One of the biggest surprises of the year has been the ever-steady performance of “The Wild Robot” in theaters after a slow start in late September. Despite being released for video-on-demand platforms less than a month after its premiere, the movie continues to earn millions each week and over-performed earlier this month with a 9% increase in ticket sales well into its sixth week. The movie has been praised by critics and is on the top 10 and top 25 movies of the year lists on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively.
“The Wild Robot” follows the events of the first book from Peter Brown’s middle-grade novel of the same name. A robot, ROZZUM unit 7134 (or Rozz as is used in the film), played by Lupita Nyong’o, is washed ashore on an island inhabited only by animals. Being programmed specifically to help humans, Rozz has a hard time finding a task to complete until coming across a runt gosling that was left without its mother. The robot decides to nurture the animal and teach it to swim and fly before the migration season.
“The Wild Robot” is a visual marvel from beginning to end, with every frame using visible brushstrokes that draw the audience’s attention. While Brown’s novels are illustrated, the movie elevates the original artwork with a hand-painted style that DreamWorks has perfected with recent movies like “Bad Guys” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” Chris Sanders, the director of “The Wild Robot,” described the style of the film in an interview with Variety as “a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest.” Sanders has attempted this hand-painted look with many of his other films including “Lilo & Stitch,” where extensive watercolor backgrounds were used throughout the movie.
The score was composed by Kris Bowers, who is also responsible for the orchestral renditions of pop songs featured in Netflix’s “Bridgerton.” The music hides in the background for the majority of the film, except during pivotal moments that really help to deliver the emotional climax of the scene, aided by the wonderful voice acting from Lupita Nyong’o and Kit Connor.
Lupita Nyong’o voices Rozz in the film, and it’s a joy to hear her transition from a monotone stoic robot to an empathetic mother. This isn’t Nyong’o’s first attempt at voice acting. She previously voiced Raksha in “The Jungle Book”, also a non-human adoptive mother of the main character, as well as Maz Kanata for “Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.” Kit Conner plays the gosling Brightbill that Rozz raises throughout the film, and for Connor’s first attempt at voice acting, he delivers a powerful performance.
It’s hard not to draw similarities to other films where robotic protagonists develop a bond with other humans or creatures when placed in a new environment – think “The Iron Giant,” “Wall-E” and “Big Hero 6.” The difference with “The Wild Robot” is that Rozz interacts almost exclusively with animals throughout the entirety of the film. Similar films focus on exploring the nature of humankind, and what it means to be sentient. “The Wild Robot” additionally explores what it means to be a mother.
A teaser for the movie released earlier this year showed Rozz exploring the island. The trailer featured no dialogue from the movie and it reminded me of “Wall-E,” which has almost no spoken dialogue throughout the first half of the movie, and embodies the golden rule of writing that is “show, don’t tell.” I went into “The Wild Robot” expecting the filmmakers to explore similar challenges and push the boundaries of what a children’s movie can be, but early on in the film, Rozz uses their intelligence to communicate with the animals. You learn that not only can the animals speak back to the robot, but that animals of different species can speak to each other. Perhaps this is the inevitable turning point in the movie — the intended audience would get bored otherwise — but I would have liked to see Rozz struggle and explore the wild more throughout the first act.
The central theme is first introduced when a sly fox, voiced by Pedro Pascal, tells Rozz that the runt gosling wasn’t meant to survive, and that kindness will not get you far in the wild (or world). Rozz, who is programmed to help others, challenges this idea during the climax of the movie when a harsh winter threatens all life on the island. The robot attempts to save the animals from the blizzard by keeping them in the safety of its hut. With predators and prey all under one roof, they have to agree to not kill each other in order to save themselves. While it is a powerful message that reflects the importance of humans needing to work together, the suspension of disbelief needed to understand how animals on an island survived a winter without eating, is far too much.
DreamWorks had the opportunity with “The Wild Robot” to stand-out against Pixar’s recent decision to make “universal films” and sequels. The film’s message that kindness is an essential survival skill is powerful, and one that is delivered through carefully crafted scenes juxtaposed with breathtaking visuals, remarkable voice acting, and a heart-wrenching score. Ultimately, the moral is spoon-fed to the audience and makes it fall flatter than is deserved. However, with “The Wild Robot” already being greenlit for a sequel, maybe optimism is just what the audience needs.