Space Cadet Film Review: Charming Fable

With its emotionally charged soundtrack and beautiful animation, Space Cadet is an ode to childhood memories and the heartbreak of growing up. 

When Celeste embarks on her very first interstellar mission, the robot finds himself without a purpose. Despite being happy for her, he also feels alone and constantly reminded of the time they had spent together before she left. 

The animation feels original and unique in the way it creates an entirely new universe for us to explore. The characters’ designs, and the world they inhabit, is full of small but important details. This allows the film to create fleshed-out and believable characters from the first time we see them on screen. Space Cadet’s themes of loneliness and grief are explored in a tender and beautiful way that a lot of people in the audience might be able to relate to. While most of us will not have had the experience of growing up with a guardian robot, a lot of viewers might relate to the way the characters hold on to Celeste’s childhood memories as she inevitably grows up and leaves her home and her robot to follow her dreams. 

Space Cadet is further proof of the sheer power of moving images to communicate a story, which is what filmmaking has always been about since its very start. Through images alone, the film delivers every single element of its storyline and characters without ever relying on narration or spoken lines. I never perceived the absence of dialogue as something that the movie is missing, but rather as a stylistic choice that not only works but also sets it apart from other science-fiction animations. But it is not only the images that move the story forward. The incredible soundtrack is part of what makes this movie so unique. 

Unfortunately, Space Cadet could easily feel a little bit too derivative of other films in a similar vein. Robot Dreams (2023) is set in 1980s New York City rather than in space some years into the future, but at their core, the two movies are relatively similar. Both of them have a robot as their main character, and both address the question of loneliness by using the medium of silent animation. While the film does have its own unique qualities,  it inevitably feels less original due to previous movies that employ the same technique of cartoons without any dialogue.

Overall, Space Cadet is a beautiful and moving film with a brilliant soundtrack that is definitely one of the most impressive elements of this movie. Despite the science fiction setting, I found myself easily relating to both the robot and Celeste in the way each of them experiences loneliness once they are separated. As the distance between them grows, they both find comfort in the memories of the times they spent together in a very sweet way that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

Space Cadet was screened at the Annecy Film Festival on June 9, 2025.