The Wild Robot - Movie Review

Critics Score - 8 of 10

General Audience Score - 8 of 10

Kids Score - 8 of 10

It’s been over a decade and a half since Disney/Pixar taught us that robots can be more than just diabolical, cold unfeeling machines that are primarily concerned with usurping human rule and taking over the planet. Yes, I know there’s another animated Robots movie from Fox (which is actually quite good) that came out years before the adorable Wall-E ever came on screen. But now we have The Wild Robot from Dreamworks Animation which joins the ranks of the animated pieces of metal that somehow feel just as human as our own flesh and blood. This is the story of Roz, a female robot voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, who finds herself stranded on an island full of animals. As she studies their noises and what they mean, eventually she learns to communicate with them and subsequently takes on the task of raising a young duckling with the help of a fox. This film is about as sweet and sentimental as they come, it’s themes of motherhood, technology and it’s impact on the environment are engaging and by the end it will challenge the tear ducts of even the film’s most ardent detractors. As far as the animation style is concerned, this film is beautifully rendered, it’s combination of CG animation combined with the hand drawn style like the new Spider-man or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle films have done, it gives this film a unique and interesting visual flair. This movie is a delight for general audiences young and old, critics and cinefiles. Because I have two young boys, I stay pretty current with the animated films for the year. In my humble opinion, at this point, it would be Wild indeed if this Robot was not only nominated for Best Animated Feature, but win the Oscar as well.

SYNOPSIS - This animated voyage into the near future of robotics begins in a thunderstorm. We hear a large boom of thunder and the screen shows us a large storm cloud opening up with rain drops falling around us as the camera flies through. The stylized storm is lit up with lighting flashes, dark and light shades of blue, gray and even a bit of purple fill the clouds as they zoom past us. With one final flash we’re instantly transported to a rocky beach, symmetrical stones jutting out of the water and rocky cliffs to the left fill the screen for some moments. Waves slowly wash up along the shore in front of us. After a minute a sea otter pops up out of the water and looks straight at us, then we spot a second and third, at which point the camera backs up and we see that we’re looking through a camera lens. As the shot continues to retreat, we can see this is no ordinary lens, but the eye of a robot, but most of it is obscured by a large, metal box. We continue to observe more of the adorable little otters scamper around and crawl up onto the metal container, sniffing around and investigating until one of them accidentally bumps the power button with its nose, activating the machine. The robot lights up with blue trim, seeming as if a neon blue blood coursed through its electrical circuitry veins. After the robot greets the animals in various languages, which have since retreated to the water, she says, “Congratulations on your purchase of a universal dynamics robot.” She introduces herself to the otters as Rozzum 7134, (Lupita Nyong’o) but eventually goes by Roz. 

Suddenly a large wave crashes into the shoreline causing Roz to flail about wildly, she’s surprisingly resilient and waterproof for a battery powered machine. As she recovers from the large wave, her camera eyes scan another approaching. After analyzing a crab walking up the sheer rock wall that prevents her escape, she adapts accordingly and crawls up the wall sideways, like the crab. But Roz is programmed to be an assistant and her mantra, “A Rozzum always completes its task, just ask”, compels her to search for an assignment. So she goes around the forest asking the different animals she comes into contact with if they have anything for her to do. Naturally, Roz cannot communicate with her woodland neighbors. So she activates “learning mode” and via a time lapse shot showing many days passing, she listens and studies all the noises made by the birds and creatures in her vicinity. Finally after some time, she has enough information to understand them. As the sequence ends, a group of animals has gathered, she hears some weasels speaking, then a rabbit asks her is she’s there to kill them. Soon Roz finds her forest home to be not so welcoming as she gets rammed by a moose, swarmed by a massive tribe of raccoons and finally mauled by a bear. Eventually she stumbles upon an egg and a conniving fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) tries to make a meal out of the treat, but Roz protects the small round package until finally a ducking emerges and she calls him Brightbill (Kit Conner). As Brightbill is a runt of the litter, Roz must teach the young bird to swim and eventually fly in order for him to be able to migrate south for the winter with the rest of the flock. As Roz steps into the motherly role with some input and assistance from Fink, she begins to experience things that can only be described as emotions. She begins to shed the formulaic processes of her plastic and metal parts and embraces the feelings that make this robot and movie quite different from all the others.

The visuals are probably the first thing that upon watching the trailer or starting the film, immediately grab your attention. The 

color palette of the grayish blue robot and the greens, blues and browns of the environment and animals surrounding her make for some beautiful contrasts. The animation style is also very fluid, it’s as if there’s no definite line between things, especially in nature, the trees, meadows, rocks and cliffs, the sky and sea all have a peculiar look about them, almost as if there’s not enough detail drawn into the images. This might seem like a negative quality but the rendering of these things gives the film an almost warmth that is difficult to put into words. But it’s possible that is just the vibe the film itself gives off as it goes about telling its heartwarming story. Although the lovable robot that begins to “feel” human emotions is certainly nothing new, steering into the themes of motherhood and a machine fighting for the survival of the environment I found wholly engaging and compelling. The film kept up a good pace, I never tired of where the story was heading as I do many of the standard kids movies these days, most put me to sleep. At just over an hour and forty minutes, the film never wears out it’s welcome and can keep audiences young and old alike invested in its endearing characters and tender portrayal of a machine becoming a parental figure. I will say I was a bit put off once the animal characters began speaking, almost like Zootopia or some other ultra kiddie Disney film, because Wild Robot tries to stay grounded in reality as much as possible, with the visuals and plot. But my grievances with the film are few and far between, this is simply put the most charming little animated movie I’ve seen in quite some time.

SUMMARY - While this film won’t make my favorite films of the year, there’s just no denying how well put together this touching animated film is. By the conclusion of it, if you’re heart isn’t a little warmer and you haven’t gotten the feels a few times, there’s a chance The Wild Robot might not be the only thing made of metal.