‘The Wild Robot’ Movie Review: Chris Sanders Pilots This Epic Journey, Soaring on Fantastic Wings of Imagination

A still from ‘The Wild Robot’ Photo credit: DreamWorks Animation

We’ve all come to expect certain things from an animated film — bright pops of color, that funny but annoying talking sidekick, booming songs and insanely frenetic animation. And we’re taught to respond in predictable ways, with laughter, thrills, and underlying low-level fatigue.

On the face of it, Chris Sanders wild robotBased on Peter Brown’s 2016 children’s book, it seems to have all the expected beats, but happily surprises you in a variety of surprising ways. The animation style, which Sanders says looks like old-school animation BambiAnd My neighbor is Totoro As well as Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, his paintings fill the eyes with beauty.

Broad brush strokes harken back to a simpler and more complex time, defining every blade of grass, vein of leaf and strand of fur. The very simplicity of the surface makes one appreciate the complexity of the work underneath.

When a service robot, ROZZUM 7134, Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, she immediately seeks out who gave her orders. All the animals run away from him calling him a monster. Even after he learns the language of the beasts, he can’t get any of them to give him a job. Just as he decides to turn on his transponder and return to the factory, he acquires a gosling, Brightbill (Kit Connor), and takes on the task of preparing him for the migration.

A still from ‘The Wild Robot’ Photo credit: DreamWorks Animation

He is aided by a cunning, intelligent fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), an opossum Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), an elderly Canada goose, Longneck (Bill Nighy), and a peregrine falcon, Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames). Over time, others on the island, including a bad-tempered grizzly bear, Thorn (Mark Hamill) and an eccentric beaver whose ambition in life is to warm to a giant tree, Paddler, (Matt Berry).

on the surface, wild robot It’s an adventure and it’s a thrill, it also shows the importance of kindness Rose is relentlessly kind and proves it’s survival skills despite Fink’s insistence on the island’s eat-and-drink code. wild robot Also about adoption and guardianship. When Rose begins to tell Pinktail that she wasn’t programmed to be a mother, later, when she thanks Longneck, she almost says “my son” before saying Brightbill.

The voice work is excellent, from Nyong’o’s warmth to Pascal’s sullenness, Nighy’s gravitas to Stephanie Hsu’s soft cheer as Vontra, the restoration robot and Berry’s crabbiness. The animation, as mentioned earlier, is out-of-this-world with bright carpets of leaves, glistening moss, wild lightning, snow and rain, all creating an impressionistic wonderland to wander around to your heart’s content. wild robot Thrills, delights and moves you equally. And the sequel is going to be! Oh joy!

Wild Robot is currently playing in theaters