I did have the slight feeling of being out of place when sitting through the trailers for The Wild Robot. It may have been partly to do with the fact I was someone who wasn’t the target for toy ads anymore (there was a token pension scheme commercial) and was surrounded by a packed-out cinema full of hyper children, but I couldn’t say for sure.
However, as soon as the lights went down, and Kris Bower’s score began a deep hush fell over the room that I have not seen replicated in similar viewing experiences (Minions two). That a film could maintain this for the next 90 minutes – bar outbreaks of laughter – is a testament to how good it was.
That a film could maintain this for the next 90 minutes – bar outbreaks of laughter – is a testament to how good it was.
Adapted from the book by Peter Brown and directed by Chris Sanders of Lilo and Stitch fame, the film manages to wield some heavy messages about motherhood, grief, and the environment around a plot with repeated skunk jokes. It opens with a robot called Roz crash-landing on an uninhabited island and coming upon an egg that will soon hatch into a small gosling. Roz is suddenly tasked with motherhood and will have to adapt to the best of her ability.
The Wild Robot sits in a new category of animated films that includes the likes of the Spider-verse franchise, Nimona and Mitchell’s versus the Machines that look as great as they feel to watch. From a tree full of butterflies to whales swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge, nature comes alive in carefully painted strokes across the screen. The scene where the fox, Fink, voiced by Pedro Pascal, tells a story to the gosling Bright Bill (voiced by an unrecognisable Kit Conner), changes animation style to such amazing effect, you almost believe it’s watercolour.
From a tree full of butterflies to whales swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge, nature comes alive in carefully painted strokes across the screen.
It could and has become a problem in recent years for animated kids’ films to choose to use stunt casting over professional voice actors, with potentially underwhelming results. Whilst the Wild Robot has a stacked cast, most (sorry Bill Nighy) seem to enjoy the challenge; Lupita Nyong’o is fantastic as Roz and Matt Berry as a beaver is worth the price of entry alone.
Only a few small things kept it from being perfect. I may be too cynical, but some of the messaging around putting differences aside was quite simple and on the nose, and the film struggled whenever it left the island and moved towards Roz’s creators, the remaining humans.
If you want to recapture a bit of your childhood with a new and lovingly created animated film, I highly recommend it. It’s already had a very successful opening weekend and a sequel has already been announced, so as the autumn nights draw in, go and warm your heart with a screening of The Wild Robot.
