Movie Review: THE WILD ROBOT Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor

Do you know your limits? The very best you can do? What happened the last time you pushed yourself over what you perceived to be your limits? This discussion is essentially the heart of The Wild Robot, the latest film by writer/director Chris Sanders, part of the creative talent behind Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon (and the 2020 remake of The Call of the Wild, but we’ll give him a mulligan on that one).

The Wild Robot is set on Earth in the future (the film doesn’t state the year, but one shot shows the Golden Gate Bridge submerged in water) and features Lupita Nyong’o as Roz, the titular wild robot. When the cargo ship carrying ROZZUM 7134 (Roz) runs aground, Roz is left stranded dealing with the wild animals in the vicinity. In an attempt to communicate, Roz turns on learning mode and observes the speech/movements of the animals, later gaining the ability to communicate with them. Unable to find an assignment to carry out, Roz attempts to signal to leave, but accidentally ends up orphaning a gosling (Kit Connor, not Ryan).

After the gosling, Brightbill, imprints on Roz, Roz takes on care of Brightbill as her new objective, spending the next few months teaching him to eat, swim, and fly so he can eventually migrate south for the winter. Along the way, Roz and Brightbill meet a lone fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), who helps…kind of.

Although I stated above the whole “push yourself to go beyond your limits” thing is perhaps the key component of the plot, my friend Nikki who accompanied me keenly pointed out the strong maternal themes associated with the film. Although Roz is programmed to assist people in carrying out tasks, she has no learned behavior for how to raise a lifeform. Countering this cluelessness with experienced exhaustion is the Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), a perpetually tired opossum who’s a mother of seven and is quick to point out that nobody’s ever really prepared to be a mom; one just does it.

While that’s not exactly an astounding revelation, it lays the framework for the rest of the film as Roz continues to care for Brightbill, building a shelter that eventually becomes a communal shelter. As Roz learns more about herself, she begins to question whether blindly following orders and not going beyond her programming is the right thing to do. It’s certainly a topic that’s been discussed in previous movies, but its execution here is noteworthy, as Sanders has once again put together a masterpiece. From the story to the performances to the visuals, pretty much everything in the film is top-notch. Nyong’o does a tremendous job portraying Roz as cheery and helpful, yet determined to help Brightbill and her newly acquired friends. In addition to the actors I listed above, the whole of the cast features some strong talent, including Mark Hamill, Stephanie Hsu, and Ving Rhames.

The film is striking visually, as well. The rolling waves of the ocean, the seasonal changes, I found the animation to be near-flawless. It was announced that this would be the final in-house animated film from Dreamworks, as they will be exploring outsourcing future animation to external studios. If this is the case, they went out with a bang. I admittedly haven’t seen Lilo & Stitch (I know, I know), but the Dragon trilogy is one of my favorite animated series ever, and I’m happy to report that once again, Sanders was able to deliver a top-notch film that’s not only funny and entertaining, but manages to tug at the heartstrings a bit while raising relevant subjects such as human potential, our impact on the climate, and interestingly the advent/acceptable use of AI. In the last couple of years, the concept and implementation of AI has exploded all around us, leaving a future uncertain as we learn its scopes and limits. This has led to its use in media, often as an adversary (and this concept is nothing new; one of my favorite film franchises, the Terminator series, brought attention to this concept in 1984), but rarely is it presented in a positive light. As Nikki and I discussed the film heading to our cars, she noted how optimistic the film was in presenting the robot/artificial intelligence. Roz wasn’t a perfect character, but ultimately, she was able to develop into something more than she was supposed to be, simply because she chose to learn about her neighbors and work with them to survive.

The WIld Robot is certainly a film aimed towards a younger audience, but there’s definitely enough humor and relevance to keep the interest of any parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents who may want to take their children to see the film. If you’re a parent who loved any of Chris Sanders’s previous work, I think you can go into this one and have a great time.

The Wild Robot gets an A