A robot – ROZZUM unit 7134 – is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive mother of an orphaned gosling.
- Based on the novel The Wild Robot by Peter Brown.
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There is a lot of animation these days to wade through. While there are some good ones (Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, etc), there are a lot that tend to aim too low brow, and are just for kids (Minions, for example). So when The Wild Robot came out in theaters, I gave it a pass. Now that’s it available on the streaming services, however, I figured I’d give it a shot. Would it be just for kids, or could adults find something amongst these colorful characters as well?
The voice cast is both pretty packed, and largely hidden in The Wild Robot. Pedro Pascal, Lupita Nyong’o, Ving Rhames and Bill Nighy all lend their voices to different characters, with Lupita and Pedro being two of the main ones. Their voices, while usually distinct, are not as much so on first viewing, as the animation allows them to blend so well with their characters. Even Catherine O’Hara pops up in a role so similar to her character from Over the Hedge, but viewers probably won’t figure this out until the end credits. That’s really impressive, as even Ving Rhames and Bill Nighy’s obvious inflections don’t really cause viewers to picture them instead of their characters. That’s pretty rare in animated films.
The storyline is pretty simplistic in The Wild Robot. A robot is stranded on an island accidentally, and is straddled with caring for a young goose. Set three tasks, the robot proceeds to discover more about caring and love than her creators ever dreamed. Sounds simple enough, and it is – but it works. It’s a fish-out-of-water story (the robot) combined with a robot learning how to feel, and it makes for a great story.
Obviously, this story takes a large cue from films like The Iron Giant and Wall-E, who each blazed their own trail of robots feeling emotions. But, The Wild Robot never feels like a retread. Instead, it feels like it learned from those films, and forges its own path. Maybe viewers are suckers for robots that develop human emotions, as every one (including the goofy Short Circuit) seems to draw in the crowds. And they all deliver a unique perspective to their story that seems to work well for each of them.
The animation is pretty spectacular. When the film first starts, viewers might be hard-pressed to decide if the water and the landscape isn’t real. The animals and robot, of course, dissuade this notion, but the detail is so strong it’s still pretty amazing to watch. It’s nice, since the film seems to embrace some of the wonders nature has to offer even while parading a very mechanical looking robot through that wonder.
There haven’t been many animated films that come across as well as The Wild Robot. Kids and adults both will find themselves happily lost on this island, enjoying the impressive sights and letting their heartstrings get pulled by the inhabitants. A solid movie that should stand up to many repeated viewings, it’s hard to find anything wrong with this at all.
