Director Graham Jones tries something different with his new 2D animated feature SILICON DOCKS, about a hypothetical night out in Ireland with America’s top tech CEOs, all looking to grab a pint (or several) on a pub crawl. The hitch to this movie is, what if these titans of industry were treated just like every other shlub on the planet.

The animation is spotty, but it seems like a deliberate action on behalf of the director. SILICON DOCKS almost feels like an old episode of Dr. Katz rather than a more modern animated outing. The audio captures the feeling of the people the characters are based on, if exaggerated (like Elon Musk using a voice synthesizer built into his neck to change the sound of his voice). Jokes like that land solidly and keep the movie light.

The pandemic as a backdrop to this adds to some of the humor as well as showing, in juxtaposition just how out of touch these so-called futurists are with how humanity operates around them. Touching on modern politics and how tech influences world economies, these characters are all out for their own bank accounts, and don’t see the bigger picture of their role in society’s downfall.

The pacing makes this sub-90-minute film a little tough to get through in one sitting, but the dialogue is engaging, and the cell-shade animation cinematography is beautiful to look at. The audio from the animation sounds great, and the soundtrack is good as well, but it lacks some interstitial music and score to carry the scenes.

SILICON DOCKS has something important to say if you can sit through it. Oddly enough, it feels like sitting in a panel listening to conversations with the actual people the characters are based on. Like an extended TED Talk or something. The characters say a lot of things, but rarely actually say anything important. That’s what the movie captures, the futility of tech moguls to actually answer the world’s problems, because they’re not gods, just fallible people who want a beer like the rest of us.