Review: The Wild Robot

The Latest Dreamworks Animation Film

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INTRODUCTION

This is a quick review of the newly released film The Wild Robot. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.

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THE PLOT

Via Letterboxd: A robot, ROZZUM Unit 7134, “Roz” for short, is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island, and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.

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QUICK REVIEW

I’ve had a hell of a couple of last days. Living in Central Florida, you sometimes have to deal with the threat that are tropical cyclones. In just a few days a tropical depression turned into Tropical Storm Helene, which would then strengthen to a category four hurricane within just a few days, before hitting the big bend region of the state, up north. The tropical storm winds that came over my region were enough to knock out the power at my house - literally right after I watched this film that I’m reviewing; a film that, mind you, I already was unable to attend the press screening for. And thus it took days of waiting for my power to turn back on until I could get my chance to write this review.

So apologies that I’m already late to the party that have been the raves for the latest Dreamworks film, The Wild Robot. A movie that got great buzz coming out of the Toronto Film Festival, and has been talked about as a potential dark horse Best Picture contender at the Oscars. Something I’m not used to seeing from a Dreamworks movie - though we did get the great Puss In Boots: The Last Wish just two years back. There’s been a lot of hype and excitement for this film as an animated feature that can really stand out.

The film has the goods on a technical level. The animation is gorgeous and stands out from the standard 3-D animation Disney has gotten us used to. The score and sound work is solid, and the cinematography is colorful and helps make the animation stand out.

The film’s voice cast ensemble is solid - Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Ving Rhames, Matt Berry, among others. The voice work is so good that I barely recognized the voices most times, getting more wrapped up in the characters rather than the famous voices I was hearing.

Director Chris Sanders is the same man who has directed some animated classics like Lilo & Stitch or major hits like The Croods, and this is easily, in my opinion, his best film yet, as he delivers some really top-notch direction of the animation.

On paper the concept to this movie (adapted from a book) seems too simple. A robot lands in the wilderness and learns to feel for the animal friends they meet on their adventures. But what makes the story transcend and stand out is that the movie becomes a story of so many different things at once. Between our protagonist “Roz”, the robot in question, having to adopt a gosling, find their purpose in question of what they were supposed to be built for, and the dynamics of how the different animals in the environment around create a strange dog-eat-dog sense of community, it hits on parenthood, finding your own path in life over what others want from you, and a community coming together.

And the best part is the film doesn’t sacrifice humor or the kinds of visual feats you can only pull off with animation to hit on these serious themes. This is the kind of movie that people of all ages will appreciate, the kind you can take your kids, your nieces or nephews, etc to and not find yourself cringing at the level of storytelling used. It reminds me of the kind of films Disney and Pixar used to lean towards before they became more obsessed with turning everything into a multi-film franchise.

The Wild Robot is truly a special animated film. It’s the first one this year to gain an A-tier grade from me. A week after I really enjoyed Transformers One, it surpassed that one as my new favorite animated film of the year. It’s a funny, touching, and emotional tale that both parents and their kids will have fun at the movies with. It’s gotta’ be the early frontrunner for Animated Feature at the Oscars. I give it a solid A-. This is one of those big animated features that actually lives up to the hype.

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INITIAL GRADING

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