Intrigue

The story of Barney, an awkward middle-schooler and Ron, his new walking, talking, digitally-connected device. Ron's malfunctions set against the backdrop of the social media age launch them on a journey to learn about true friendship.

Twentieth Century Studios and Locksmith Animation's "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.—Twentieth Century Studios

Tech giant Bubble creates an algorithm to help children find friends and develop relationships through the use of robots called B-bots. A combination of a smartphone and a best friend, B-bots seem to take the world by storm. Soon everyone seems to have a B-bot... except for Barney, a middle-school student who lives with his father and grandmother in a small house on the edge of town. Barney's family is very poor, so he is not well-liked and tries not to be noticed at school. When students begin to bully Barney for not having a B-bot, his father and grandmother set out to get him one. They are not allowed into the store, but they discover a man in a loading bay who sells them a damaged B-bot. Barney and the B-bot, Ron, have a difficult start to their relationship. Ron embarrasses Barney in front of a popular girl who used to be his friend. But then Ron puts the bullies in their place, and Barney becomes best friends with him. When a bully discovers why Ron acts so unusually, he removes the security settings on his own B-bot and commences a chain-reaction that wreaks havoc throughout the entire school. Bubble's CEO Marc Wydell wants to meet Ron and learn more about him, but Marc's manager, Andrew, believes a defective unit could spell bad news for their company. Andrew will do anything he can to destroy Ron, while Barney will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. Barney helps Marc discover what's missing from Ron's algorithm, and they set off to stop Andrew and undo the damage the B-bots have done.

Tech giant Bubble unveils their latest creation: the B-bot, created by Bubble's CEO Marc Wydell with the intent to make a robot buddy that is designed to help make friends, via algorithm. In the city of Nonsuch, California, middle-schooler Barney Pudowski is the only kid in his class who doesn't have a B-bot. His former childhood friends, Savannah Meades, Rich Belcher, Noah and Ava have all become absorbed by their individual B-bots. On Barney's 12th birthday, his father, Graham, and his grandmother, Donka, come to realize that he doesn't have any friends. They hastily go to a Bubble store, but closes for the day, leading them to buy a slightly-damaged one from the store's delivery driver.

Barney receives the B-bot as his late-birthday gift, but upon activating it, he quickly learns that it's defective and glitchy. Not wanting to upset his father, Barney decides to take it back to the Bubble store to get it fixed, but ends up running into Rich and his friends who taunt and try to humiliate Barney. The B-bot begins to fight back as his safety functions have been disabled, with him and Barney happily running off. 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 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 kicked out 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 patched Ron, making him like every other 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 recess, a giant Bubble tower that overlooks Nonsuch produces Ron's face.