‘The Wild Robot’ Blu-ray Review
Stars: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu | Written and Directed by Chris Sanders
Written and directed by Chris Sanders (How To Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch) and adapted from the first in a trilogy of books by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot is the latest feature from DreamWorks Animation. Featuring state-of-the-art computer-generated images, combined with wonderful character work and strong messaging, it’s one of the best animated features of the year.
The story begins on a remote island, where a helper robot known as Rozzum Unit 7134 (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) washes up and is activated by some curious otters. Programmed to complete assigned tasks, the robot (later known as Roz) at first frightens and then annoys all the different animals on the island, before putting herself into hibernation mode and learning from her surroundings, whereupon she can understand and communicate with all the woodland creatures.
Shortly afterwards, Roz meets a newly hatched gosling, later named Brightbill (Kit Connor), who imprints upon her. A helpful possum (Catherine O’Hara) tells Roz that means she’s responsible for teaching Brightbill to eat, swim and fly before migration season, giving the helper robot her first official task. She’s aided in her efforts by wily fox Fink (Pedro Pascal), and the pair gradually form a sort of parenting friendship.
The animation in The Wild Robot is stunningly beautiful throughout, thanks to lovingly rendered CGI work that approximates the look of richly colourful hand-painted landscapes and character work. To that end, the visual style recalls the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, or the more expressionistic flourishes in the Spider-Verse films.
The character design on Roz is particularly delightful, especially the way she moves, not least because she’s designed to learn and adjust, so when she chases after a deer (“Can I assist you with anything?”), she prances like a gazelle. Similarly, there are a number of charming details, such as the fact that one of her fists can become a tiny little helper robot that occasionally comes in handy.
Family movies can sometimes be clumsy or heavy-handed with their messaging, but here, the themes are both powerful and seamlessly integrated into the story. To that end, The Wild Robot explores emotive issues of identity, love, friendship, found family, parenting and death, as well as environmental concerns and a general plea for tolerance and supportiveness (amongst the animal kingdom, admittedly, but it’s not hard to extrapolate).
The voice work is exceptional. Lupita Nyong’o delivers a brilliantly layered performance, continually modulating Roz’s voice by small degrees as she journeys from robotic automaton to something with a heart and soul. Similarly, there’s strong comic support from Pascal and O’Hara (who’s hilarious in every scene), while whoever cast Matt Berry as a pompous beaver deserves to be shaken warmly by the hand.
On a similar note, one of the best things about The Wild Robot is the attention to detail when it comes to jokes, not least in the large number of comedic asides from minor characters. One throwaway highlight involves a racoon shouting “Again!” after a load of them get catapulted into the sea while chasing Roz through the forest.
On top of that, Sanders shifts gears for a thrilling final act, with exciting action sequences and high emotional stakes. In short, this is one of the animation highlights of the year, worthy of a place alongside other cartoon robo-classics, such as The Iron Giant. Don’t miss it.
Special Features:
- Alternate Opening with Introduction by Writer/Director Chris Sanders
- Feature Commentary
- Assembly Required: Animating The Wild Robot
- Meet the Cast
- How to Draw and More!
**** 4/5
The Wild Robot is out on DVD and Blu-ray now.