THE WILD ROBOT | ©2024 Universal Pictures

Rating: PG
Stars (voices): Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara
Writer: Chris Sanders, based on the book by Peter Brown
Director: Chris Sanders
Distributor: Universal/DreamWorks Animation
Release Date: September 27, 2024

It’s hard to make a movie, whether animated or live-action, about the parent-child bond that is touching without being either rote or overkill. Based on Peter Brown’s illustrated children’s novel, the action-packed but gentle-spirited THE WILD ROBOT succeeds.

Directed by Chris Sanders, who adapted the screenplay, THE WILD ROBOT introduces us to Rozzum Unit 7134 (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), Roz for short, as her crate crashes onto an island during a storm.

We don’t see what’s happened to the larger transport, but Roz is the only robot to emerge relatively intact. The island is devoid of humans, but heavily forested and full of animal and bird life.

When Roz activates, her primary directive is to help others. Unfortunately, the island’s creatures see her as a monster, even when she programs herself to understand their languages.

But then, due to an accident, Roz winds up in possession of a goose egg. A smaller-than-normal gosling hatches from it. With the help of sly but lonely fox Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal), Roz deduces that her task is to help the baby bird, whom she dubs Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor). Roz is determined to make sure that Brightbill safely reaches adulthood and learns to swim and fly.

There is a lot of rough and tumble here, and THE WILD ROBOT doesn’t shy away from the fact that some animals eat other animals. What we eventually see of the off-island world suggests that we’re in a near-future where sea levels have risen and humans are content to leave plenty of things to mechanical help.

Everything moves quickly in the film, but not so much that we don’t feel its essential heart. There’s an unstated but well-dramatized message that the best way to keep loved ones safe is to help the neighbors be safe, too. Individual affection is prized here, but so is communal spirit.

Filmmaker Sanders keeps a steady thread of humor throughout, so that even when we’re confronted by some rather grim implications – humanity is still on Earth, but seems to be almost as techno-dependent as those we saw in WALL-E – we can still chuckle and hope.

The animation style is neither impressionistic nor hyper-real. The animals have a Disneyesque look, while Roz has inspirations that seem to come from a variety of sources, including METROPOLIS, THE IRON GIANT, and perhaps even THE JETSONS. She looks mechanical, but not off-putting, and it’s easy to accept her as a sentient, compassionate being as she evolves.

Nyong’o gets Roz’s initial chipper tones just right, and maintains a slightly AI sound throughout. Pascal creates character with both Fink’s outward bravado and inner scared cub. Connor is a fine young hero. Catherine O’Hara gets a lot of laugh lines as an opossum who has vast maternal experience, and Bill Nighy, Matt Berry, Stephanie Hsu, Ving Rhames and Mark Hamill also make significant contributions.

THE WILD ROBOT lands in the space between being comfortingly familiar in concept and enjoyably different in specifics. It’s a charmer.

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