“The Wild Robot,” the newest film from DreamWorks Animation, hit theaters on Thursday, exploring themes of motherhood and the hardships of being an outsider.
The film, directed by Chris Sanders who also directed “How to Train Your Dragon” in 2010 and “Lilo & Stitch” in 2002, follows a robot named Rozzum Unit 7134, or Roz for short, who is stranded on a remote island, learning to adapt to the wilderness by copying the instincts of the animals.
The film is based on Peter Brown’s children’s book, “The Wild Robot,” originally published in 2016.
Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o (“Black Panther”), is tasked with raising a gosling named Brightbill, voiced by Kit Conner (“Heartstopper”), making sure that Brightbill can swim and fly in time for the migration in the upcoming months.
Roz is assisted by a sly fox by the name of Fink, voiced by Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”). The story takes place in the distant future where most of Earth is covered with water and humans have the technology to produce robots like Roz, assisting them in everyday tasks.
Roz’s relationship with Brightbill was heartwarming as the audience got to see Brightbill grow from a little gosling to a goose, yet he realizes he’s smaller and different from all the other geese, making him an outsider that is bullied which he then blames on Roz’s tactics of raising him.
The film explores the theme of motherhood through Roz’s frustrations of figuring out how to raise a gosling when she herself is a robot, and the trouble of letting a child go when the time of the migration comes. Roz relies heavily on Fink for parenting advice. Fink willingly helps out Roz since he also feels like an outsider, none of the other animals liking the sly and sneaky fox. Thus, the three become quite a unique family, their love for one another felt through the screen.
Brown did a wonderful job of creating a lovable and empathetic robot character, such as Roz. He looked at other gendered robot characters in film, like R2-D2 or C-3PO from “Star Wars,” “The Iron Giant” and “WALL-E” for inspiration of how to express gender and human characteristics through a robot, according to his website.
Sanders succeeded in bringing Brown’s characters to life and making them real. The animation in the film was bright, colorful, textured and captivating. The movement of the characters, especially of Roz, brought out their personalities from the smooth movements of Fink to the clunky and loud steps of the robot.
While “The Wild Robot” was touching for not only children, but adults as well, the film wasn’t anything that hadn’t been done before. From the humorous animals to the idea of a robot developing emotions, this film did not bring anything unique to the screen.
The story contained some of the Hollywood clichés, such as fooling the audience to think a character died and then bring them back to life. The outrageous fight scene at the climax of the film was most definitely overkill and made the protagonist title drop in the midst of a fight.
Nevertheless, the film is worth a watch for children and adults alike, the fast-paced animation bringing the story to life.