The Wild Robot

Amongst a number of major shifts within the animation industry at large, one was that DreamWorks Animation would no longer animate their films in-house beyond 2024, the last of which would be The Wild Robot, and afterwards pivot to outsourcing to other studios. The first trailer for The Wild Robot left a good enough impression on me that I read the original book by Peter Brown out of curiosity, with further trailers and learning of Chris Sanders’ (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) involvement only making me feel more confident in its quality. This would lead to me seeing the film in 3D on opening day, after which I was grateful this was the studios’ last in-house feature production and not Kung Fu Panda 4.

A robot named ROZZUM unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong'o), aka Roz, mysteriously washes up on the shore of an island inhabited by animals. While trying to find a task to complete, Roz ends up scaring all the animals away, even after taking the time to learn their language. During one such encounter, Roz falls down a steep cliff and ends up accidentally crushing a goose nest, its lone survivor being a single egg. Soon after the egg hatches, Roz learns that she has imprinted herself as the gosling’s mother, and is then given the task to raise him before he has to migrate in the fall.

While following the same basic structure as the book, the film takes some creative liberties, such as the order of some events and the number of named characters, to help it flow better as a movie. Whether you’ve read the book or not, this results in a very strong and emotional narrative that stands on its own from the source material. The emotional core of the relationship between Roz and the gosling, whom she names Brightbill (Kit Connor), drives the narrative in a very impactful way, complemented by the character arc of a fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) who aids them despite being a predator.

 

Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) must raise a gosling before he has to migrate.

Complementing the compelling plot is the equally beautiful visuals, featuring a painterly visual style that emphasizes the beauty of the wilderness Roz finds herself in. While Roz herself does not have much in the way of facial expression, this is expertly made up for with her eyes and body language. Light also plays an important role, displaying realism in addition to mood, including the lines of light on Roz’s body. Though Roz is mechanical, her design still allows her to blend in with the animals, who are all stylized enough to still be distinct from one another at a glance, even including some lesser-known species.

The voice acting and sound design are just as important, with Lupita Nyong'o portraying Roz with just the right combination of mechanical and emotional inflection. The animal vocalizations are also realistic to the animals they represent, showing a great attention to detail. One that stood out to me was Fink, whose fox vocalizations are accurately portrayed as higher-pitched due to foxes having smaller bodies.

Even if you haven’t read the original book, The Wild Robot is a film I can’t recommend enough for fans of Chris Sanders’ previous work or those looking for an experience well worth the ticket price. Since there are two other books in the series as of this writing, it would be interesting to see what can be done with those should DreamWorks Animation choose to revisit this film, provided the quality is of a similar caliber.