User reviews

'Where the Robots Grow' burst onto the scene in October 2024 with audacious claims of being first in AI film history - claims that Forbes (Oct 26, 2024) had to officially correct after overlooking two years of established pioneers. What we have here is hollow filmmaking dressed in marketing hype. Despite trumpeting AI breakthroughs, it's essentially traditional CGI and mocap work with minimal AI elements to warrant the hype. Rushed through production in three months, it hides behind a children's film label to disguise its lack of storytelling. Plenty of children's films manage to engage audiences of all ages through genuine creativity and care, such as the works of Jim Henson or Studio Ghibli. The director's brazen claim that 'quality, not chronology, determines first' is perhaps the film's greatest irony. As critic Thaddeus Howze states: 'It's historically bad... in ambition, it fails spectacularly, reminiscent of Ed Wood's disasters.' The film achieves a remarkable feat: it manages to be both creatively and technically unengaging. While it could have contributed something meaningful to the AI film conversation through mocap integration (like 'Who Said Death was Beautiful?' a film that was famously banned at Annecy), instead it chose to dismiss two years of genuine innovation and pioneering work. The result isn't just disappointing, it's a cautionary tale of what happens when marketing ambition exceeds creative integrity. While it is free to watch, we should try to get our money back.

Well this is it, 1/10 is now reserved for the A. I. trash compactor from now on out. Because now even the worst of the worst movies should reserve a higher score for having actual effort. Birdemic, The Emoji Movie, Disaster Movie etc. They're trash but at least someone actually went through the effort.

Slaving yourself to a machine's output is now the lowest human morale. Beats rehashing sequels, terrible remakes, terrible CGI. This is the new rock bottom.

"Where the Robots Grow is film for all the family. Set in a future where Earth's last survivors send robots to farm a new world called Oracle. The latest model of robot, Cru, finds his purpose in life redefined by a pod carrying the last human baby. The first release by AiMation Studios"

It's hard to explain just how bad this movie is. Let's start with a positive: I applaud the creators for attempting to use AI as a creative tool. Whether we like it or not, AI will increasingly help film makers with arduous tasks like rotoscoping, storyboarding, shot and sound fixes, etc. And in the right creative hands, the creation of images, scenes, characters, etc. In the wrong hands, you get a movie like this.

In the first ten minutes I thought the horrible writing, voice acting and pacing were intentional and would, in time, reveal a clever creative technique that pays off as the film progresses. That never happened. The film is badly executed on almost every level: writing, editing, sound mixing, flat and lifeless voice acting almost is if no one gave the "actors" any direction. The AI animation stutters, as if the frame rate is mismatched somewhere in the pipeline.

While some of the imagery is quite striking, beautiful, etc. It simply cannot compensate for the above mentioned flaws - there's just nothing to hang on to or care about, which is a shame.

I've seen cursed artwork generated with artificial intelligence, seen animations created with artificial intelligence (thanks to Showrunner), and even used artificial intelligence to make music...but...this is it. I've reached the bottom of the barrel. I was so shocked by this that I nearly fainted. As a hater of AI, I couldn't believe that an animated movie out of all things can be made with artificial intelligence.

This movie was generated using, you guessed it, artificial intelligence. And I thought Disney, Rovio, and Coca-Cola were already on board with artificial intelligence. However, making an AI-GENERATED MOVIE is going things too far. Like the other items that can be generated using AI, this AI animated movie is incredibly dull and lifeless, particularly the voice acting, which is extremely dull. I have already disliked this idea ever since the trailer came out, and also still hate it when it was released on October 2024.

It's a film that even those who despise artificial intelligence might watch. Don't even watch this film.