Directed By Chris Sanders

Starring – Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor

The Plot – After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz (Nyong’o) is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island’s animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

Rated PG for action/peril and thematic elements.

The Wild Robot | Official Trailer (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Dreamworks finding their collective groove once again was probably one of the last things on my 2024 bingo card, but ‘The Wild Robot’ is a very special and gratifying circumstance on the circle of life that every demographic of the audience can emphatically enjoy and thoughtfully take something unique from the transfixing engagement. Much credit to Sanders for constructing something so simplistically interpretable, yet psychologically profound, with a script that youths can appreciate for its abundance of boldly edgy content and eclectic characters, while simultaneously appealing to adult audiences as a love-letter to the importance of motherly bonds, riding the ages old debate of nature versus nurture that giftwraps so many touchingly sentimental feelings that are remarkably earned every step of the way. As expected with movies catering to families, it is a film that emphatically basks in the glow of its emotional sensitivity, but never in ways that water down the engagement towards feeling like a wet blanket, instead balancing its abundance of rich and nutritional heart with a surprisingly dark layer of edgy comedy that definitely elicited more than a few hearty laughs to this tough critic. Considering the film is rated PG, it’s astounding to see how vividly visceral the movie depicts the unpredictably ruthless elements of the wilderness, where focused upon characters can deliver a line of dialogue one second, before meeting their untimely demises the next, all with the comedic enveloping that Sanders establishes firmly in the depths of his tonal consistencies that truly do elicit a rollercoaster of emotions that are constantly shifting on this intimately vulnerable tale. In being one pertaining to the aforementioned elements of motherhood, it also touches firmly on the benefits of community, and how people or animals are essentially stronger when working towards a common goal. This is obviously nothing new or original for kids movies, as I could think of three films in the last year alone with a similar thematic impulse, but in the case of ‘The Wild Robot’, its articulation for the cruel and devastating setting within the film goes a long way towards painting the bleak desperation of the characters and their game-changing motivations, making it an integral aspect to the script that attains realism as well as believability to the way its articulated, all effectively without shifting the focus away from the primary plot between Roz and her adopted goose, Brightbill, which is definitely the heartbeat of the movie’s emotional depth and maturity. On top of the entertaining and educational storytelling, the film is aided tremendously by out of this world animation that truly captures the wonder and breathtaking beauty of this island, without sacrificing the integrity of the illustrations of the book that the movie originates from. While someone with an untrained eye could easily look at furs of an animal and think they look unfinished or unpolished with the attention to detail of the luscious canvases in backdrops, they are in reality a subtle homage to the staticky splendor of the literary origins, which transfer surprisingly seamlessly to the radiance of the three-dimensional animation that captivates every bit as much as it immerses to the environmental ingredients that are exceptionally defined visually. While Dreamworks has always been an animation studio more invested to the fantastically imaginative and expressive of their animated properties, this truly feels like the tasteful evolution that allows them to stand alongside the biggest visionaries of the genre, with lusciously lavish color schemes and tangibility among textures in the backdrops that were a delight to see on the big screen, especially during elaborate sequences of wildlife interaction from overhead shots that brought back that escapable quality in exotic exploration that I felt as a kid watching ‘The Lion King’ for the first time. While the scenery is quite remarkable, for my money it maintains a poetic essence as a result of working counterproductively with Kris Bowers’ majestically magical score, emphasizing each palpable emotion with versatility in compositions that range anywhere from affectionately intimate to thunderously triumphant, granting so much feeling and wonderment to these sequences that transcribed more than a few goosebumps to my own interpretation. Lastly, the characters are brought to life with such boldly charismatic personalities like Catherine O’Hara, Ving Rhames, Bill Nighy, and Mark Hamill, to name a few, bringing so much energy and exuberance to their various deliveries, but the work of Nyong’o and Pascal are on a whole other level, with commitment to craft that effortlessly obscures the familiarity of their documented tones. While I knew the extensive ensemble before heading into the film, I constantly forgot that it was these two performing the movie’s two biggest characters, and that transformative essence is ultimately the single biggest accolade to voice actors, especially those as currently relevant as Nyong’o and Pascal. Pedro does supplant most of the film’s comedic muscle, with unapologetic deliveries that outline the bitterness of a lonely soul, but beyond that transcribes empathy for a character who initially comes across as conniving or mischievous, transcribing a full-fledged evolution that eventually earned him to be my single favorite character of the movie. As for Lupita, I’m blown away with how much range and undeterred focus that she has in her diaphragm, especially in the intentional monotony of her initial interactions with the animals, which make her feel every bit of the robotic presence she’s attempting to capture, but also how that range evolves by the film’s second half, where with her character interacting so frequently with nature, opens up her expressions towards feeling more warm and personable, solidifying a full fledged endorsement for Nyong’o that makes her capable of tackling any genre or character that she attempts.

NEGATIVES

While not much to consistently scoff at, ‘The Wild Robot’ doesn’t always make the most of its 96 minute run time, resulting in some underutilized arcs and sudden developments that feel rushed to the integrity of their conception. The problem seems to be the script’s dependency on montage sequences, which not only directly undercut the magnitude of the eventual character evolutions, but also undercut some of those tender moments of dynamic growth between characters that should serve to measure the extension of their respective conflicts. By undercutting or hemming this aspect, supporting characters aren’t given the kind of focus or depth as their leads, mainly Pascal’s Fink, who with the frequent mention of his character’s loneliness as a predator among his prey, strangely is never further elaborated towards, cutting another possibly touching scene of self-confrontation and reflection that could’ve produced so much more out of the character to compliment the demand that the movie’s second half asks of him. In addition to this, the same hinderance results to an abrupt ending that materializes quite literally out of thin air, with a weak antagonist entity that appears for the first time in the film with a half hour remaining. This is my least favorite aspect of the film, as the climax settles for being just another action set piece that draws so many of these animated adventure films together, instead of remaining true and confident towards its coming of age story, which was ten times more entertaining and investing than anything this confrontation could properly muster. I will undoubtedly be in the minority in this sentiment, but I feel if the script could’ve periodically deviated away from Roz and her newfound friends, then it could’ve pushed inevitable urgency in ways that were beneficial to the arrival, but instead it feels tacked on to themes and explorations that are far more entertaining than its climax can generate, settling for more of the same, instead of remaining true to the ideals that made it such a refreshing engagement.

OVERALL
‘The Wild Robot’ is a compelling slice of life that simplistically enacts many profound sentiments simultaneously appealing to every side of the family demographic that will undoubtedly seek it out. With breathtakingly stunning animation capturing realism in very few ways that Dreamworks has ever attained, as well as transformative performances from Nyong’o and Pascal, who seamlessly disappear into their respective roles, the film is the gold standard for animated properties in 2024, allowing this once prominent studio to reclaim its honor, with a stimulating script that doesn’t skimp on the heart or humor that defines motherhood.

My Grade: 8/10 or A-