A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Wild Robot” (2024).
Again proving that Disney/Pixar is not the only game in town, Dreamworks Animation brings us “The Wild Robot”. I must admit that the trailer really didn’t do much for me. But the actual film is really delivered with some panache.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“The Wild Robot” Plot Summary:
It’s a post-Global-Warming future (the Golden Gate Bridge is submerged in water). A home-help robot, Rozzum Unit 7134 or Roz for short (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), is washed up on the shore after a typhoon sinks a cargo vessel. When by chance she is activated, she searches for her “customer” to service amongst the forest animals, but without success. But when she accidentally kills a mother goose sitting on its nest, her mission becomes the rearing of a scrawny gosling named Brightbill. The chick must learn to eat, swim and fly before the autumn migration.
Certification:
UK: U; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Very mild threat, violence, language, rude humour”)
Talent:
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Mark Hamill, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Catherine O’Hara.
Directed by: Chris Sanders.
Written by: Chris Sanders. (Based on the book by Peter Brown.)
Running Time: 1h 42m.
“The Wild Robot” Summary:
Positives:
- Superb animation, with a “hand drawn” effect in many of the animated elements and backgrounds.
- An engaging story in two distinct halves (the first half better than the second).
Negatives:
- Some aspects of the finale are a bit silly!
Review of “The Wild Robot”:
A powerful start.
I only needed to watch the pre-title sequence of this film to realise that it will be a strong contender for the “Best Animated Feature” Oscar. Scenes of the washed up robot, with sea otters coming to inspect her, are delivered with beautiful animation and some terrific music by Kris Bowers. (The music is great all the way through the film in fact). The robot then desperately searches for her “customer” among the wild animals in the forest. They obviously mostly see her as a fearsome monster to be scared of. The plaintive “Did anyone order me?” from the robot is strangely moving.
Takes a Shakespearean Turn
We very quickly take a right turn into the Shakespearean when Roz accidently kills a mother goose (not how I remember the pantomime!). She has to raise the chick as her own, without letting on to the youngster that ‘mother’ is in fact ‘the mother-killer’. This is obviously a stretch beyond her bits and bytes. She moans to Pinktail, the mother possom voiced by Catherine O’Hara, that “I don’t have the programming to be a mother”. “None of us do…”, she replies, “…we just make it up as we go”.
The ‘mothering mission’ is to teach the chick, named Brightbill, to eat, to swim and to fly. The latter is particularly important since winter is coming and all the geese need to migrate south. There follows the best sequence of the film where the little chap goes into training (like “Rocky”) to gain the endurance to make the dangerous flight. He will be guided by lead-goose Longneck (Bill Nighy) who literally takes the youngster under his wing. “Where his wings end, his heart can make the balance” intones Nighy beautifully.
But lots in here for the kids too.
I’m not meaning to imply from the above that the whole film is ‘heavy and plotty’. There is lots of fun in here for the kids including an hilarious sequence of flying racoons and a raid on a honey tree reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh. And older kids may chuckle naughtily when their parents explain to them what “Male Bovine Excrement” is longhand for!
A game of two halves.
This is really a film of two halves, bolted together to make it feature length. The first part (up to where Brightbill leaves on migration) was the strongest for me. It went a bit downhill for me when any of the humans get involved. The film just didn’t work as well. We visit a futuristic city where the geese come under fire from laser-toting robots (hang on, I thought the robots were not allowed to deliberately hurt any other living thing?). And an end segment where the corporation tries to capture Roz didn’t engage me as much. There is also a bit of a ludicrous plot point about extinguishing a forest fire with a single, well-aimed log that doesn’t bear close scrutiny.
Notes for Parents.
I wasn’t sure, given the subject matter (i.e. a mother splatted by several hundred pounds of robot), how they were going to pull of the plot for a U-certificate. But I couldn’t see very much in here that would really disturb young children. The ‘mother splat’ scene is merely the robot picking up a wing and sadly letting it drop again, with no detail, before attention immediately focuses on the eggs.
One thing that would be worth briefing kids on would be the concept of “playing possom”. There is a family of possoms featured in the film and a sequence of them all pretending to die when under threat would no doubt be baffling to kids who were not pre-briefed on the behaviour.
Monkey
There is a very brief “monkey” at the end of the main titles, although it’s really not worth staying for unless, like me, you were also sitting there anyway to enjoy the music.
Summary Thoughts on “The Wild Robot”
This is a very professional production and one that I would fully expect to join “Migration” and “Inside Out 2” in the Oscars Animated Feature shortlist. (I would probably oust one of these – probably “Migration” – for “Memoir of a Snail” if that comes out for consideration this year. (Interestingly, “Memoir of a Snail” was just awarded the London Film Festival ‘Best Film’ prize.)
So, this one is well-worth a half-term trip to the cinema with the sprogs to watch. I’m only really at 3.5*s since animation is generally not my thing: you might rate it much higher.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “The Wild Robot”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znzE8yKHMiE .
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