A friend invited me to see The Wild Robot on a Friday night. I had seen that the film’s ratings were extremely high, so I was excited to see if it lived up to the praise.
This film exceeded all my expectations, and then some.
The movie is based on Peter Brown’s bestselling and identically named 2016 novel. It is directed by Chris Sanders, who also directed Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and co-directed DreamWorks’s How to Train Your Dragon. The film has received such positive reception that a sequel is already in the works.
The film follows a stranded robot, ROZZUM unit 7134 or “Roz” (voiced by Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o), who washes up on an island inhabited by woodland creatures. As a helper robot, Roz needs a task — but the animals have none for her. She must adapt her programming to her new surroundings and learn to connect with the wildlife, who are initially hostile toward her. But, Roz is then given a task that goes beyond her programming. After an unfortunate accident, she finds herself tasked with being the adoptive mother to an orphaned runt gosling, Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor).
Right from the beginning, The Wild Robot captured my attention with its beautiful animation and design. Rather than the photorealism often favoured in computer animation, the film takes an approach that mimics paintings. Sanders drew inspiration from classic films such as Bambi and built on the animation style used in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The animation elevates the film and brings out the beauty of the woodland setting. It would have made for an amazing viewing experience all on its own.
While some of the humour can be quite dark, it is done in a way that would not be overwhelming for younger or more sensitive audiences. The Wild Robot is blunt about the harsh realities of wildlife survival, which makes the heartwarming moments even more rewarding to watch.
The cast, which includes Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu and Mark Hamill alongside Nyong’o and Connor, all give great performances. Some, particularly Nyong’o and Pascal, disappeared so thoroughly into their characters that I forgot or did not realize it was them until the end of the film. I found myself rooting for each character, cheering for their successes and feeling sorrow for their struggles.
If there is any small criticism I could make about the movie, it would be that, one of the major conflicts in the film is resolved a little too quickly. It was surprising that a sad moment between Roz and Brightbill, where Brightbill learns the truth about what happened to his family, was resolved in a matter of about 10 minutes on screen. While it is good that the conflict was not dragged out for too long, it was less impactful for me due to how quickly it was resolved. However, it did not ruin the movie.
The Wild Robot is a dazzling film with beautiful animation, wonderful performances and a compelling storyline that the whole family can enjoy. It is already an early favourite for me, for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. Only time will tell, but when you see it in theatres, it would be easy to understand why.
