When discussing animated films worthy of being considered gems, Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Croods may pop up in that conversation. What do they all have in common? All three pictures have been written by Chris Sanders — and he’s back with another to add to the collection.
The Wild Robot is a vivid display of imagery derived from the first installment of the book series from Peter Brown. It follows Lupita Nyong’o‘s Rozzum 7134, later nicknamed Roz, as she crash lands on an island with no one of her kind. She stumbles across an egg that hatches into a baby gosling, which is known to imprint on the first thing they see. She gives him the name Brightbill (Rocketman’s Kit Connor) and the two embark on a journey as Roz becomes responsible for raising the little one. During her newfound life as a mother, she meets some characters with big personalities, starting with a sly fox named Fink, voiced by a charming Pedro Pascal.
Fink initially poses a problem for Rox, as his natural instinct is to consume Brightbill. After a few exchanges, they ultimately agree to join forces to teach the young gosling how to fly, something neither of them know how to do. The conflict comes when Brightbill discovers Roz was the cause of his family’s death, although it was an accident. Throughout the film, they encounter more critters on the island, including a scene stealing mother possum voiced by Catherine O’Hara, who has a gang of eight funny little ones at her side. Mark Hamill, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Ving Rhames, and Matt Berry all lend their voices as well.
The film comes at an interesting time as AI has been at the forefront of news headlines almost weekly. This summer, Apple TV+ released a series called Sunny starring Rashida Jones set in Japan that depicts the perks and disadvantages of having a robotic assistant at your disposal. In the case of Roz, she finds herself unlocking a part of her that is not hardwired into her software: emotions. Through ups and downs, the lone robot begins to adapt to her environment and take on a motherly role to Brightbill.
Perhaps one of the first beautiful moments is a scene that utilizes Roz’s core lighting system to convey she feels love when she first lays eyes on her newfound child. Nyong’o’s voice is a perfect medley of robotic meets humanized as she doesn’t sound too far off from the phone assistants of our daily lives.
Black Girl Nerds got a chance to sit down with the Oscar winning actor and ask about how she developed the voice for her character. “I asked Chris [Sanders] why he thought of me for this role, and he said that he really loved the warmth of my voice. I was looking at automated voices like Alexa and Siri and the TikTok voices and the Instagram voices, and what they all had in common was this sort of optimistic tone.” As you watch, it’s very clear that Nyong’o worked hard to craft the very tone she sought to achieve.
The Wild Robot is an absolute beauty of film, embracing the many obstacles of motherhood regardless of being a human, animal, or, in this case, robot. At the core of what makes this such an impressive piece of work in the flawless execution of the score, brought together by Kris Bowers. Sanders told BGN, “My admiration for music and my understanding of how important it is to the process cannot be overstated. Kris Bowers’ score is so important in this film. I think music does the heaviest lifting storywise of any element in a story like this.” The music is very airy, upbeat, and will tug at your heartstrings with every key that is played.
There is a strong message of staying true to yourself and believing that no one thing defines who you are. While the voice cast is solid all the way through, it’s Nyong’o’s soft and sincere performance that’ll draw smiles and tears from you throughout the entire movie. Pascal delivers witty dialogue one minute but will demand sympathy from you the next as he details the truth about his tragic past. It’s without question this project will clean up at future award shows, as it’s cinematically a win in every form of the word.
On track to compete for animated picture of the year, Sanders has proved once again why he should conduct a masterclass on executing a remarkable animated film given he has unlocked the cheat code. There’s no doubt The Wild Robot will indeed be considered a classic for the new generation as it evokes all the feels of past Dreamworks projects that we’ve found comfort in over the years. As it’s the first of a three-part series, it’s no secret this has the potential for at least two more installments as there’s very much room for more story to be told.
The Wild Robot hits theaters September 27, 2024.