In this case, Barney voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer is an outsider for various reasons, most central to this is his oddball family. His widower father Graham (Ed Helms) scratches out a living by selling silly novelties from a home business while his old-world grandmother Donka (Olivia Colman) runs the household to hilarious effect.

When a personal A.I. robot comes on the market, Barney’s parental units can only afford a damaged and decidedly second-hand unit with a malfunctioning CPU and the innocence of a young child. United, the two grow together and learn what it means to value friendship and to take a chance on one’s self.

It’s a message that has been central to so many movies and to repeat a storyline this familiar you need to bring something new to the table. This is done with a combination of critiques of the current effects both good and bad of social media and the success that can come from adhering to a solid sense of right and wrong. It delivers this massage with technical imagination and time-tested humour.
Rob Hudson
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“Ron’s Gone Wrong” is the story of Barney, a socially awkward middle-schooler and Ron, his new walking, talking, digitally-connected device, which is supposed to be his“Best Friend out of the Box.” Ron’s hilarious malfunctions set against the backdrop of the social media age, launch them into an action-packed journey in which boy and robot come to terms with the wonderful messiness of true friendship. “Ron’s Gone Wrong” features the voices of Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, Ed Helms, Justice Smith, Rob Delaney, Kylie Cantrall, Ricardo Hurtado, Marcus Scribner, Thomas Barbusca.

The film is directed by Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine with Octavio E. Rodriguez co-directing. The script is written by Peter Baynham & Smith. Julie Lockhart and Lara Breay produce, with Locksmith chairman Elisabeth Murdoch, Smith and Baynham serving as executive producers.

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On the surface of it, Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life looks like a stock tweenager movie in the mould of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. But there are layers to this film that you don’t expect. Aside from the obvious Wimpy Kid influence, it also draws ideas and themes from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Shark Boy And Lava Girl, Pump Up The Volume, Dead Poet’s Society and another film I shan’t mention as to do so would spoil a major twist.

Equally, the performances in this film surprise too. Especially from ten year-old, Alexa Nisenson, who as Rafe’s caustic kid sister, Georgia, delivers a performance reminiscent of Natalie Portman’s Mathilda in Leon. Her career will be one to watch.

Gluck also delivers when the moment calls for it, as does Lauren Graham as Rafe’s mother, Jules. Andy Daly seems to be channelling the comic tics of Rhys Darby but he gets away with it – just.

But despite the film’s many interesting elements, on the whole it is simply less than the sum of its parts. For instance, the use of animated flourishes drawn from Rafe’s sketchbook provides a nice visual touch but adds little to the narrative overall. Which is a shame because the film could have been so much more were it not in the hands of the director of Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Daddy Day Care. Its target audience should dig it well enough though.

Stuart Jamieson
www.middleschoolmovie.com