The Wild Robot Review – This Robot More Than Completes Its Task

Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic

The Wild Robot was not on my radar outside of a promising trailer that appeared earlier in the year. However, several friends who had read the book to their kids were excited about its release. As such, I was not as prepared as I should have been for the emotional roller coaster that is The Wild Robot. 

A shipping accident causes several robots to end up on an island inhabited only by animals. Only one robot, Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), survives and walks about the island, searching for ways to assist and help, as is her programming. She spends time observing and learning the language of the various animals but is seen as a monster by nearly all of them. While running from a grizzly bear, she escapes but, in the process, demolishes a goose nest, with only one egg surviving. Brightbill (Kit Connor) is the orphaned goose that hatches, and as geese imprint on the first thing they see, Roz accepts her task to raise Brightbill to be able to eat, swim, and fly before winter arrives. She gets help from Fink (Pedro Pascal), a loner fox without many friends on the island.

Fans of previous animated films like The Iron Giant and Wall-E should find a lot to love and similar themes here. Robots in the wild or a post-apocalyptic future are discovering things beyond their programming, in a sense, finding a soul or heart instead of being all brain and processing power.

Roz is supposed to be a helping robot, seeking out how to assist those around her. Stumbling into Brightbill’s life gives her purpose and a sense of duty and responsibility because she inadvertently makes him an orphan. A possum’s mom tells Roz that geese imprint on the first creature they see, so Brightbill sees Roz as his mother. As he grows, she grows beyond her programming, and that imprint goes both ways; she comes to view him as her son for all intents and purposes. 

While the inhabitants of the island are initially antagonistic toward Roz, she slowly becomes a part of their habitat and a part of their community, starting with Fink, who befriends her thinking he can get easy food by her side, and then with the possum mom and her children, who are all entertainingly a little macabre and obsessed with death. 

Roz builds a home for herself, Brightbill, and Fink. In a crucial part of the film, Roz shows selflessness in making her home into a shelter for all the inhabitants of the island. It’s a wonderful moment in the film that puts community and being a good neighbor on full display and shows how kindness toward others can be a catalyst for change.

There are some natural (literally) stakes involved in Roz raising Brightbill to be able to fly. As the runt of the litter, so to speak, he’s one that was never expected or supposed to survive. The head of the geese (voiced by Bill Nighy) commends Roz for what she has done so far, but the odds of Brightbill surviving, as evidenced by his struggles to swim and fly, are against him. Again, Roz looks to those around her for help in giving Brightbill a fighting chance.

This is a beautifully animated film. The forestry has a painterly look, like Bob Ross had sat in and personally added a few trees and leaves here and there, especially the scenes in the fall with the change in foliage. It contrasts beautifully with Roz and her metallic form and the glowing colors she sometimes produces.  Animation fans will love this film, and viewers, in general, should marvel at several scenes.

I loved the design of Roz as a robot, but also how her appearance slowly becomes more and more weathered the longer she is on the island. I forget exactly when, but at one point when she has been motionless, either observing her surroundings, or shutting down for an extended period to conserve energy, she comes back with moss growing on her.

Also, while the film spends most of the time on this remote island in the Pacific Northwest, there are glimpses of the world beyond the island, one where climate change has led to some submerged cities. Despite the implications that the image connotes, there is a beautiful shot of the suspension towers of the Golden Gate Bridge sticking up out of the water. 

In addition to Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, and Bill Nighy, the superb vocal cast includes Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara.

Despite my lack of expectations, there were generally high expectations for The Wild Robot. It not only met those expectations, it exceeded them. Beautiful animation is coupled with a simple but positive and uplifting message that kids, parents, and people of all ages can enjoy and appreciate. And it may even pull at the heartstrings.

When a Rozzum robot completes its task, it asks, “Was this task accomplished to your satisfaction?” The answer for this movie is an emphatic yes.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars