A Superior, Well-Constructed Animated Film

(103124) The Wild Robot is a superior film with gorgeous animation about a unique friendship between a cute gosling and his robot companion. It is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Peter Brown. The film and book received their titles because the author wanted to explore what would happen if a robot was stuck in the wild where it becomes a kind of surrogate mother to a gosling. The film has been a big success in bringing people to the theaters and a sequel is already being planned.

The film successfully combines both American and Asian influences. The hand painted animation looks natural, and it is clearly influenced by the classic Disney films like Bambi as well as the more recent films of the Japanese animator and Studio Ghibli star, Hayao Miyazaki, In a clear homage to Miyazaki the main robot in Wild Robot even increasingly resembles the one in Castle in the Sky when it gets covered in moss.

With its subjects of the strong bond of motherhood and a misfit using unique gifts to serve the community, the story is also reminiscent of both Charlotte’s Web and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Along with The Iron Giant, Wall E and the before-mentioned Robot Dreams, this is among the best animated films ever about robots.

The film was directed by Chris Sanders who established a fine and respectable record in cartoon cinema. Some of his previous films include Lilo and Stitch, and How to Train Your Dragon which was both impressive, but this is by far his most ambitious and best film. Sanders works for DreamWorks which also released The Prince of Egypt, Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.

Ordinarily I would boldly declare this is the animated film of the year, but it suffers a bit in comparison to the similar themed and even better Robot Dreams which was only released a few months ago, Although the Wild Robot arguably has more impressive animation, Robot Dreams has a more involving story and has a greater overall emotional impact.

The voice of Lupito Nyong’o from 12 Years a Slave plus the Black Panther films provides the voice of the Robot Roz. It always sounds motherly, and it always conveys empathy and evokes compassion. Other standouts in the excellent voice cast include Game of Throne’s Pedro Pascal as Fink the Fox, Star War’s Mark Hammil as Thom the bear, Kitt Connor as Brightbill, Ving Rhames from Pulp Fiction is Thunderbolt a falcon who helps teach Brightbill how to fly, and Schitt”s Creek Catherine O’ Hara as Pinktail the opossum.

Rozum Unit 7134 or Roz for short is a robot who crashed on an uninhabited island. Although there are no people there, it is full of animals such as raccoons, geese, foxes, and skunks. Some of the animals find Roz’s appearance frightening and unnatural because she has spindly metal arms and large artificial looking screen eyes. A little bird even asks Roz point blank, “Are you going to kill me?” Many of the animals reject Roz the robot even though she never acts violently or presents herself as a threat, and they want him to leave.

Roz’s life is without apparent purpose until she finds a task she can devote herself to, although she is not programmed to do it. She stumbles upon a lone motherless goose egg shortly after the rest of the goose’s family was crushed. The robot saves the egg from a terrible fate at the hands of a sly fox (voiced by Pedro Pascal). After the gosling hatches the robot Roz begins taking care of her and they are both befriended by an observant opossum (Catherine O Hara) who helps out with the mothering. Roz has her work cut out for her. She has to figure out a way to teach the fowl baby, later named Brightbill how to swim as well as how to fly south before the winter.

The film teaches a valuable lesson against about tolerance and it encourages people to accept friendships and/or families that differ from the norm like gay marriage. But unlike many recent Marvel U films this movie never proselytizes, and it never forgets it is supposed to entertain first.

Despite some dark elements it would be difficult to find a better film for families to enjoy together over the holidays, The film offers good life lessons, stunning animation, and a moving story that should please children of every age group. And viewers who see it might possibly get in on the ground floor of a thrilling new family film series.