What things? Things. But the bot is a pacifist at heart? Even defiantly so? Do you want a bot that disobeys orders? Some people might. Sure, I’d love a bot that could keep me from doing stupid things. That isn’t going to describe everybody.
There are a number of themes in Next Gen, the best being the nature of memory – if you could but save a limited number of memories, but could select among them, which would you choose? And, of course, there’s the replacement dad angle to calm Mai’s disturbed soul. However, Next Gen chose to downplay both of these to focus of the war between 7723 and its own Steve Jobs’-like Q-Bot kingpin Justin Pin (Jason Sudeikis). This is where a woman’s touch could have come in handy, two male directors and three male writers: this film works when it’s about the relationship between the girl and the robot; when the film devolves into space war …? Less.
♪My life’s been shitty since daddy split
The kids at school, they punch and spit
I found a metal buddy standing all alone
Check out his guns, my mind is blown
Believe not my eyes
Can’t wait for this surprise
My robot does the smashy gashy
My robot does the smashy gashy♫
Rated TV-PG, 106 Minutes
Director: Kevin R. Adams, Joe Ksander
Writer: Kevin R. Adams, Joe Ksander, Ryan W. Smith
Genre: Our screwed animated future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Kids who have fantasized about having robot friends
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Pacifists
♪ Parody Inspired by “Hanky Panky”
