Next Gen

Next Gen is an animated science-fiction adventure set in a near future where technology has become part of everyday life. It follows Mai, a lonely teenage girl whose father has left the family and whose mother pays more attention to new gadgets than to her daughter. At an exhibition of the latest scientific developments, Mai helps a state-of-the-art robot escape from the laboratory where it was built and secretly kept. The two form a friendship, and together they find themselves up against bullies, hostile machines and a dangerous schemer.

The film was directed by Joe Ksander and Kevin R. Adams, with a screenplay by Ryan W. Smith and Charlene Kelly producing. It was made by Tangent Animation together with the Chinese companies Alibaba Pictures Group and Baozou Manhua, and was released in September 2018 with a runtime of 105 minutes. The voice cast is led by Charlyne Yi as Mai and John Krasinski as the robot Project 77, alongside Jason Sudeikis, Michael Peña, David Cross and Constance Wu, with 27 credited cast members in total.

Next Gen cost around 23 million dollars to produce but returned only about 2 million dollars worldwide. Audiences have rated it 6.6 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 21,000 votes, and 7 out of 10 on TMDB from 874 votes. A film critics' rating of 5.8 out of 10 from seven reviews places it slightly below the audience scores on both platforms.