THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When you are born, you have to figure out what decisions are worth making, which is what makes life an adventure as a whole.
PLOT
Based on the titular Peter Brown novel, The Wild Robot follows ROZZUM Unit 7134 aka Roz, an artificial robot made my Universal Dynamics Cargo who crashlands on an uninhabited island during a storm. Her presence frightens the wild life around her despite learning their language and put effort into helping them. She does signal for retrieval when noticing they don’t want her life, but that backfires after being struck by lightning. When being chased by a grizzly bear named Thorn (Mark Hamill), she accidentally crushes a nest of geese where only one egg survives. When the gosling hatches, it quickly imprints on her and breaks her transponder. Unsure of what to do, Roz takes the advice of the fox Fink and opossum mother Pinktail to take care of him until he can learn to fly. So, she builds a shelter in which she also co-habits with Fink and names the hatchling Brightbill. As the gosling gets older, he gets picked on by other geese when trying to learn to swim. That same day though, they expose Roz to be responsible for the loss of his birth family. As she gives him space to grieve, she partially repairs another damaged ROZZUM unit she calls Rummage, who tells her she’s designed to help only humans and gives her her own undamaged transponder to get retrieved. Before doing so, she chooses to continue to help Brightbill learn to fly before she goes back to where she belongs. Only after learning to swim does she get the assist of the falcon named Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames) and goose flock leader Longneck (Bill Nighy) in master flying before migration. Success becomes possible due to overnight training. She does turn her transponder on once Brightbill leaves with the flock, but she chooses to stay and quickly turns it off just as her signal gets detected by Universal Dynamics. During a snowstorm, Roz helps all the animals take shelter and convince them to hold a truce for the remainder of the season. She powers down for said remainder and once spring arrives, Brightbill returns with the flock and shares Longneck sacrificed himself to protect him from Universal Dynamics RECO bots that deemed him a contamination, when trying to find shelter at a greenhouse during a thunderstorm. Only after this reunion does a retrieval bot named Vontra arrive to take her back. Roz instead flees with Fink and the other animals help her fight off the other RECO bots. Vontra tries to end the conflict sooner by self destructing her Amy which causes a big forest fire. As she takes Roz, the other animals get the assist of the beaver Paddler to stop it by chewing down the largest tree in the island that creates a makeshift dam, putting out the fire. Brightbill follows Vontra in her dropship and although Roz was shut down, she restores herself out of the love for the son she adopted. They’re able to escape once they disable Vontra and cause the ship to crash. Only after the fire stopped does Roz choose to go back to Universal Dynamics, for the sake of protecting the island from further harm. The film’s epilogue takes place a few months after she left the island where the animals continue to live together and reminisce of what she did for them. The film concludes with Brightbill visiting Roz at another greenhouse where she has secretly kept her memories.
THOUGHTS
I am always confident in Dreamworks making fantastic animated movies because they’re the perfect alternative if you get fatigue of what Disney has brought to the table. In this case, it’s a good run for the money because Director Chris Sanders makes such a profoundly heartwarming adventure. As expected in the 21st century, the animation is god damn dazzling in showing this sci fi dystopia that shows the world to have suffered from global warming. I mean the answer is obvious when you see the Golden Gate Bridge covered in an ocean. Apart from that, the various designs of the island, all the animals and robots themselves were spectacular to witness because they had the most intriguing designs throughout. On top of that, the first half is nonstop hilarious due to how unconventional it was to see a robot fit into an environment where it was originally unwanted. These animals didn’t hesitate attacking Roz since they can’t trust her intentions due to being isolated for so long. My biggest laugh goes to Paddler due to how actor Matt Berry makes him a reclusive craftsman and becomes the helping hand that the other animals never anticipated until necessary. When you get to the second half though, the feels kick in because you become in awe of the bond all the species get to have with one so unusual. Seeing worlds collide and find unity overtime like this was a beautiful way to say kindness is an essential survival skill when quipping it with perseverance because you can’t go far when shunning yourself from others who can broaden your horizons. Lupita N’yongo was a great lead as Roz because she lets her curiosity lead her to make important decisions which could backfire for others, but become beneficial on her end. She never intended to kill Beightbill’s family, which made it her duty to take care of him until he could take care of himself. Even when fulfilling her tasks, her conscience takes full effect in accepting the fact parenting doesn’t just stop when kids are all grown up. Guardianship can still be a part of your life and she proved that when getting to help the rest of the animals survive the snow storm. Off of that, they returned the favor in having her back when she needed it most. However, they would’ve not done this had it not been for those that genuinely gave her a chance. Catherine O’Hara was great as Pinktail because since the opossum is also a mother, she’s able to give her own genuine advice in parenthood. And if her kids picked up on anything, don’t be shy to have fun because they don’t hesitate whenever they gotta play dead. Pedro Pascal was a delight as Fink because he is one who grows out of being mischievous to be just as selfless as the robot before him. The Fox had the mindset to put himself over others when it came to survival, which is why he didn’t hesitate trying to eat Brightbill when he was still an egg. Seeing Roz protect him however became his wake up call that he’s not the only one struggling, hence giving his own advice as well. Had it not been for him, she would’ve not found as much animals as she did during the snowstorm. I also think the young Boone Storme and adult Kit Connor were able to give an accurate representation of growth in Brightbill’s perspective because the bird has his own curiosity he’s trying to embrace and once the truth of his past was out, he had his own determination to push because he wanted to fit in so bad. Despite his disappointment, he’s able to accept things don’t always go according to plan since he wasn’t supposed to live and Roz was never meant to take care of him. Picking up on that is all that’s needed for him to quickly forgive his surrogate mother. It even moved me to see him try to save her the way she saved him because he knew he wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t. And with Stephanie Hsu making such a soulless menace out of Vontra, being a fine example of beings who don’t care for others’ lives but themselves, it did feel like the family was doomed until they prevailed. It was actually smart of Roz because not only is she protecting the island, she knows she can restore her memories with the override she made early into Brightbill’s life. With such an advantage, nothing can tear that family apart no matter how many sequels you make. This film lived up to the hype and then some but as I look back, there were some things I was scratched my head about. For instance, why didn’t Roz listen to the raccoon telling her to stop moving, in order to avoid being ricocheted off the tree. That may have been funny, but she could’ve avoided that since she understood their language already. And ain’t it weird Fink wasn’t bleeding when landing on the porcupine? I mean he landed on his back and got poked all over, so that’s gotta be a miracle. That bothered me more than him not pointing out the worms sooner for Brightbill to eat. Also, did Pinktail have more kids as Brightbill got older or are they the same group? I gotta ask since they looked the same and had the same voice. On top of that, why hasn’t the crash site been swept sooner? I mean after at least a year, that’s a whole other miracle. Lastly, why hasn’t the storm taken down the tree Paddler spent so long? I’d imagine the wind pushing it over. Other than that, this movie remained a joy to watch. In conclusion, The Wild Robot is an instant classic animated movie for showing us the benefit of taking directions you didn’t anticipate. If you like Dreamworks’ animated catalog more than Disney, this is meant for you.
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