Review of 'Next Gen'

next_gen.jpg Mai (voiced by Charlyne Yi) is a bitter, resentful, young girl who lives with her robot-obsessed single mother Molly. When Mai wanders off at the launch of a new robot at “IQ Robotics” she stumbles across the secret lab of Dr. Tanner Rice where he has been working on an top secret attack robot, 7723 which she accidentally activates. 7723 escapes the labs in a blaze of gunfire and tracks down Mai. Mai quickly sees the advantages of having a weaponized robotic companion and promptly gets her revenge on those she feels have wronged her including a school bully. 7723 spends his nights in the garage but has sustained damage that limits his memory capacity. Every night he has to free memory in order to remain active and every night this gets more difficult as he treasures those with Mai. 7723 is also troubled with Mai's willingness to use his weaponry for her revenge…and, of course, there is the matter of the CEO of “IQ Robotics” whose evil plans threaten everyone…

A rather dark animation featuring a whole lot of explosions and violence. It looks good but it seems to lack heart perhaps because the main character is not really all that likeable. Another thing it lacks is any real amount of humour, a death knell in films such as this. There is most definitely a moral here that is plain to see but that is about it.

If you like slick animation and lots, and lots of explosions, “Next Gen” is for you. If, like me, you want a bit more from your animation you best look elsewhere. Think of “Next Gen” as a violence, soul-less rip off of Big Hero Six.

Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”

Review Date: 2020-08-28


Directed by: Kevin R. Adams and Joe Ksander

Studio: Netflix

Year: 2018

Length: 106 minutes

Genre: Animation

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7133686/