Review by Brad Balfour
Film: “The Wild Robot”
Writer/Director: Chris Sanders
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames,
Having recently discovered “The Wild Robot,” the book, I was looking forward to see the cinematic version with great anticipation. Between the top-notch graphics, taut storytelling and actual character development, I was not disappointed. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, “The Wild Robot” is destined to be recognized as one of this season’s animation achievements.
Taking place in a near future, the story kicks off with bang. Crashing on an uninhabited island, a Universal Dynamics cargo ship loses six all-purpose ROZZUM robots during a typhoon. Only Unit 7134 survives. Accidentally activated by the local wildlife, “Roz” — as it calls itself — offers its services to the animals only to scare them. It must adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island. In the process, it becomes the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling who must be taught how to be a goose, to fly and, in he end, join the flock it’s meant to be a part of.
As the robot develops varying degrees of self awareness, it begins to exert its independence but also has to reckon with the consequences of its actions. The company which made it has to deal with this unexpected behavior. Without giving it all away, the robot survives and keeps the animals from total destruction while having to sacrifice its own freedom in order to protect the island.
The film not only raises the question of what defines life but also what defines freedom. As the robot adapts to a world without human controllers or masters, it has to make decisions that it wasn’t designed to make. Though audiences might or might not appreciate this underlying element to the beautiful fable, the film provokes while it provides entertaining creatures who frolic throughout. In showing Roz coping with imminent dangers and life-threatening conditions, this powerful tale is one of self-discovery and evolving awareness. In doing so, the animated feature examines the connection between technology and nature and what it means to be alive.
To achieve this, a great cast of veteran actors enhance the production with expressive voices. The list includes Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong’o as Roz, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Pedro Pascal as Fink the fox, Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara as opossum Pinktail, Oscar® nominee Bill Nighy as goose Longneck, Oscar® nominee Stephanie Hsu, Emmy winning pop-culture icon Mark Hamill (Star Wars franchise) and Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Ving Rhames among others.
Written and directed by veteran Chris Sanders, his credits include 2002’s “Lilo & Stitch” and 2010’s “How to Train Your Dragon” (both co-wrote and directed with Dean DeBlois) as well as 2013’s “The Croods” (with Kirk DeMicco). Apparently, after reading the book, Sanders felt the story’s innocent tone and nature setting required a look which shifted away from the standard CGI photo-realism found in many modern animated films. As the final production to be created entirely in-house at DreamWorks, the movie provides a grand conclusion for the company’s long list of creative efforts.
As reported in Wikipedia, Sanders and production designer Raymond Zibach wanted “The Wild Robot” to still resemble the concept paintings in its finished state. To achieve this, the production team built upon the technologies used in two of DreamWorks’ earlier films — “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “The Bad Guys” (both from 2022). While the characters were made up of CGI geometrical shapes, their surfaces possess a hand-painted look. This painterly style was carried throughout every visual element in the film, including the sky and environments.
Sanders wanted Roz’s design to be memorable, one that would take its place among most iconic robots such as C-3PO and R2-D2 from “Star Wars” and Robby the Robot from “Forbidden Planet.” On behalf of Brown’s detailed description of what a ROZZUM unit’s purpose was to humans, they aimed for Roz’s design to be sufficiently humanoid while still being clearly robotic. In doing so, the mechanoid could be both cute for kids and yet be sufficiently functional to seem realistic. It’s this conceptual interplay that enhances the film and make it one of the best animated productions of the year.
In doing so, Sanders and his team have made a film destined to be a classic, creating their own iconic figure along the way — and a likely Oscar contender as well.