Film Review - "The Wild Robot"

Lot of animated films about robots coming out lately...

The Wild Robot
Directed by Chris Sanders

Starring Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, and Kit Connor

Based on the book by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot tells the story of a service robot, ROZZUM Unit #7134, or "Roz" for short (Nyong'o) who becomes stranded on an island devoid of humanity. Roz stumbles across the egg of an orphaned baby goose. The baby, a runt, hatches and imprints on the robot, seeing her as his mother. Roz is built to serve and assist, and makes it her mission to raise this goose, later named Brightbill (Connor) and teach him to survive in the wild.

That's the basis of this beautiful, deeply-layered film from Writer-Director Chris Sanders, who has previously brought us the likes of Lilo & Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon. There's so much to take away here, for both kids and adults. The Wild Robot is rich with themes of nature vs nurture, overcoming adversity, blood family, found family, parenting, community, and acceptance. It's a film that audiences are able to walk away with something new after every viewing. 

The film also has a lot of dark humor which I got a kick of, and apparently a lot of the young kids in my theater did too. It's nice to see animated films not play down to children. The film gives off vibes of a Don Bluth film or classic Disney works, which isn't surprising since Sanders got his start with the latter. The visuals and aesthetic can drum up memories of Bambi or The Fox & The Hound, and it's easy to draw comparisons to Wall-E or Big Hero Six. However The Wild Robot is so much more than that...like if 

Bambi and Wall-E had a baby, and that baby was raised by Baymax from Big Hero 6.

All that being said, the film has its own unique look and is absolutely gorgeous. The scenery and background almost look hand-painted. The way they play with colors and lighting is stunning. There is so much iconic imagery that made me go "I want to try and draw that shot." Roz's design is very sleek and simplistic, but how the lighting plays into her programming is what takes it to the next level. All the animals have a very classic "Dreamworks" look to them but their textures and movements make them deceptively look hand-drawn at times.

This is a very personal sidetone, but when the first trailer for this film dropped, I was very intrigued because it had no dialogue, and the idea of a mainstream animated film with minimal dialogue excited me. I should've realized that wasn't the case right away, because they list all the famous voice actors at the end of that exact trailer. As more marketing for the film came out, they naturally started to show the animal characters talking, which I have no problem with. That's a trait hundreds of animated films share, many of which I love. The idea of one that deviated from the norm just intrigued me. Hell, I think not having the animal characters talk was one of Pocahontas's greatest strengths.

Regardless, I think the way this film allows the animals to talk is very clever, and the film is all the better for the fact that they talk. Not an animal in the film, but Lupita Nyong'o is perfect as Roz, balancing the technological and the emotional aspects of the character. Pedro Pascal disappears into Fink and gives a very charming performance as only he can. Kit Connor is a real standout as Brightbill, capturing the true essence of a young man (or goose) going through growing pains. It's just as much his film as it is Nyong'o's/Roz's.

The supporting cast is delightful. Catherine O'Hara is per usual both sweet and sassy as a mother opossum, and her babies steal a lot of scenes. Matt Berry has some fun moments as a beaver named Paddler. Ving Rhames pops up for a brief but delightful scene as a falcon who helps teach Brightbill to fly (If I had a nickel for every time Ving Rhames showed up unexpectedly in a 2024 animated film...) Bill Nighy is recognizable but nonetheless iconic as Longneck, an elder goose. I won't spoil Mark Hamill's character as I was waiting the whole film for him to show up, but when he does...it's great.

Composer Kris Bowers knocks it out of the park with the score. The music is so powerful, and reminiscent of John Powell's work in How To Train Your Dragon. I want this film to be nominated (and maybe win) Best Animated Feature at the Oscars this year, but I hope Bowers gets recognized too. This is a score worthing buying on vinyl.

The Wild Robot may just be one of Dreamworks Animations' best films yet. It's familiar but so powerful, and beautiful. I highly recommend seeing this one on the big screen with your families. Audiences of all ages can walk out with a smile of this one. In a year where we've already had the emotional gut-punch of Inside Out 2, the delightful surprise of Transformers One, and now this, it looks like this could be the first year in a while where there is no clear animated frontrunner come awards season...and that excites me. 

Animation. Is. Cinema...