Dreamworks Animation has had an interesting track record over the past few years. Between whatever was going on with Ruby Gilman: Teenage Kraken (2023) and the brief light that was Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), it’s fair to say they’ve had their fair share of hits and misses. With this in mind, my expectations for The Wild Robot (2024) were not the highest. Based on the trailers, the beautiful animation seemed all the film had going for it. Instead, I was greeted by a heartwarming film with a timely message about the importance of nature preservation and protection.
This film was pleasantly surprising. Starring Lupita Nyong’o (fresh off her stellar performance in A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)), Pedro Pascal, and Kit Connor, The Wild Robot follows a crashed android, Roz (Nyong’o) who finds herself in the wilderness, with a new community and unexpected family in the various animals she meets. From the opening sequence where Roz is trying to understand her unfamiliar surroundings, I knew this would be a film that would resonate with me. Growing up I was incredibly anxious and thus had a quite robotic way of thinking, and I saw some of myself in Roz as someone just trying to find where they belong.
Roz’s arc throughout the film is the highlight of the experience. It utilizes the standard “robot learns to love” trope that is elevated by Nyongo’s thoughtful and empathetic performance as Roz. This arc also brings to light an important theme of protecting nature in a time in our world where climate change is an ever-growing concern in many scientific circles. A robot learning to connect with and understand nature instead of trying to commodify the land or its creatures comments heavily on corporations doing similar or the same tactics in the name of “progress.”
The cast brings this community to life each in their own way and bring their best voice talents to the table. Everyone does an impeccable job, with a standout being Ving Rhames as a hawk named Thunderbolt (what can I say, I’m a Mission: Impossible fan). The island’s animals feel like a real neighborhood which is something not often portrayed this way in film.
A part of the film that I had vaguely known about was the fact that Roz raises a gosling throughout her time on the island. This arc of the film was incredibly touching to me, as she at first misunderstands what she is supposed to do with the creature that imprints on her from the very beginning. Later on in the film, the gosling and Roz have a very cute dynamic that is woven into a science-fiction-based plot.
The film’s science-fiction angle didn’t leave enough of an impact to trigger intense positive or negative emotions. It’s implied that the island Roz crashes on is one of few, as humanity has succumbed to climate change (a fear we unfortunately know all too well). While it veers the film in a different direction rather quickly, as I was enjoying Roz living in the forest and helping the animals that call it home, I think this can be an important message to all ages about preserving nature instead of taking over it. Roz never tries to assert herself as the apex predator or top of the food chain; she exists with them in a community that at first fails to accept her.
When the film returns to the science fiction angle at the end, it isn’t quite enough to completely take me out of the story, but I found it at times confusing and underdeveloped. The film primarily focuses on Roz and the relationships she fosters with the animals around her. I understood it more when the film used the futuristic angle to engage more heavily with its themes of nature preservation. The film would pair particularly beautifully with Wall-E (2008) as it tackles similar themes of robotic sentience and the importance of protecting the natural world.
The Wild Robot is one of the most important animated films to come out this year. It is leagues more thoughtful and original in its story and characters and takes a stance on technology that I did not expect from Dreamworks Animation given their recent years. In a time where it seems like everything around us is rooted in technology and artificial intelligence, a film like The Wild Robot can remind us where we come from and give us the courage to find where we belong.
Review Courtesy of Nadia Arain
Image Credit to Dreamworks Animation via Novastream