Next Gen (film)

Next Gen is a 2018 computer-animated science fiction action film that is based on the online Chinese comic 7723 by Wang Nima, and is directed by Kevin R. Adams and Joe Ksander. The film stars the voices of John Krasinski, Charlyne Yi, Jason Sudeikis, Michael Peña, David Cross and Constance Wu. It tells the story of Mai Su, a lonely rebellious teenage girl living in a world where sentient robot technology is commonplace, and 7723, a top-secret weaponized robot, who, through a chance encounter, meet each other and form an unlikely bond that they must use to stop a vicious threat. The film was released on Netflix on September 7, 2018.

Next Gen
Film poster
Directed by
  • Kevin R. Adams
  • Joe Ksander
Produced by
  • Jeff Bell
  • Patricia Hicks
  • Charlene Logan Kelly
  • Yangbin Lu
  • John Morch
  • Ken Zorniak
Written by
  • Kevin R. Adams
  • Joe Ksander
Story byWang Nima
Based on7723
by Wang Nima
Starring
Music by
  • Samuel Jones
  • Alexis Marsh
Cinematography
  • Paul Kohut
  • Paul Stodolny
Edited byMatt Ahrens
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • September 7, 2018 (2018-09-07) (United States)
Running time
105 minutes
Country
  • United States
  • Canada
  • China
Language
  • English
  • Mandarin
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
Budget$30 million[1]
Box office$2.4 million (China only)[2]

Plot

In the futuristic city of Grainland where robots are ubiquitous, a teenage girl named Mai lives with her mother Molly. Her father left them when she was young, and Molly had since subsequently filled the void with robots, causing Mai to be lonely. When she and her mother attend a product launch at IQ Robotics headquarters, Mai, annoyed at Molly's ignorance of her, decides to wander off, after which she stumbles into the secret lab of Dr. Tanner Rice, who's been working on an attack robot called 7723. Mai accidentally activates 7723, before being apprehended by security and returned to her mother. At the launch, Justin Pin, the CEO of IQ Robotics, unveils the next generation of Q-Bots to the public with the promise of putting "one in every home", however he has secretly designed the Q-Bots to explode. Meanwhile, 7723 leaves Rice's lab to find Mai, but is pursued by the city police on an elevated freeway. The situation escalates as he uses his weapon systems, making the police forces respond with deadly force. Falling into the lowest levels of the city, he awakens later to discover the fall damaged his memory core, preventing him from keeping memories in the long term.

Later at night, when Mai goes outside to check on her foulmouthed dog, Momo, she finds 7723 in her backyard. She initially tries to dismiss him, but impressed by his weapons system, she allows him to stay in the shed.

With 7723 at her side, Mai confronts some school bullies from the day before, and 7723 scares them away by destroying one of their Q-Bots. The two then embark on a montage of shenanigans throughout the city, but as 7723 accumulates more memories, he struggles to decide which to keep. When Mai confronts him about it, he reveals if he reaches full capacity, he will undergo a total system reset, losing all his memories in the process. Mai suggests deleting his core systems to make room, but he warns that he would lose functionality.

7723 becomes apprehensive about using his abilities despite orders from Mai, who has become power-crazy, and refuses to blast Mai's school bully leader when she orders her hurt, so Mai goes to injure the bully using her bat but stops when the bully begins to cry. 7723 subsequently deletes his weapon system to save his memories and prevent himself from hurting any more people, and promises Mai to never let her down again: but is unknowingly seen by Molly's Q-Bot, allowing Dr. Rice to find him, and he goes to Mai's home to format 7723's memory and take him away. While explaining he built 7723 to prevent an upcoming crisis, Pin and his bodyguard robot Ares arrive. When Pin reveals his plan of killing people, a fight erupts, but without his weapons, 7723 cannot stop Pin from kidnapping Molly and flees with Mai and Momo into the sewers. Mai snaps at 7723 for deleting his weapon systems and not saving her mother.

Storming off to IQ Robotics to rescue Molly, Mai is quickly apprehended, but 7723 arrives and the two make up in the heat of the battle. They find Dr. Rice, who warns them of Ares, but before he can say much more, Pin appears and vaporizes him, but Mai has noticed that Pin's mannerisms are mimicking Ares', and the resulting battle is taken to a nearby sports stadium, where the truth is eventually and publicly revealed: Ares had killed Pin and has been using a bionic skeleton in his body. When Pin created Ares, he told him to make the world "perfect", which Ares believes will only happen through humanity's extinction. With his plans exposed, Ares arms the Q-Bots and merges with a powerful assault armor to overpower 7723, while Mai rescues Molly and evacuates the stadium, but is captured by Ares' Pin body. Unable to fend off Ares, 7723 makes the decision to reboot himself, restoring his weapons and beginning the process of wiping his memories. Saving Mai, he shares one last goodbye with her before fighting Ares on equal footing. After an arduous battle, his system reboot completes before he can neutralize an immobilized Ares, becoming inert. Ares attempts using his now-weakened Pin body to destroy the vulnerable 7723, but Mai stops him by swiping Ares' head off. 7723 re-activates but fails to recognize Mai.

As everything finally returns to normal, Mai begins making new memories with 7723, and even regain pieces of his old ones, and both are accepted by the community.

Voice cast

Production

Next Gen is a Canadian-American-Chinese co-production.[3]

In May 2018, it was announced that Netflix had purchased worldwide rights to Next Gen, an animated film directed by Kevin R. Adams and Joe Ksander, for $30 million. The deal excluded China.[4] Charlyne Yi, Jason Sudeikis, Michael Peña, David Cross, Kitana Turnbull and Constance Wu would lead the voice cast.[5][6]

Regarding the project being acquired by Netflix, Ksander stated:

Buying the film for the price they [Netflix] did was great for everybody involved, but more importantly, they've been a partner who's been really supportive of what we were trying to do.[7]

R. Adams added that:

Studios weren't sure how it [Next Gen] fit an animated children's film with Marvel-like action. Netflix was the most generous and they're in a place where they can take a risk.[7]

Next Gen was "effectively 100%" created in Blender.[8]

Release

The film was released worldwide except in China by Netflix on September 7, 2018.[9] The film was released theatrically in China on July 19, 2019 by Alibaba Group and Wanda Group.

Reception

Next Gen has received mixed to positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 5.67/10.[10]

In Richard Roeper's review for the Chicago Sun Times, he criticized the film's indecisiveness in what audience it was aiming for and said "It's a chore just to keep up with all the shifts in tone, and by the time Next Gen reaches the finish line, we're more exhausted than exhilarated."[11]

However, Joel Keller of Decider found no major problems to prevent enjoyment of the film, writing, "Our Call: STREAM IT. Great voice performances, some funny moments, and a central relationship that will immediately suck you in make NextGen a fun watch for the entire family."[12]

Accolades
AwardDate of CeremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef
Annie AwardsFebruary 2, 2019Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Feature ProductionSo Ishigaki, Graham WiebeNomination[13]
Annie AwardsFebruary 2, 2019Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature ProductionMarceline TanguayNomination[13]
Annie AwardsFebruary 2, 2019Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature ProductionCharlyne YiNomination[13]
Golden Reel AwardsFebruary 16, 2019Award for Non-Theatrical Animated Feature FilmNext GenWin[14]
Kidscreen AwardsFebruary 13, 2019Best One-Off, Special or TV MovieBaozou, Tangent Animation, NetflixNomination[15]
Kidscreen AwardsFebruary 13, 2019Creative Award - Best AnimationNext GenWin[15]
Kidscreen AwardsFebruary 13, 2019Creative Award - Best DesignNext GenWin[15]

Notes
  1. Pronounced like "May".

References
  1. Cycles for Animated Feature Film Production. In: YouTube. Blender. 16 November 2017, retrieved 24 December 2018.
  2. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?id=_fNEXTGEN01&country=CH&wk=2019W29&id=_fNEXTGEN01&p=.htm
  3. Amid, Amidi. "A behind the scenes look at the art of netflix's 'next gen'". Cartoonbrew. Cartoonbrew.
  4. "Netflix Buys Animated Film 'Next Gen' for $30 Million". 11 May 2018.
  5. Jr, Mike Fleming (11 May 2018). "Netflix Makes $30M Worldwide Rights Deal For Animated 'Next Gen' – Cannes".
  6. Setoodeh, Ramin (11 May 2018). "Cannes: Netflix Buys Animated Robot Movie 'Next Gen' for $30 Million Worldwide Deal".
  7. 'Next Gen': Netflix's $30-Million Animated Pickup Taps the Sentient Robot Zeitgeist
  8. ""Next Gen" - Blender Production by Tangent Animation soon on Netflix! - BlenderNation". BlenderNation. 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  9. "Next Gen". Netflix. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  10. "Next Gen (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  11. Roeper, Richard (September 7, 2018). "'Next Gen' overloads its animated robots with too many shifts in plot and tone". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  12. Keller, Joel (September 7, 2018). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Next Gen' On Netflix, About A Lonely Girl And The Robot Who Becomes Her Best Friend". Decider. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  13. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/2019-annie-award-nominations-complete-list-1165091
  14. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/mpse-golden-reel-award-nominations-2019-complete-list-winners-1181255/item/outstanding-achievement-sound-editing-feature-animation-1172358
  15. https://www.awn.com/news/2019-kidscreen-award-winners-announced
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