Wow! Every year the Best Animated Feature race at the Oscars gets more and more difficult, and this year’s will definitely be a doozy. It’s hard to top a film like Inside Out 2. But I truly believe Dreamworks and writer/director Chris Sanders have managed to do just that with a beautiful, artistic triumph about love and parenthood called The Wild Robot.
Animated films ARE cinema! TAKE NOTE, ACADEMY! Between the maturity of Inside Out 2 dealing with the anxiety that comes with growing up, and now The Wild Robot maturely tackling the concept of community, found families, and parenthood, we’re treated to a very difficult decision of selecting a front-runner for Best Animated Feature this year — not to mention a few other films like Flow and Memoir of a Snail releasing soon as well. For my money, I think it’ll be hard to top The Wild Robot, which, in my opinion, is a cinematic achievement on every level!
I’ve long touted Sanders as one of the most underrated filmmakers in cinema today. Dating back to his work in Lilo and Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon, Sanders has always had the remarkable ability to make a movie that is grand and epic in scale, but is sincere and human in the simplest, most relatable, most grounded ways. He does this once more with The Wild Robot, aided by a stellar cast of actors providing incredible vocal performances, a majestic score from composer Kris Bowers, and jaw-dropping animation that is outstandingly game-changing.
Based on The Wild Robot book series by Peter Brown, the film follows ROZZUM-7134 (aka Roz), a robot created by a company called Universal Dynamics, who finds herself stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash. With nothing but wildlife surrounding her, Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) grows to understand the creatures that inhabit the island, in the process adopting an orphaned baby goose, which she names Brightbill (Kit Connor), and befriending a clever mischievious fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal), and a mother possum named Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara). Searching for purpose, Roz quickly grows to love and care for the family she makes on the island, particularly her adopted goose son, assisting, protecting, and providing for all those around her, helping them grow in the most personal ways possible.
Right off the bat, this is such a beautiful movie, both thematically and aesthetically. The artwork and animation on display here, from the vibrant color palate, to the storybook texture of the characters feels incredibly fresh. It’s as if Dreamworks Animation was only getting started with this style in earlier works like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Bad Guys, but have completely stretched the limits of what’s possible with The Wild Robot. From the trees to the sea, everything feels tangible, giving the world the film is set in a true sense of realism from the mountains to the seas and the skies. The medium of animation has been growing more and more incredible since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse shook up possibilities with computer animation. This year, it’s The Wild Robot that pushes the envelope, paying tribute to the gorgeous complexities of nature, while still giving its anthropomorphized creatures real personalities in their expressiveness.
But even more beautiful than the animation are the story, the themes, and Sanders’ writing. This is a movie about finding purpose through love: for friends, for nature, and for family. The Wild Robots reaches deep into the existential soul of humanity and reflects it poetically, surprisingly through non-human characters. While the idea of robots or animals having souls isn’t a new concept in cinema, it hasn’t been explored this beautifully in animation since WALL-E and The Iron Giant. More than that, The Wild Robot stands apart from both of those because its story lends itself to a greater sense of relatability in the exploration between the relationship between parents and their children; what it’s like to be a parent watching their child grow up, and accepting their maturation and eventual independence.
The film explores what it’s like to find purpose as a parent but also after those responsibilities have seemingly ended. All through the wonderful and touching relationship between Roz and Brightbill. Sanders’ sharp screenplay and touches of dark, relatable humor enhance Roz’s personality, as she bluntly thinks what all parents are thinking, when referring to the pros of parenting (“love”), but also the cons (“crushing obligation”). As is expected within a character like hers, the film is never dishonest about the burdens this purpose may have, as emphasized through her exchanges with Fink or Pinktail. And as she and Brightbill begin to develop a rapport, and their touching relationship convincingly develops and deepens, so do our love of the characters as Roz “improvises” and tries to figure out how to care about another creature that loves her on the fly. The emotions that come from her reactions to situations like Brightbill denouncing her, showing her affection, screaming at her, wanting to help, snuggling with her, etc. It all feels so real, and it makes Roz one of the most authentic characters, as well as her relationship with Brightbill one of the most realistic relationships, perhaps ever, in any animated feature, as they touch on themes that resonate on a universally relatable level.
Exploring family dynamics is something that Sanders does so beautifully. From Lilo and Stitch to How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods, it’s usually about a broken family finding their way past the dysfunction and to get to the love. But here, Sanders shows growth, in some ways exploring new ground, since The Wild Robot is a departure from that. Roz’s introduction to this island makes it so that the film is more about the creation of a family for those who are alone; individuals coming together as a community, learning to look out for each other, and growing together. Much like his previous characters, they’re still imperfect, but they recognize the need that they have for one another, and the loneliness that comes without community, showcasing how tolerance and understanding are key factors to survival. There’s something beautiful and unique about this.
The film is also incredibly funny as well, with Sanders’ script being full of his trademark touches of dark humor. There’s several morbid jokes about possums making up backstories for their fake deaths, as well as dark jokes about — well, let’s call it “the food chain.” But none of that clashes with the beautiful beating heart of the film, or its epic nature.
Much like How to Train Your Dragon, there are several scenes of sweeping grandeur, from Brightbill’s flight montage to an epic robotic battle that serves as the film’s overall climax. Through all of it, the animation meshes with the narrative growth of the characters, visually and thematically contributing to the greater, grander feel of the movie. All of this further complimented by the incredible score from Bowers. Much like John Powell’s work in How to Train Your Dragon, you feel the scale of the movie in the rising and booming crescendos of each of Bower’s themes at personal moments of physical and emotional growth for each of the characters. The only way to describe it on a visual and musical level is awesome!
But a great film with great visuals and a terrific score would be nothing without the performers giving life to the characters on the page. The ensemble behind The Wild Robot manages to go above and beyond to honor their characters with terrific and emotional performances, as well as great comedic timing, that allow us, the viewers, to fall in love completely with all of them. In particular the work of Nyong’o, Pascal, O’Hara, and Connor is what gives each of their respective characters their lovable souls.
Nyong’o plays Roz with a sense of optimistic naivety. She is trying to learn about her surroundings and the characters she comes into contact with. They’re unfortunately mistrusting but her resilience to aid them all, regardless of how they treat her is what gives the character a sense of heart that makes her utterly unique. And that wouldn’t be possible if Nyong’o’s vocal performance weren’t also full of heart; positive and bright one moment, but hiding subtle hints of pain, sadness, and desperation. To convey this in a character that’s supposed to be monotonic and constantly chipper is difficult, but we are able to sense a fully formed, fully emotional character within Roz because of Nyong’o’s ability to very slightly change her tone or delivery. As such, the movie is completely dependent on her performance and she carries it for the entire duration.
However, thankfully, as the characters in the movie discover for themselves, the ensemble of the movie contributes to its overall strength. O’Hara and Pascal provide a great deal of pitch perfect comedic timing and delivery with each of their lines. Pascal, in particular, is able to imbue the film with so much heart, as, following Brightbill’s departure, his character Fink and Roz don’t have anyone else but one another. Pascal’s charm and charisma allow us to hear his goofy side when he whimpers in pain or tries to slyly con Roz into getting him a free meal but also the emotional weight of a character that’s been rejected and alone all his life, finally finding a sense of belonging and family and love. There’s a tenderness to his performance, but also a lot of cartoony gusto that gives the film so much energy and laughter. He and Nyong’o absolutely make for a wonderful team on par with Tim Allen and Tom Hanks as Buzz and Woody.
Connor is also quite wonderful, showcasing growth and conflict in his voice as the character of Brightbill grows and develops through the film. Because Roz is the only mother he’s ever known, while also being the reason his family is gone, there’s a lot Connor has to deliver in his vocal performance, ranging from anger to affection. We get it all, and we understand and love Brightbill the same way Roz does because his emotions are valid, and that emotion would only be possible through Connor’s inflections and understanding of the character. He was perfect for the role.
If there’s one complaint I have with the film, it may be the pacing. I felt it started off a bit chaotic, with a lot going on at once. There are also several jumps in time that do feel a bit abrupt but are necessary since the film has to convey growth in the main relationships — as well as Roz’s purpose within the wilderness community following Brightbill’s departure and the overall conflict with Universal Dynamics — all in a scant 100-minute timeframe. None of it ever detracts from the relationships that are built, and everything still manages to feel organic and earned because Sanders is a phenomenal director working with phenomenal actors. But, and this is a good complaint, I wish we slowed things down and got more time to enjoy these characters, because they’re wonderful.
Overall, as soon as I saw the trailer, and as soon as I saw Sanders was directing and writing, The Wild Robot shot up to the top of my highly anticipated films list for 2024. After seeing it several months later, I’m happy to report it didn’t disappoint me one bit. In fact, Sanders, the cast, and everyone involved at Dreamworks Animation managed to surpass my lofty expectations for the film on every level, giving us, perhaps, one of the best crafted, most heartfelt animated films a big studio has given us in a long time, and the most epic film on Sanders’ resume. It is simply astonishing on every level!
Sanders has crafted a gorgeous, sweeping, emotional epic about love and parenthood that lives up to classics like WALL-E and The Iron Giant. With wonderful performances, game-changing animation, and a sweeping and majestic score from Bowers, The Wild Robot is destined to become a future animated classic and is hands down, not only one of the best films of the year, but one of the best animated films of the decade!
Overall Score: A