The Wild Robot: Marooned Automaton Seeks Meaning in an Animated Film that's All Heart
By John Kirk
Rating: A
Chris Sanders’ The Wild Robot (based on Peter Brown’s book of the same name) introduces audiences to an automaton lost in the wilderness, powerless to act on its original programming – to be needed.
The story: a powerful oceanic storm forces an aircraft to crash on an isolated island. Its cargo: a collection of domestic robots who are programmed to complete tasks when assigned. Only one robot – Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) survives and wanders around the island, querying the different species for tasks to no avail.
A marooned Row takes stock of her surroundings in Wild Robot.
She realizes she needs to understand the animals on the island and sets out to learn their languages. In the course of trying to assimilate into the culture of the island to complete a task, she causes the accidental death of a goose and the destruction of its nest. When the one egg survives, hatches, and the gosling imprints itself on Roz, she realizes her task is to become the goose’s mother and to prepare him to leave the island for the Winter.
The universal value in this film is simply measuring up to circumstances. Roz’s central programming is to receive a job. When there is no one available to provide her with that direction, she manages to go beyond her own programming and direct herself, based on understanding what is needed of her.
She gives the fledgling goose its own name – Brightbill (Kit Connor), and its own identity. She learns what he needs and dedicates herself to his needs, placing them above her own.
It's a beautiful message to be sure, but there are so many other ways that Roz makes herself useful. Although feared and shunned by the animal community, she also manages to make herself part of their lives, adopting their mannerisms and features for her own survival. Though initially feared and shunned, her patience allows her the chance to study and learn from them. Eventually she shows by example that her presence, though strange, is of need to the culture of the island.
Being useful isn’t an easy standard to achieve though. She relies on input and when she finally understands the animal languages, she unabashedly asks questions of those around her, like Fink the Fox (Pedro Pascal).
The message is a simply wholesome one, and this film offers a life lesson that you don’t need fame or wealth to be successful. Simply being of need to someone who needs you is a reward in itself. It’s a good reminder for most adults and an important example for young people.
It's no spoiler to say Roz eventually receives acceptance and a sense of belonging. When she readies Brightbill for his winter flight, she also is given respect. These things are important in life and when Roz needs to defend herself in the latter half of the film, she has allies who are ready and willing to stand by her. No man is an island, quoth John Donne, and neither is Roz.
It’s the heart moments in this film that make The Wild Robot a success, artistically and, one hopes, at the box office.
The animation is a clever blending of retro tech imagery and Don Bluth style animal stylings, The Wild Robot is a visual delight. It’s not only appealing but its combination of familiar techniques is recognizable and endearing.
The cast is diverse and talented, identifiable voices like Ving Rhames as Thunderbolt the Hawk who commandingly teaches Brightbill the essentials of flight, and Matt Berry as Paddler the Beaver who brings a delicious amount of sarcasm and wit to the dialogue. Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out Mark Hamill, an essential talent, is also present in the film as Thorn the Bear and the apex predator on the island.
It's a very easy story to accept, but the ease of the storytelling allows the message to penetrate and gives rise to thoughtfulness about how we can be better to those around us. Quite simply, this film allows us to want to be better than who we are.
The Wild Robot. Directed by Chris Sanders. Cast (voices): Lupita Nyong’o, Kit Connor, Pedro Pascal, Bill Nighy, Mark Hamill, Ving Rhames, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry. In theatres now.