The robot cat is a time machine disguised as comfort. You watch a show you've loved since childhood suddenly become a funeral for that version of yourself, all rendered in animation so clean it hurts to look at. Nobita's grandfather doesn't know he's about to die, and neither does the movie, which is exactly what makes it work, the ending finds you before you're ready for it.

Nobita Nobi is a lazy fourth grader with failing grades who is constantly bullied by his classmates Suneo and Takeshi. His great-great-grandson Sewashi travels back from the 22nd century with a blue robotic cat named Doraemon, warning that Nobita's current path leads to a disastrous future of marriage to Takeshi's sister Jaiko, a burned-down company and crushing debt. Doraemon wants to head home, but Sewashi activates a program that keeps him stuck until Nobita's future improves. Doraemon now has to help the boy with gadgets pulled from his four-dimensional pocket, which can hold anything. Those tools solve problems as often as they cause them, and the pair's escapades stretch across time and space in a fantasy adventure mixed with plenty of comedy.