The Wild Robot

 

“I am a wild robot”

Colourful, heartfelt and wholesome, The Wild Robot is a great story about motherhood, kindness and finding community with stunning animation, endearing characters and heavy amounts of emotional heartstring tugging moments that shouldn’t leave a dry eye in the house.

Discussion Points:

It’s not revolutionary or anything outstanding - but gosh The Wild Robot is visually stunning and really hits you in the feels. Thankfully void of pop culture references, The Wild Robot feels like The Iron Giant for a new generation with a healthy dose of other iconic cinematic robots like Baymax, Johnny-5 and WALL•E. Like most robot stories, the film focuses on a machine that learns to feel and connect, overriding its limited programming to unlock an unlimited potential. What sets The Wild Robot apart however is its exploration of the unique bond of motherhood - its joys, challenges, exasperations and excitements. Director Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon; Lilo & Stitch) continues to excel at telling stories about found family forged from both biology and community and the film benefits from its cavalcade of characters who fit their archetypes well in service of the heart tugging moments of the story. Outside of the narrative, I’m not sure how well developed (or even introduced) the ensemble are, but they work well together to elevate the central dynamic of Roz, Brightbill and Fink voiced warmly by Lupita Nyong’o, Kit Conner and Pedro Pascal. And wow! What incredible visuals! The use of colour, texture and light to craft such a naturally beautiful and stunning world. Add a soothing score from Kris Bowers and a really effective use of an original song “Kiss the Sky” during a heartfelt montage to the list of further highlights. As the final film to be animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks, before they shift away to relying more heavily on outside studios going forth, The Wild Robot stands as one of the studios best, especially in recent years.