2024 has been a packed year for DreamWorks Animation. They started with Orion and the Dark, then King Fu Panda 4 and next they have The Wild Robot. Their latest is adapted from the book series of the same name by Peter Brown. Chris Sanders directs from a script he adapted himself. He also had a stacked voice cast to work with here which includes Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Mark Hamill, Bill Nighy, Ving Rhames, Stephanie Hsu and Kit Connor among others.
We open with Rozzum unit 7134, a super-intelligent giant robot that washed up ashore on an island, which is more of a jungle. Chris Sanders’ movies are generally set in similar environments and this one is no different. There is no human life on this island, only wildlife. It sees every creature as a potential customer and is in search of a task to complete because that’s the way they are programmed. In the beginning Roz (voiced by Nyong’o) struggles to communicate with the animals but quickly learns their methods and starts communicating with everyone on the island.
The robot is alone and without purpose, and this is the movie’s main theme, belonging and becoming the best version of yourself. There are a lot of lessons to take from The Wild Robot. It is not just another story about family and friendship, but a celebration of your loved ones. It tells you how to accept, how to coexist and how to love. Sansers crafts a very strong emotional core with the help of some relatable and charming characters. This core is what holds the narrative together, especially in parts where the screenplay goes awry.
Roz finds herself taking care of a gosling that she names Brightbill. She now has the responsibility of teaching him how to eat, swim, and fly, and Roz takes this role very seriously but in this journey of teaching the gosling, she also learns a couple of things herself along the way. She was programmed to be gentle, polite, and helpful, and would never intentionally harm anyone, but being a parent is much more than that. Roz realizes this quickly and with the help of Fink (Pascal), she becomes instinctive, compassionate, and selfless.
Roz starts thinking beyond what is “her purpose”, and starts thinking more about what Brightbill and the rest of the island need. Fink’s character is also interesting as he has also always been alone and longs for companionship which he finds in the form of Brightbill and Roz. He is almost like a co-parent to Brightbill. This is when the movie is at its strongest when it is focusing on the dynamic and relationship between the 3 of them. You feel a connection with them and will find yourself rooting for them, especially Brightbill and Roz.
The movie is weakest in its second act which feels rushed. Things just happen very quickly, and before we get time to settle on one thing, the second thing has already happened. It’s almost like bang, bang, bang, and feels like we skipped over a few things in between. I rarely say this but this is one of those scenarios where a longer runtime would’ve helped. Another weakness is the lack of strong supporting characters. besides our core members, you will hardly feel connected to any other character, and they just feel like they’re there for gags rather than to support the arcs of our main characters.
The voice work here is top-notch from everyone on the cast. Nyong’o and Pascal are standouts and feel like they poured their heart and soul into voicing these characters. The animation work is also spectacular, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given that it is DreamWorks. Each and every frame is so colorful and bright while radiating positivity and hope. Some of the artwork here is absolutely mesmerizing. The score is also really effective and lifts the narrative. The visuals and the score alone make this worth a big-screen watch.
The Wild Robot is exactly what you would expect from a DreamWorks movie. A visual feast with striking frames, top-notch voice work, and a heartwarming story. It has tears to shed, lessons to teach, and laughs to share. This gorgeous adventure about parenthood and co-existence makes for a great outing for kids and family audiences. It is not perfect in its storytelling, but it has so much to offer elsewhere, especially aesthetically. At a certain point a character says “Fly like you, not like them”, this line sums up everything that this movie stands for.
The Wild Robot releases in theaters on September 27.
