Note: I intended to see this movie when it was originally released back in September but could not due to Hurricane Helene. It has been re-released for awards season.
The Wild Robot is a delightful animated movie that soars high at pleasing kids and adults. It’s an enrapturing story that has equal parts heart, humor, and intelligence with likable, charming characters and plenty of dazzling eye candy.
The movie is based on Peter Brown’s first trilogy. It centers on a robot named ROZZUM (Lupita Nyong’o), a.k.a. Roz, who washes up on an island after a storm. Roz tries to help the other animals on the island with their daily routines, but her enormous presence terrifies them.
Roz finds a goose egg she protects and names the bird Brightbill (Kit Connor). Another creature Roz encounters that regards her with skepticism is a cunning fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal). Fink has no friends, but he aids Roz as she tries to help Brightbill prepare for the winter migration.
Other animals Roz crosses paths with are an opossum (Catherine O’Hara), a paranoid beaver (Matt Berry), and a grizzly bear (Mark Hamill). These characters are not just comic relief but also have qualities that advance the story.
Eventually, Roz’s founders, known as Universal Dynamics, catch up with her and send a series of robots to the island after a few of the animals take refuge in one of their structures. This, of course, leads to a showdown between the animals and the machines.
The Wild Robot bypasses the typical trappings of an elaborate backstory for how Roz ended up on the island and instead thrusts us into the present-day story. We get a flashback or two that gives enough information on how she ended up there.
The rest of the movie has some great visual sights, such as Roz training Brightbill to fly and another scene in which the robotic corporation sets fire to the island only for water to douse it out. There’s definitely an environmental meditation going on in The Wild Robot, but it never sacrifices the story in favor of any message.
The voice work is a joy as these characters are funny, clever, and touching whenever the story calls for it. Nyong’o carries the bulk of the dialogue and strikes the right anthropomorphic approach to make it feel natural instead of forced.
I still prefer Flow much more due to its innovative style and sense of imagination, but The Wild Robot, written and directed by Chris Sanders, is an animated feature that proves to be an exciting and thoughtful movie with something to say. You would have to be robotic not to be charmed.
Grade: A-
(Rated PG for action, peril and thematic elements.)
