In 1999, the outstanding animated film The Iron Giant pondered whether we have the capacity for kindness in a world seemingly perpetually defined by distrust and the potential for conflict. Are we hardwired to behave in similar ways — carrying out tasks without much thought about who we really are — or can we resist such supposed programming to become who we choose to be? Are we all destined to be driven by our design or do we have the agency to take a different path?
These existential questions kept coming into my mind while watching the wondrous The Wild Robot, the latest from writer/director Chris Sanders, who previously made the joyous films Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. Based on Peter Brown's beloved children's book series, The Wild Robot is a film that leaps off the page to tell the story of a robot that washes ashore on a remote island and discovers a vibrant world of animals that's far away from human interference. While The Wild Robot is not as insightful and patient as The Iron Giant, often falling back on familiar narrative beats, it still has plenty of heart, soul and just a bit more on its mind.
This is all seen through the eyes of ROZZUM unit 7134 AKA Roz. Voiced with both great care and boundless charm by the perpetually underutilized Lupita Nyong'o, this intelligent robot initially only wants to find a task to complete so she can depart back to the world of the humans. However, she soon discovers there's more to life when she begins caring for a baby goose named Brightbill (Kit Connor) alongside the feisty fox Fink (Pedro Pascal) and the community of animals that go from fearing her to defending their island home alongside her.
Originally premiering at this year's Toronto Film Festival, the only thing that held it back from making my best of the fest roundup is some of the more briefly clunky narrative contrivances around the film's margins that take away from the compelling center. Namely, one conflict that arises early on between Roz and Brightbill only to soon be forgotten feels tacked on rather than thought out, and a few late developments don't fully resonate as a result. While disappointing, there is so much to love in the overall experience that you forgive such momentary missteps.
Not only does The Wild Robot all look quite beautiful, never once skimping on embracing the splendor and stunning color of every frame in a way that will wow adults as well as kids, but the spectacular score by Kris Bowers sweeps you up in the film that much more. The emotional triumphs stem from every meticulous facet of the gorgeous craft on display, making all those who painstakingly animated it as deserving of praise as Sanders. It's in their hands that the film becomes something frequently breathtaking. Even as the story unabashedly tugs on the heartstrings, there is plenty of darker humor hidden throughout that keeps things balanced.
Similar to the other DreamWorks release from this year, Charlie Kaufman's Orion and the Dark, The Wild Robot is an often more thoughtful, though still plenty sweet, animated family film that truly soars when it counts. For every more broad narrative beat that it stumbles through, there is a bittersweet emotional undercurrent that always draws you back in. It's the internal struggle of one machine trying to choose who it is that she wants to be that most hits home. Nothing will ever be able to reach the heights of The Iron Giant, which will forever remain one of the great works of animation, but The Wild Robot finds a similar sense of soul hidden under its robotic shell. In every choice those who crafted it make, they create beauty within humble programming.♦
The Wild Robot
