“The Wild Robot” brings audiences to tears
I rarely find myself brought to genuine tears by a kid’s movie, but “The Wild Robot” is an exception. Released on Sept. 27, “The Wild Robot” has garnered numerous high and tear-streaked reviews. When I walked into the movie theater I was surprised by the range of ages found in the audience, and was even more surprised to walk out of the movie theater hearing every range of ages talking about how emotional they became over the mother-child bond portrayed.
Produced by DreamWorks Animation, directed by Chris Sanders, and based on the 2016 book series written by Peter Brown, “The Wild Robot” illustrates the story of Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, a robot who becomes the lone survivor on an island of animals after a cargo ship full of robots sank. While exploring this island and trying to gain a sense of what her ‘role’ is in this new habitat, Roz stumbles across a goose egg, from which hatches Brightbill, voiced by Kit Connor. When Brightbill hatches, he latches onto Roz and regards her as his mother, leading Roz to take up the roles of teaching him how to get food, swim and fly in time for migration. Roz, along with Fink, a fox voiced by Pedro Pascal, raise Brightbill and prepare him to migrate with the other geese, all while Brightbill goes through his own experience of not fitting in with the other geese.
Not only did the story of this heartwarming movie appeal to me, but the animation was incredible. The film has a beautifully painted style, and unlike many animated kids’ movies, the animals are not anthropomorphized, but portrayed as real animals. The forest and island are not incredibly over-exaggerated or made to feel like it is obvious it is a fake animated movie. They look real, which I found really brought the story to life and made it all the more emotional and engaging.
The overall themes of this movie stood out to me, as it displays the scope of parenthood and going through the trying process of not belonging somewhere and having to find your place, something I think everyone can relate to. “The Wild Robot” was an incredible watch, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to watch a heartwarming movie that also pulls on the heartstrings.
