I don’t know what DreamWorks Animation’s most visually pleasing movie was before The Wild Robot. I just know whatever it was it’s not even close to being the aesthetic marvel of writer-director Chris Sanders’ gorgeous new film. It features absolutely stunning animation that left me awed throughout. It’s setting, a lush island in the Pacific Northwest, often looks real. As do its many animals who inhabit an isolated land free of human touch. When they move you’ll briefly think they’re made of flesh and bone (and fur and feathers). The only thing in DreamWorks’ library that comes close to being as beautiful as The Wild Robot‘s animation is The Wild Robot‘s own story. It’s a moving and poignant story about parenting, family, fitting in, and identity rich in theme and meaning.
The Wild Robot, based on Peter Brown’s bestseller of the same name, follows ROZZUM unit 7134. It’s an advanced robot who becomes known as Roz. She wakes up shipwrecked on an island uninhabited by humans. It exists in a near future where rising seas have flooded much of the world. Roz’s unlikely home is still brimming with life, though. It’s home to many animals who call the bizarre robot “the monster.” She’s anything but. She’s programmed to serve others and complete any given task.
Roz’s quest to find a job leads her to an unlikely role: mother. She becomes the head of a found family. It also consists of a devilish, lonely fox named Fink. They care for a newborn runt gosling who imprints on Roz after she accidentally crushed the unhatched bird’s family. She ultimately names the undersized child Brightbill.
What follows is a emotional story that is almost entirely predictable in the best ways. If I were to write out every plot point the entire film would sound cliché. But they don’t feel that way onscreen. The Wild Robot doesn’t work so wonderfully because it’s trying to reinvent the wheel. It works because it makes a beautiful new version of a wheel. It does that by combining a classic tale of found family with a coming of age story that is expertly told from the point-of-view of both the parent and the child. And it does so with grace, elegance, soul, and humor (some of it occasionally dark) in a way that is charming, interesting, and entirely heartfelt. It’s earnest without being saccharine, sincere without being clunky.
This is a story that somehow seamlessly combines elements of films like Wall-E, I, Robot, Lady Bird, and Finding Nemo to make something that feels both familiar and totally original.
It’s also teeming with timeless themes that will touch viewers on a personal level in different ways. The Wild Robot is about more than just family, parents childhood, and home. It’s about feeling like an outsider, identity, belonging, community, sacrifice, purpose, place, determination, and how the very things that make us different, the things that can feel like weakness, are often our greatest strengths.
It’s hard to for some movies to establish even one meaningful theme. Yet somehow The Wild Robot has an abundance of well-developed ideas, all of them told with expert care and love. It’s really an incredible piece of art and the reason the actual story is just as impressive as the film’s visual elements.
Sanders’ movie also features a truly stellar cast. It’s led by Lupita Nyong’o whose performance as Roz is easily among my all-time favorite voice acting performances. Her delivery of some lines left me an emotional wreck. As did Pedro Pascal’s performance as Fink, a selfish loner hiding real vulnerability. And Kit Connor beautifully rounds out their unique little family as Brightbill.
The film also features standout performances from Catherine O’Hara as mother opossum named Pinktail, Bill Nighy as wise old goose called Longneck, Matt Berry as the hilarious, strong-willed beaver Paddler, and Mark Hamill as the island’s toughest denizen, a grizzly called Thorn.
The Wild Robot‘s only issues are very small. There are a couple of characters, including a delightful falcon named Thunderbolt voiced by Ving Rhames, who seem to show up out of nowhere. It’s as though the film wanted to cut seven or eight minutes from its 1:42 runtime, which makes sense since this is absolutely a movie that kids will love as much as their parents. (Just for different reasons.) But I would have been content to spend three hours in this world of love, hope, and community.
While I know this is not a reflection of its quality, on a personal level as a dad The Wild Robot leveled me. I was tearing up throughout the film. And when it ended I wanted to go straight home to hug my son. I’ve never seen any film better capture what its like to be a parent. This movie understands on an intimate level the challenges and rewards of having a kid. It fully conveys the way being a parent literally rewrites your brain/programming. But while I know how I relate to this film isn’t a reflection of The Wild Robot‘s quality, the fact it will give everyone who sees it a way to relate to it on a personal level does.
That’s a really hard thing to do, to tell a story that speaks to everyone personally in some way. But like everything else with this wonderful film, it beautifully pulls it off.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He somehow managed to not sob like a baby during The Wild Robot. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.