The Wild Robot (2024) Review: An Otherwise Familiar Coming-of-Age Animated Adventure Told with Enough Heart, Humour and Thrills
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would (I) rate (The Wild Robot‘s) performance? That would be a perfect ten for Lupita Nyong’o alone, who injects a sense of warmth and optimistic personality into her titular robot code-named ROZZUM unit 7134 a.k.a. Roz. She is one of the main reasons that elevate this otherwise overly familiar coming-of-age story that takes place in the future about an advanced robot learning the way of life outside her comfort zone.
Owned by Universal Dynamics and originally programmed to help her human client in completing any task, we learn that Roz unexpectedly ends up on a remote island. In the beginning, she has trouble communicating with the wild animals but manages to adapt by re-calibrating her original protocol through the safe mode to fit her current scenario. She soon learns the languages of every animal but the animals see her as a “monster”.
When she encounters a sly red fox named Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal) trying to eat an orphaned egg from a destroyed goose nest caused by her accident, the egg hatches a gosling (Kit Connor’s Brightbill). Then, the unexpected happens: Roz has a task to fulfil by becoming a mother of sorts to raise Brightbill such as teaching him how to eat, swim and fly. And not to mention preparing Brightbill after reaches adulthood so he can leave the island during the winter for a seasonal migration. Along with the unlikely help of Fink, they form a bond while Roz improvises her learning as she goes.
Chris Sanders, who is no stranger to directing crowd-pleasing animated movies that appeal to all ages from Lilo & Stitch (2002) to How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and The Croods (2013), knows well how to overcome a predictable plot with the strong dynamics between Roz, Brightbill, Fink and the rest of the animals on the island. Sanders, who also adapted the screenplay from Peter Brown’s children’s book series of the same name, successfully incorporates various themes like survival, motherhood and evolution. The latter is evident in Roz’s character arc as she overcomes her obstacles and breaks protocol to evolve as a robot with a conscience.
Apart from Nyong’o’s scene-stealing voice performance, the rest of the voice cast is just as commendable. Pedro Pascal delivers strong support as the snarky red fox, Fink while others from Kit Connor and Catherine O’Hara are equally worth mentioning here as Brightbill and the opossum Pinktail.
The Wild Robot is also a triumph in its technical department, notably the stunning blend of cel-shaded and CGI animations while giving the visual background of the island forest a uniquely textured and painterly look. The result is an immersive cinematic experience, worthy of watching this movie on the biggest screen possible. Sure, the pace can be erratic at times but it doesn’t deter me much from enjoying the movie.
The Wild Robot isn’t only emotionally resonant and thrilling as both a coming-of-age drama and an adventure but Sanders also injects enough varied sense of humour targeted for both younger ones and even adults, particularly the matter-of-fact ecosystem surrounding the death and food chain. The movie culminates in a high-stakes and rousing third act before it ends on a bittersweet note.
The Wild Robot is no doubt a positive comeback and a return to form for Chris Sanders, whose last movie on his first live-action directorial feature in The Call of the Wild resulted in a half-baked effort filled with ill-advised CGI dogs. Compared to Netflix’s Orion and the Dark and Kung Fu Panda 4, The Wild Robot easily ranked as the best of the lot coming from DreamWorks Animation production released in 2024.
