Ron's Gone Wrong (1966 film)

"From the creators of and, a new error of friendship begins."

- Tagline for the film

Ron's Gone Wrong is a 1966 British science fiction comedy puppet film directed by and, produced and written by. The film follows Barney, a lonely middle-schooler who befriends a defective "B-bot" he names Ron; B-bots are robots his estranged schoolfriends entirely socialize through. Barney must find a way to protect Ron, who comes under danger from corporate employees.

Produced by the Andersons' production company, Ron's Gone Wrong was released in the United Kingdom by on 24 February 1966. Upon release, it drew a lukewarm public response and proved to be a box-office failure. In the years that followed, critics have reappraised it, and it is now considered one of the greatest puppet films ever made, although over the years, the film has been regarded as a cult classic.

In October 2021, was produced by  and also distributed by.

Plot
In 2021, tech giant Bubble unveils their latest creation: the B-bot, created by the benevolent CEO Marc Weidell with the intent to make a robot buddy that is designed to help make friends, using Marc's friendship algorithm installed in every B-Bot. In the fictional Californian town of Nonsuch, eleven-year-old Barney Pudowski is the only middle schooler who does not have a B-bot. His former childhood friends, Savannah Meades, Rich Belcher, Noah and Ava have all become absorbed by their individual B-bots. One day, Barney's father Graham, who sells novelties online, and his Polish-born grandmother Donka come to realize that he does not have any friends and empathize when Rich plays a cruel prank on Barney. They hastily go to a Bubble store, but it's closed. Fortunately, a delivery driver had been holding onto a slightly damaged B-bot that had fallen out of his truck and sells it to them.

Barney gets the B-bot as a late birthday present, but upon activating it, he quickly learns that it's defective and glitchy. Not wanting to upset his father, he decides to take it back to the Bubble store to get it fixed. He ends up running into Rich and his friends who taunt and try to humiliate him. The B-bot begins to fight back as his safety functions have been turned off and he and Barney laugh together and run. However, Rich called the police and they along with Graham and Donka are taken to the Bubble store so that the B-bot can be crushed. Not wanting to see him go, Barney secretly rescues him and names him Ron, a shortened version of his model number.

When Barney and Ron's actions are reported, Marc is happy to see Ron go against his programming while his COO Andrew Morris views it as bad publicity, believing Ron must be destroyed for the issue to be resolved. Barney teaches Ron how to be a good friend and, while hanging out, runs into Savannah who tells Ron that he needs to help Barney get friends. Despite Barney telling Savannah not to, she posts Ron's actions online, alerting Bubble. The next day, Ron gets out of the house and tries to get "friends" for Barney, bringing a series of random people to school. As Barney gets in trouble, Rich discovers Ron's unlocked function and downloads it, causing all the other B-bots to have their safety features and parental controls turned off. The B-bots run wild and, in the end, after the B-Bots have a patch update, Savannah is publicly humiliated.

Barney is suspended from school and tells Ron off, but upon returning home, realizes that Ron was truly being a friend and decides to run away with him when Bubble employees come for him. They briefly run into Savannah, still upset over her incident, and tells her that he is hiding in the woods. Meanwhile, while Andrew warns Marc about the ramifications of the B-bot, Marc sneaks away so that he can meet Ron while Bubble uses their resources to take control of all the B-bots to go looking for Ron and Barney in the woods. Due to the cold weather and Barney's asthma, he becomes weak and Ron brings him back to civilization just outside the school where Savannah, Rich, Noah and Ava rush out to help him.

Barney is taken to the hospital and recuperates before meeting Marc who is impressed with Ron. Marc fixes Ron's glitches and thereby makes him a different B-bot. Barney demands that Marc access the cloud to get Ron's original personality, but Andrew took over the Bubble company and locked Marc out. Through an elaborate plan for Barney, Graham, Donka and Marc breaking into Bubble HQ, Barney manages to make it to the Bubble database, finds Ron's original data by his light and uploads him back into his body, restoring him back to his original code. Seeing that Bubble has direct access to everyone's B-bot and realizing that everyone is just as lonely as he was, Barney suggests upgrading all the B-bots to have Ron's flaws. However, this means that Ron will be dispersed. Barney reluctantly says goodbye to Ron as his programming is spread to everyone, mixing Marc's friendship algorithm with Ron's code. Marc blackmails Andrew into giving his position of CEO back after secretly recording him admitting that the B-bots spy on their owners for profit.

Three months later, everyone has a faulty B-bot, but are happy with their wild and weird personalities. Barney no longer has one, but has become much more sociable and has gotten close with his former friends. As they hang out at the "Barney Bench" at recess, a giant Bubble tower that overlooks Nonsuch produces Ron's face, implying that he is still alive.

Voice cast

 * as RONB1N5CAT5CO, nicknamed "Ron", Barney's malfunctioning B-bot.
 * as Barney Pudowski, a socially awkward and lonesome eleven-year-old middle school boy with whom Savannah shares a friendship.
 * as Graham Pudowski, Barney's father and Donka's son.
 * as:
 * Donka Pudowski, Barney's grandmother and Graham's mother who was born in Warsaw, Poland and has a chicken farm.
 * Ava, Barney's classmate who loves science.
 * as:
 * Andrew Morris, the COO of the Bubble company.
 * Noah, Barney's classmate who loves video games.
 * as:
 * Marc Weidell, the creator of the B-bot and the CEO of the Bubble company.
 * Rich Belcher, Barney's classmate who continually pranks people in hopes of becoming famous.
 * as:
 * Savannah Meades, Barney's classmate who is an aspiring vlogger.
 * Ms. Hartley, Barney's middle school teacher who tries to help him make friends.
 * as Bubble Techs