[“The Wild Robot”: Lupita Nyong’o as Roz] Was this task accomplished to your satisfaction?
That’s ROZZUM, the titular “wild robot” voiced by Lupita Nyong’o in DreamWorks Animation’s latest film.
It’s been two weeks since I watched “The Wild Robot,” but there are still moments from that movie that I think about on a regular basis. One of them: an unexpectedly dark joke for a family film. This one comes when Pinktail, an opossum voiced by Catherine O’Hara, tells ROZZUM about parenting:
[“The Wild Robot”: Catherine O’Hara as Pinktail] As a mother of seven — six babies, it’s a full-time thing. But it’s not all bad. Just mostly bad.
Thankfully, that baby turns out to be fine, but this moment quickly announces “The Wild Robot” as a more mature movie — an insightful story about creating your own family and caring for someone who doesn’t feel like they belong.
After spending the opening searching for a task to complete, ROZZUM adopts a gosling, Brightbill. She’s tasked with teaching the young goose to eat, swim, and fly, leading to this insight on the nature of parenting:
[“The Wild Robot”: Lupita Nyong’o as Roz] I do not have the programming to be a mother.
[“The Wild Robot”: Catherine O’Hara as Pinktail] No one does. We just make it up.
“The Wild Robot” is now available to buy or rent on demand, but it’s still playing in theaters, and it’s still doing quite solidly. Since the film came out in September, it has only dipped below No. 2 in the box office once. This, even as other competitors have faded out — or, in the case of the megabomb “Joker: Folie à Deux,” flamed out.
Maybe it’s because “The Wild Robot” is the kind of movie worth seeing in theaters. For one, it looks gorgeous. Here’s Weinberg sophomore Sofie Cozine on the movie’s visuals:
COZINE: It was clear that there was so much time and effort put into it, and the visuals were just jaw-dropping. They didn’t, you know, beat around the bush at all or take any shortcuts, and it was clear. And it was just like, there was so much effort put into it, and it made me think about how, you know, far animation had come and what — there’s a new standard, I feel, for, like, what we should be expecting out of animators.
This movie is from DreamWorks, but it draws from a long line of animated films. Weinberg junior Justin Dynes says “The Wild Robot” reminded him of Pixar movies that imbue nonhuman characters with very human emotions. He also thought of another renowned animation studio:
DYNES: I’m a big, you know, Studio Ghibli fan. You know, my favorite movie is “Princess Mononoke.” And I think some of the — maybe not the actual animation was that similar, and I think it handles plot very differently than, like, the works of Miyazaki, but I thought there was a sense of wonder when looking at nature that is in a lot of, you know, Ghibli films that I really appreciate.
The movie brings its natural landscapes to life with rich brushstrokes, like a modern update on the animation styles of Disney films. Director Chris Sanders said his main visual influences were “Bambi” and Studio Ghibli’s “My Neighbor Totoro,” which makes sense, since both movies combine detailed scenery with intimate character relationships.
Besides, there’s a deeper reason that this movie strikes a chord in theaters. Here’s Cozine again:
COZINE: Everyone was kind of entranced, and there were certain parts where multiple people cried, and at the end, we were all just like — we had all come to the conclusion that we needed about two business days to process, and we all said that it was fantastic.
Dynes watched the movie for his birthday. He had a similar experience with his friends.
DYNES: I tear up at, like, every movie I watch that has any emotions, but kind of seeing people who don’t necessarily watch as many movies as I do really be impacted that way felt pretty good.
As for when people cried? Well, I heard some similar answers.
COZINE: When Roz let Brightbill go and, like, fly away even though she was worried about him — that stuck out to me.
DYNES: When Brightbill actually flies off with the group and starts migrating, that definitely — I think I definitely teared up at that moment quite a bit. And then I was shocked — I thought that would be kind of the end of the film. But I think later on, their reunion also really, really got me. That part really tugged at my heartstrings quite a bit.
COZINE: When he came back and she was still there, Roz was still on the island when he came back. And then there was this search to find each other and everyone was freaking out — yeah, those kinds of parts.
“The Wild Robot” covers a lot of ground. The opening sequence is dominated by worldbuilding and Roz’s single-minded focus on find a job, but afterward, we see it all: training montages, rescues, escapes.
And yet this movie doesn’t feel as rushed as I would’ve expected, because it leaves us with many moments of intimacy and vulnerability within this richly developed world. Kris Bowers’s score accentuates many of these moments, making even the obligatory narrative beats feel fresh, exciting, and uplifting. An original song from Maren Morris plays as Brightbill learns how to fly, and it’s got a very clear message:
[“Kiss the Sky” by Maren Morris] Oh, my darling, if you try / You just might kiss the sky
“The Wild Robot” follows two parallel journeys: Roz learns how to connect with others on a deeper level, and Brightbill learns how to trust in himself, his abilities, and his potential.
DYNES: It’s very complex in the way that it discusses emotion, that I’m — you know, I’m an adult watching this movie, that I don’t know if a child would be able to appreciate all those things. But I think at the end of the day, even though it is kind of discussing some of those societal factors, it still feels very hopeful about, about how it treats them.
There’s a sequence set in the headquarters of Universal Dynamics, the company that produced robots like Roz, and the company tries to retrieve Roz near the end of the film. But unlike, say, “WALL-E,” this movie isn’t really a commentary on the destructive nature of consumerism, nor is it a warning about the pitfalls of artificial intelligence.
Instead, “The Wild Robot” is a story of survival, a fable about a found family — the kind you create through kindness and compassion.
Task accomplished.
For WNUR News, I’m Edward Simon Cruz.
[“Kiss the Sky” by Maren Morris]
Music: “Kiss the Sky” by Maren Morris
Film footage: “The Wild Robot,” directed by Chris Sanders
