DreamWorks studios has made another visual oasis with its latest animated movie release, The Wild Robot. This movie tells the heartfelt story of a robot named Roz discovering the spectrum of human emotions while taking on a new vital role in her life amongst animals. The original Wild Robot comes from a book trilogy written and illustrated by Peter Brown in 2016. Brown worked hand in hand with the movie’s directors and animation team to ensure his vision translated to the big screen. Without reading any of the books, the preview for made it Wild Robot appear to be a light hearted family movie about a quirky robot who likes animals; but from the very beginning it takes on a more serious energy than expected. The author created a storyline that entails big topics like family dynamics, motherhood, bullying, purpose, adoption, even coping with loss. In an interview during the premier, director Chris Sanders spoke on how much work was put into keeping the core elements of Brown’s award winning books in the film. “We took the time to get it right, I think. We made a little bit of a change (from the book) here and there but all in service to getting the heart and soul of Peter Brown’s amazing story up on the screen, intact.”
DreamWorks has a long running reputation of doing a phenomenal job with their animations and Wild Robot is definitely up to par. During some scenes, the artists went outside of the norm by using an impressionist art style that you typically only see in materialized art pieces. It was like watching a Monet painting come to life. Sanders mentioned that his inspiration for the movie came immediately as he was reading the book in preparation of making the film. “Jumping into this project was my first experience with Peter Brown’s (the author) work. I think that his descriptions, as I read the book, the imagery in my own head was fairly sophisticated. I think images from Bambi and My Neighbor Totoro were the types of things that I was seeing as I read the book. I realized that the look of our movie became suddenly very critical. One of the biggest challenges that I laid before the visual artist was I needed The Wild Robot to be visually sophisticated.”
There are three main characters the audience follows. The robot Rozzum 7134, also known as Roz, whose voice is played by award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o. There’s Brightbill, an ambitious goose played by Kit O’Connor who is having a hard time fitting in with others. Last, but not least, is Fink the Fox, whose voice is played by Pedro Pascal from Game of Thrones. The unlikely trio meet in a strange coincidence that happened before Brightbill even hatched from his egg. Roz raises Brightbill as her own son despite their stark physical differences. As a robot, she heavily depends on her programming and advanced logic to operate on a daily bases, never caring for sentimental matters. She also has an interesting ability to mimic the movements and physical characteristics of any animal she chooses. This helps Roz connect with many species but also causes conflict where she is not accepted. The criticism of her being a mechanical mother to an animal son eventually takes its toll on the duo when Roz realizes that her role as a mother and robotic limits on emotions aren’t the best combination. Brightbill goes through laments of her lack of empathy and understanding, prompting Roz to do a deep dive of herself in hopes to learn how to show Brightbill that she loves him while also preparing him to be strong enough to fly north during the winter. Fink the Fox is a snarky supportive character with an insensitive sense of humor who tags along as Roz and Brightbill go through various obstacles amidst preparing for the winter storm. The star studded cast did a great job conveying each character’s development through the film. Every trial the characters faced was appropriately expressed the emotional weight of the movie in its continual progression.
There are quite a few losses throughout the movie that would make the plot too complicated for a very young person to comprehend. The last time audiences have see such blatant references to death in a family movie was when The Lion King put us on to the circle of life. The trio in Wild Robot face controversy together yet have very different struggles to fight. Roz is learning to break her programming, giving a metaphoric lesson of adults being able to step out of their traditional ways of thinking. She used her abilities to help others as much as possible. Ironically, the more she learned about love and being a mother, the more selfless she became. Taking care of a goose seemed to be a two-way street the writers intersected that touched on the topics of racism, adoption, and acceptance. The other geese treated Brightbill so bad, physically and verbally abusing him every second they could all because he couldn’t fly and had a different mother. Fink the Fox battled with depression and loneliness while coping with a fear-fueled attachment style. Each character faced major mental and emotional stressors you don’t typically see in a family oriented movie.
The storyline of Wild Robot has brought out the water works for most audiences ever since its opening week. The creators put a lot of time into laying out the importance of a mother’s role, no matter it be through birth or adoption, it’s a pivotal role that takes a ton of work and sacrifices. Some of the bullying scenes were too surprising, it may be off putting to anyone sensitive to that type of semi-graphic content. The way writers framed such serious topics into stunning visuals makes this move a gateway for hard discussions with one’s own children or family members who may be dealing with major life changes like loss, grief, or missing someone far away. It was a bit refreshing to see a motherly role not be shown as only sweet and soft, but rugged, and sacrificial. The slow beginning helps the story unravel in a realistic time frame but once the plot thickens, its pretty much action from that point all the way until the final scene. Crybabies will definitely need a box of tissues for this one. It wasn’t my personal favorite or genre of interest but the storyline was written very well, there was sufficient comedy relief, strong morals, interesting characters, beautiful images, I have to give Wild Robot a 9 out of 10.
