The Wild Robot
A magical menagerie must learn to accept the gifts of a mechanical castaway in DreamWorks’ deftly realised cartoon.
The nature of things: Fink and Roz face the elements
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
No sooner has one robot-themed cartoon bit the box-office dust than another moves into its place. But unlike Transformers One, DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot is a total original. Well, if one is willing to overlook its similarities to Bambi, E.T., The Iron Giant, Cast Away, WALL-E and Migration, it is as original as it gets. Adapted from Peter Brown’s picture book of the same name, The Wild Robot addresses many culturally sensitive concerns and does so with heart, pace and expertise.
The latest model of Universal Dynamics, Roz 7134 – a robot designed to cater to its owner’s every need (and to recruit “future customers”) – is washed up on an uninhabited island after a typhoon. Of course, “uninhabited” is a moot word as this particular terrain is bursting with creatures of every stripe, including the otters that inadvertently activate Roz’s power-on button. Programmed to help whomsoever – or whatsoever – it encounters, Roz (or ‘she’) finds herself a figure of fear among the zoological population of her new abode. But first, stranded in an inhospitable environment, Roz must learn from the animals around her in order to navigate the topography, such as the climbing skills of a crab to scale a sheer rock face to escape the rising tide.
Roz is also hard-wired to detect unacceptable habits – such as theft and dishonesty – and finds that her animal companions are not so altruistic by nature. But when she rescues a goose egg from the jaws of a wily fox, she must learn to stand in as the gosling’s protector – or “mom”. And so the unlikeliest of relationships is born, as robot and goose struggle to overcome the odds, because “kindness is not a survival skill,” so she is informed by her other new companion, Fink, the fox.
As events progress, Roz must draw on more than the strategies built into her manual in order to fit in with her new community, just as the human brain can function when parts of it is damaged. Likewise, the inhabitants of the eco-structure that she has inadvertently turned upside down must learn to come together for the greater good, regardless of colour, size or skin covering. Yet The Wild Robot is more than just about ticking a lot of ethical boxes, but telling a story the best way it can. From the storm at the very start, the film barely pauses for breath, filling the screen with an embarrassment of zoological riches, from a ferocious giant grizzly to a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Computer animation has seldom felt this rich, and with Kris Bowers’ sumptuous score and a first-rate voice cast, this is as good as it gets. Lupita Nyong'o is perfect as Roz, Bill Nighy a blast as a military-type Canada goose and Mark Hamill a surprisingly gravelly grizzly, while Kit Connor adopts an American accent to tug at the heartstrings as the goose as good as its gander. And as Roz 7134 discovers, we still have a lot to learn from the animal kingdom.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Voices of Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O'Hara.
Dir Chris Sanders, Pro Jeff Hermann, Screenplay Chris Sanders, from the picture book by Peter Brown, Ph Chris Stover, Pro Des Raymond Zibach, Ed Mary Blee, Music Kris Bowers, Sound Randy Thom.
DreamWorks Animation-Universal Pictures.
101 mins. USA. 2024. US Rel: 27 September 2024. UK Rel: 18 October 2024. Cert. U.
